The Ferries
| Route 66 | Cities | Beaches |
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The Ferries |
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| There & Back | Peaks of Otter | Williamsburg | Washington |
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| For your first visit, or for anyone with kids, we recommend the Southern, or Ferry Route. It requires two nights on the road, but it's the perfect gateway for anyone under 18 whose only ocean exposure has been Myrtle Beach or Florida. You get a sense of where you are by coming out across salt marshes, and ferrying across Pamlico Sound and Hatteras Inlet. This is 1900s vacationing, before interstates and long bridges. From Kentucky, it's a simple drive. Take I-64 over to Charleston (W.Va.) and down to Beckley, then I-77 across Virginia. You can make this whole trip in 12 hours, but it's a hard drive through heavy Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill city traffic and beachbound congestion beyond Chapel Hill. But first there's a beautiful day in the mountains. |
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So we like stopping for the night in the Virginia Mountains, about six hours from Lexington. This is very scenic country, and neither hotels nor restaurants are expensive. We particularly like Hillsville, Virginia. You can stay at the Holiday Inn Express just off I-77, seen at left. If you want to stay two nights, you can explore the Mt. Rogers National Recreation Area with its hiking, backpacking, horseback riding, canoeing, rafting and cycling and its National String Music Museum and String Music Festival every August. Or you could pick up the Blue Ridge Parkway at Fancy Gap and drive an hour so each way, possibly stopping at the famous Mabry Mill. The Holiday Inn Express has an indoor pool and hot tub, a complimentary breakfast, and free wireless internet. The breakfast is the kind you used to get at a classic Bed & Breakfast before they cut back to save money. There's juice, coffee, pancakes, eggs, yogurt, cereal, fruit and other amenities. Or there's a Shoney's right next door if you like their buffets. |
| For dinner we recommend Sting Ray's, two miles from the Holiday Inn, in a strip mall behind the CVS Pharmacy. Sting Ray's is the best seafood restaurant in the Virginia Highlands. Of the appetizers, we like the Pepper Seared Tuna in Cucumber Wasabi Oil. The Clam Chowder is good but we prefer their Seafood Chowder. We highly recommend the Scallops and Tilapia, which comes fried, grilled or broiled. The Maryland Style Crab Cakes are made on premises, like all their food, and the Jalapeno Aioli topping is excellent. We're lifetime Flounder lovers but we think their cuts are small and not particularly flavorful. The Shrimp & Grits are good but lumpy. The Corn on the Cob is fresh and sweet, Slaw crisp, and Grilled Potatoes With Onions very good. The Frog Legs are one of their specialties; if you've never tried them this would be a good place. There's also Tuna, Whitefish, Shrimp, Catfish, Crab Legs, Oysters and Salmon. Sting Ray's offers seven Pasta entrees, including Shrimp Alfredo, Pasta Primevera, and Shrimp Scampi. We think their Seafood Mac & Cheese steals the show; it has a creamy cheese sauce and is loaded with crabmeat and shrimp. If you're not in the mood for seafood, there's a good Ribeye, New York Strip, Bourbon Marinated Sirloin, or a Rack of Ribs. The patio is pleasant during theSpring and Fall months but in Summer it gets hot and humid even this high in the mountains. |  |
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Next morning, pick up I-40 in North Carolina. You could drive straight down I-77 to Statesville and turn onto it. But you'd be going two legs around a triangle. We prefer to turn off on I-74 just south of the state line and take it past Wake Forest University into Winston Salem. This cuts across the short leg of the triangle. No matter how you get to I-40, follow it through Greensboro, Durham and Raleigh. Be careful. Signage is poor. Do Not take I-540. Do Not prematurely take State Route 70 through Raleigh. Stay on I-40 via I-440 through Raleigh. Heading South out of Raleigh, watch carefully for State Route 70 East (look for the Clayton - Goldsboro signs; for some reason the state signmakers consider Morehead City a secret) and take it to Morehead City. Just stay on 70 and as you approach the junction with Route 24 coming up from the beach look to the left for the Holiday Inn Express. We recommend this for your night in Morehead City. It is much like the previous version, including the great complimentary breakfast, but this one has an outdoor pool. |
| If you have only one night to sample Morehead City's restaurants, you may as well try the best. That would be The Channel Marker. It sets just off the bridge to Atlantic Beach. As you continue East on Route 70, toward the Cedar Island Ferry, you'll see signs pointing to Atlantic Beach to your right. It's a few blocks to the bridge, then look left for the restaurant. This is a beautiful location, right on the water, with great views. The food is outstanding. Their She Crab Soup is among the best we've ever tasted. The Seafood Lasagna is unique and very, very good. The Stuffed Flounder ( in a champagne sauce), the Crab Cakes and the Grouper are all memorable. Even their steaks are good. If after a long day driving you just want a cold plate, their Seafood Chef's Salad and Shrimp and Lump Crabmeat Salad are outstanding. Leave room for desserts; a local lady comes daily and prepares them in house. Try to eat around 5-6 pm. If you arrive later you'll be waiting up to an hour. This place has a loyal following, especially on weekend nights. Even on hot nights, the breeze blows steadily across the deck, so eating outside is always fun. Service is very attentive, and the manager continually drops by your table to make sure everything is going well. This is not only the best restaurant in Morehead City, but we consider it one of North Carolina's Top 10. Try the Kiwi Margarita. |  |
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Next morning, still following Route 70, head across the salt marshes. You'll see a part of America that hasn't changed in 100 years, where men still make a living off their environment, facing its ebb and flow and often its wrath. You are only a few feet above sea level and in many places the water will be lapping at both sides of the road. Most of the houses are up on stilts, and you'll see boats pulled up to docks and fishing nets spread out to dry. The salt marshes are the classic wetlands, where 90% of the life in the sea begins. Birds, fish and others come up into these marshes to lay their eggs. The young are protected by the shallow water and the grasses. Eventually, when they're big enough to fend for themselves and avoid predators, they'll head for the open water. But if it weren't for these salt marshes, the ocean would be a barren environment. Five miles past the village of Stacy, as 70 veers right, leave it and pick up Route 12 for Cedar Island, where the road ends at water's edge. |
There is one motel there, the Driftwood Inn (252-225-4861). There's a restaurant, gift shop, campground, stable, visitor center and ferry terminal (800-856-0343). You need to phone at least two weeks ahead to make both reservations, but a week before and after July Fourth a month ahead is wise. The photo here shows the front wing of the Driftwood Inn, with the restaurant marked by the round porthole windows to the right. Behind the motel is the beach. The sand here is very fine and soft and a walk along the water will usually produce some shells. Be aware you will not have cell phone reception or internet access here. Make any final phone calls, text messages or email messages from Morehead City. However, there is a pay phone at the Driftwood office. We have stayed here many times and it's convenient to wake up so close to the ferry. But the motel lacks modern amenities. It's a 1950s relic. So evaluate your tolerance for nostalgia. |
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The Pirates's Chest is the Driftwood's restaurant. It's a good introduction to Outer Banks cuisine. The decor includes round nautical windows, pieces of driftwood, shells, and other coastal icons. Dinner is served from 5-9 pm. Be forewarned the portions are large no matter what you order. The basket of Hush Puppies they bring is delicious. Among the appetizers, we love their Cream of Crab Soup. It's rich, so we suggest a cup. A bowl would be a whole meal in itself. The Shrimp Alfredo is outstanding and could feed two. We like the Scallops, but suggest you order it broiled, not fried. The wine list is not extensive, but their Pinot Grigiot goes well with the various seafood entrees. For dessert, their Lemon Meringue Pie is excellent when available. There's a salad bar and various nonseafood items. Guests at the Driftwood receive a complimentary breakfast here until 9 a.m. It is not elaborate and there's nothing hot, but there's juice, breads, fruit and cold cereal. |
| Across the road from the motel and restaurant, next to the campground, is a stable. You can take a beautiful sunset ride up the beach and out to various sandbars and islands. This is a really unique opportunity we always try to take advantage of, since obviously there is nowhere back home we can ride horses through surf. You'll need a good application of bug spray and a camera. Plan on an hour and a half. We usually go on the ride before eating at the restaurant. Departure time from the stable is 7 pm. If you are coming as a couple, or with a family of three or four, you can just show up. But if you are bringing a group or a larger family, you should phone ahead. Just call the Driftwood Inn (252-225-4861). They can either put you in touch with the wrangler or if they're out on a ride they can leave a note. You need a solid pair of shoes and long pants so your feet can work the stirrups and bugs can't get to your legs, but those shoes and pants will get wet, so wear something appropriate. Even though it's evening, you'll be on the water and right along it, and the sun will be glinting brilliantly off that water, so bring your sunglasses. |  |
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The photo at left shows vehicles lining up for the ferry. This line starts right in front of the Driftwood Inn and extends down past the Visitor Center, shown with the flags flying. This is a big deal. You're going to be on the ferry two and a half hours. As mentioned above, you should make your ferry reservation when you make your Driftwood Inn reservation. In the photo below, the line at right is the people who showed up without a reservation. Sometimes you can wait all day. There's a 7:30 trip, but we prefer the 10:30, That allows us time to get up, shower, pack, grab breakfast and check in at the booth. With a larger group, you can pull the van around, check in and get in line while the last few kids are still in the shower. They can then walk out and get in the van while you're waiting. There is also coffee in the Visitor Center. The ferry has only vending machines on board. |
| The ferry offers an upstairs observation deck and a downstairs indoor lounge with formica tables and padded benches. If it's raining, we spend most of our time in the lounge. But as long as weather permits, we like the upper deck. This ferry ride is one of the highlights of the trip. We have had kids come back years later and talk about it. Pamlico Sound is one of the largest bodies of water in the U.S., and you'll be totally out of sight of land for much of the way. You'll see sailboats and fishing boats. Sea Turtles will eye you warily. Brown Pelicans will soar by, occasionally diving into the water for a fish and re-emerging a minute later. You might feed Gulls off the back deck of the ferry, if you think to bring a loaf of bread. They'll hover right over you, sometimes even plucking the bread from your outstretched hand. You'll come past islands and shoals. You'll see Jellyfish and Manta Rays. Fish will leap out of the water. We've had kids shoot a roll of film on the ferry. If you get a parking spot along the side or front railing, you can sit in your vehicle and watch the sights slide by. But that's a matter of luck. |  |
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Pamlico Sound is itself a whole ecosystem. It is halfway between freshwater and saltwater. Although there is a slight pollution problem from pig farms up on the Piedmont leaking waste into the rivers that carry it down to the Sound, overall Pamlico Sound is far healthier than other transitional systems like Chesapeake Bay. It is a rich fishery. Many people who live along its shores spend their whole lives fishing on the Sound and never go out to the open ocean. The Sound is amazingly shallow. You can walk chest deep across most of it. They have to keep dredging out channels so the ferries can run, and you may see some of the dredges at work. It's on the Atlantic Flyway, one of the four main routes northern birds take on their way South every November and back North every April. This makes it a birdwatcher's extravaganza twice a year. Normally, the Sound is calm as glass, but it can become violent. Locals and lifetime vacationers have seen waterspouts, whitecaps and surge waves. Hurricanes push the water in the Sound up the rivers so the bottom is briefly visible. The water in the Sound is usually 10-15 degrees warmer than the water in the ocean. |
| You'll watch Ocracoke Island approaching for the last 30 minutes before actually pulling into the harbor, called Silver Lake. It may be the most beautiful harbor in North America. You'll find a lighthouse, Coast Guard station, fishnet racks, lots of docks and decks, boats anchored out in the harbor and tied up to the docks, waterfront restaurants, a hundred yards of beach, and a few old fish processing plants. Artists sit on the decks painting the scene. Kayakers paddle alongside the ferry or surf its wake. Men work on their boats or repair sails. Behind all this, various homes jut up through dense tree cover, mostly yaupon or live oak. Pelicans and Gulls perch on the dock pilings. As you pull off the ferry, you'll be driving 5 mph through a horde of cyclists and pedestrians. |  |
| If you take our advice and stay over on Hatteras Island, you'll have several hours to spare before catching the next ferry, and you can explore Ocracoke. It's a charming little island, 14 miles long and about a mile wide. It has wide, gentle beaches, awash in warm Gulf Stream water. You may want to eat at Howard's Pub, reasonably priced, very good, and on your left on Route 12 as you turn left and head away from the water. Then you have time for a swim. Just as you leave the village heading out Route 12, look for the first turnout to your right. There are rest rooms, changing rooms and a ramp leading over the dune. This is the closest beach to town, so has the most facilities, although the other beaches are just as good. Being so close to town, this beach will also have the most people, many of whom walk or ride their bikes out. The warmer water here provides habitat for coquinos, tiny but beautiful mollusks which burrow down in the sand to avoid the incoming wave, then come up to breathe and filter feed as the thin film of water washes back out. One coquino is about thumbnail sized, and they come in all colors. |  |
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You might also pull off to your left and check out the wild ponies. Left over from shipwrecked Spanish ships centuries ago, they became a symbol of the island, but as their numbers grew, they were grazing so heavily they threatened the ecosystem, since the grasses anchor the sand in storms. So today the ponies are restricted to the western side of the road between town and the ferry, a several mile square fenced area, and the excess population rounded up yearly and sold off. Near the ferry at the northern end of the island, you'll notice storms have broken through and there are gaps in the dunes. You'll notice sea oat replanting and road repair. It is, after all, still a wild place. The photo at left was taken during an airplane ride with Burris Tours. The ferries between Hatteras and Ocracoke are much smaller. The trip takes only 45 minutes. The building to your right as you approach houses rest rooms. Then you come round the loop and line up for the ferry. These run about every 30 minutes. |
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You don't need a reservation and it's free. You can still walk around and explore the boat or feed seagulls off the rear deck. You'll pass a couple dozen boats fishing, and come past South Point, with fishermen casting from the beach. Pay close attention to how the ferry has to meander through the shallows as it crosses Hatteras Inlet. The sand from 70 miles of beaches between here and Oregon Inlet at the North end of the island is being carried by the wind and current down here and deposited. Nature is trying to move Hatteras Island to the South and West, eroding its North and East end. Man, of course, is trying to resist that process, to protect roads and villages. As you pull onto Hatteras Island notice the Outer Banks Museum on your right. You should come back to that on a rainy day. The road turns left and passes through Hatteras Village. You'll have Frisco Campground, run by the park service, on your right, the privately run Frisco Woods Campground on your left, and Cape Point Campground, also run by the park service, to your right past the lighthouse in the middle of Buxton. If you're staying in a house, the various rental agencies have their offices on your right as you drive through Hatteras Village. You can pick up keys and a map, then drive on to Frisco, Buxton or Avon. If you're arriving at mid day, the keys to your house may not be available for a few hours. Just go on to the beach and come back to the office by 5 pm for the keys. |
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