Mainland Dare County – The Taylor family from Greenbowl, Arkansas had driven fifteen hours straight on their first vacation to the Outer Banks of North Carolina when they stopped to ask for directions in Nags Head from a group of local teenagers.
“The Atlantic Ocean? Sure, it’s around here somewhere,” answered one boy, dressed in surf shorts and an ironic PBR shirt.
“Yeah, I think it is back that way,” continued a faux hippie-chick wearing mass-produced hippie-chick clothing and pointing west across the sound.
A third young man, incongruously attired in a pink button-down shirt and neon green bicycle shorts, gave the directions with a smirk: “Go back across the bridge to Manteo, then turn right and continue until you cross another bridge. On the other side, turn right on Mashoes Road, and just keep going until you see the ocean.”
Upon following the directions, the Taylors were initially confused, finding no ocean, but after pulling the car over and wading through a half-mile of marsh grass and mud, they found a stretch of open water large enough to play in.
“This wasn’t exactly what I was expecting, But the kids loved it!” said Mrs. Taylor with an optimistic smile on her face.
Mr. Taylor added, “Yeah, there were a lot fewer waves and a lot more mud than I had heard about, but we had the same experience in Myrtle Beach last year. Things aren’t always what the ads make them seem, and at least we didn’t have to sit through a two-hour sales pitch for a timeshare to enjoy the ocean here.”
Little Johnny Taylor listlessly poked a cottonmouth snake with a stick, and baby Shelby just sat in the murky water and cried, “Mommy, it smells bad. I want to go home now.”
“That’s salt air, honey. It’s good for you,” answered Ms. Taylor with a hopeful smile.
Leaving their beach adventure for the hotel, the family asked for directions in Manteo and received detailed help from a group of five boys dressed in a various combinations of camo and Grundens. The Taylors eventually found a Holiday Inn in Plymouth.