Back from Hatteras!

Written on August 9, 2009. Posted in Family, Vacations. 4 Comments.

That’s right, I’m back from my vacation in North Carolina. I honestly think Hatteras Island is one of my favorite places to vacation (has anyone been to Hatteras?)- I love the beach, but more crowded beaches like Ocean City, or, recently, even the northern Outer Banks and Corolla, aren’t really my style. I’ve spent a week in North Carolina almost every summer of my life so far (excepting maybe two or three), and from my experience, a relaxing week soaking up the sun is better than two hectic weeks trying to run around and see all of the sights and sounds of a certain area (like last year’s vacation to New England.)

I also really love the fact that when my family goes to the beach, it’s not just my immediate family- most of my extended family comes as well, which amounts to about thirty of us staying in one house. It’s not nearly as cramped or crowded as you’d suppose- we rent one of the nice 10-bedroom or so houses that sit along the beachfront (you’d think that that would be terribly expensive, but it’s not so bad when you divide the cost 6 or 7 ways). There’s usually a private pool, a larger community pool, the entire house and of course the entire beach- and with everyone doing their own thing essentially all the time, you rarely have time to crowd each other.

I’m lucky in that I’ve got a pretty good relationship with most of my family. With such a large group, there’s a ton of diversity, especially among the cousins (or the younger generation, if you’d prefer). This year, the ages ranged from 9-21 (a few people didn’t actually come to the beach, otherwise the age gap would be larger), and in general, those of us who are in high school (ranging from my 14-year-old sister Hannah, to me, the only senior- that makes six of us, by the way) stayed together for most of the week. And I do mean most of the week- a couple of us would get angry and break away from the group to do other things when we thought that we’d been watching far too much NCIS. (Good show. Addictive. Sadly. Anyone seen it? It’s broadcasted on USA.)

Other fun stuff we did: We visited the Hatteras Lighthouse, of course. Not that I’d never seen it before. But it’s just as pretty the second (or third, or fourth, or fifth…) time around. For those of you who don’t know, the lighthouse is located towards the southern end of the island, and is the tallest lighthouse in the country. (It’s the “swirly black and white one” according to one of my uncles.) We also took a day to go over on the ferry to Ocracoke Island, which, incidentally, is even more isolated and small than Hatteras (No bridge over. Just a ferry.) The same day, we went riding on the beach (though that was just my mother, sister and I). Riding on Hatteras Island was one of the best trail experiences I’ve ever had- I was even lucky enough to be able to use one of the few English saddles, which is good because I can’t stand Western ones. (Too bulky and uncomfortable.)

So, in the end it was quite a good trip. The weather was a bit bad to start off with, but cleared up after Monday, and ended beautifully. My only regret is that I have to go back to work tomorrow. This is also sort of a wake-up call- school starts for me in about three weeks! And to think that I still haven’t even begun any of my summer work.

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