Bob “Stubby” Petite was looking forward to seeing the ocean for the first time. A resident of Bantam, Rhode Island, Petite said he has been all over the country and has seen everything from Mount Rushmore to the Grand Canyon but in his 48 years he’d never been to the beach.
“Just figured I’d get to it one day,” he laughs. “That day came a lot later than I thought.”
His wife, Pebbles, (named after the famous Flintstone character) planned a surprise vacation to the Outer Banks this summer, renting one of the few remaining oceanside four bedroom cottages in Kill Devil Hills. Crossing the Wright Memorial Bridge, Petite said he was completely underwhelmed by what he thought was the ocean. He recalled being “overjoyed” to learn that the bridge merely spanned the Pamlico Sound and that the Atlantic was considerably larger.
After arriving at their rental home, Petite good-naturedly allowed himself to be blindfolded and led by the hand by his young daughter, Bitsy, (named after the famous waterproof spider) to the ocean.
“I could hear the crashing waves and the call of distant sea birds,” Petite said. “My family led me right to the surf and the cold water splashed across my Birkenstocks. My imagination was running wild with what I was about to see.”
The blindfold was removed by his son, Flea (named after the famous Red Hot Chilipepper’s bassist), and after Petite’s eyes adjusted to the glaring noonday sun he was completely let down. The only thing huge about the ocean was the disappointment he experienced upon taking it all in at a glance.
“I’d almost call it tiny,” he said. “I think I could have thrown a shuttlecock to the horizon. I have no idea why people come here. Maybe somebody makes a good Margarita.”