Irrational love and insane amounts of fun

You've probably noticed by now that I love Ocracoke. I love this place more than I love many people. Yes, I know some people might think that's irrational, but there it is. I have loved Ocracoke for a long time, but I have fallen much more deeply for this marvelous, beautiful place over the last two days. How? By having insane amounts of fun enjoying the island during the Ocrafolk School.

If you love Ocracoke, I highly recommend you consider attending the next Ocrafolk School session (I'm thinking positive that there will be a "next"), and taking the "Ocrafolk Sampler" class, if it is offered again.

So far, in the Sampler class, I have gotten to:
- Take a short walking tour of part of the Village with Philip Howard.
- Go in the Lighthouse (yes, I had done this before, but it is still really a cool thing to do).
- Take a ride on the Schooner Windfall (ditto to the comment above).
- Walk across the widest part of the island outside the village, from the ocean to the sound. This part involved hiking through some thick woods, and worrying about ticks, but I still loved it. Every part of Ocracoke is beautiful (well, all the natural parts anyway...some of the newer houses don't fit my definition of lovely.)
- See one of the largest and oldest (if not the oldest) live oak trees on the island.
- Eat fish cakes (old island recipe) made with fresh caught drum.
- Spend an evening singing and listening to pickin' and grinnin'. My guitar skills are still much too rudimentary to try pickin' along, but I was grinnin' and enjoyed listening and singing very much.
- Go kayaking through some lovely areas of Pamlico Sound, including Northern Pond.
- Walk through Wickstrom's and see the old tennis court.
- Go clamming (we got about 60 clams!)
- Use a net to scoop through marsh grass "nurseries" and look at the tiny fish and shrimp to be found in there.
- Eat delicious scuppernong grape cobbler made by the cooking class!

And tonight we are going flounder gigging! I have had insane amounts of fun already, and there are three more days to come. And I am sure that by the end of the week I will be completely, totally, absolutely, irrationally smitten with Ocracoke. (Even more than I am now.)

If you're completely, totally, absolutely, irrationally envious(or even just a bit jealous), remember you may have the opportunity to do this too! Check out the Ocrafolk School website, and send Gary a note to let him know that if there's another School, you'll come!