Ocracoke Island...AKA Shangrila

Okay kids...remember the legend about Shangrila...the mountain hideaway where no one ever aged and everything is beautiful????Well, I think it might be Ocracoke Island on the outer banks of North Carolina. We had no intention of going there, but the wind was in the right direction on Pamlico sound and we thought "why not"? This place was just rated the number one beach in all of the USA, so we HAD to see it!
The anchorage for Ocracoke is in a little lake with the village of Ocracoke surronding it...the glorious beach is about 11/2 miles from town....the village itself is like going back to 1950...old family cottages dot the interior of the island...fun unique shops ocuppy some of the old cottages so you have to walk down the sand streets to find them....yes, there is a fudge shop but the great thing is 75% of Ocracoke Island is National park and the beach is 13 miles long with nothing but sand dunes on it. On the 4th of July we went to a sand castle building contest on the beach...as well as to a local parade. The island is accessed by ferry boats either from Hatteras or from the mainland 21/2 hours away by boat, which helps keep it from turning into Disneyland.
We met wonderful people here who took us under their wings and showed us what its like to be a local on Ocracoke...we clammed, sang and played with our friends Russ and Michelle, Jim-Bob (a real Local) and Tom...All of them were amazingly kind to us and once again taught us to be open to possibilities. Tom caught a pail of clams and we ate them right out of the water with a litlle hot sauce and vinegar...Yum!!! It was hard to say "goodbye" here, but we'll be in touch