The day that we travelled....and travelled...and travelled....

Jakey spotted this sign as we drove through Ocracoke this morning....which he found 'really freaky' (in his words!) because we had stayed in rooms 17 and 18 of Blackbeards Lodge the night before...and Blackbeard was killed in 1718....spooky!!!!



Sooner or later there was going to have to be a day with a lot of travelling in it, and today was that day. Our new-found 'up-with-the-lark' nature served us well today and we were up, showered, packed up, checked out and hammering down the door of a restaurant serving breakfast by 7.45am (!)

Considerable amounts of bacon, sausage, toast, eggs and pancakes later we stopped at the local shop for snackage before heading down to the Ocracoke Ferry Terminal to catch our ferry back to the mainland. The ferry over from the Outer Banks was free, took 40 minutes and was packed to the rafters...this ferry to Cedar Island on the mainland was half-empty, took 2 hours 40 minutes and cost us just $15!!! The boys started the journey with the obligatory monkeying around...

The crossing passed without incident and the boys behaved themselves for the duration. As we emerged from the ferry into the North Carolina heat (91 degrees at some points) Benjamin promptly fell asleep, leaving Jake free to watch 'Night at the Museum' in anticipation of his request to visit the American Museum of Natural History at the end of our trip.

Some 5 hours later we arrived at our destination - Myrtle Beach and checked into our 'ocean view' room. As I type, Ken can see the ocean, but unfortunately unless I have my back to him I am not allowed to look at it at the same time!! Still, we have a balcony and we are sat upon it barefoot...albeit with jackets on!

When we arrived we took the boys out for 'some exercise' walking a mile or more and playing in some amusement arcades before Benjamin conceded to sit in the buggy on the way home. Jake is now the proud owner of yet more 'tat' although the 'prehistoric sharks tooth in a bottle' is actually quite cool!!

As for us...we were thinking that if it weren't for the kids we would be checking out this place:

Rather than marvelling over this:

 But we are still having an excellent time!