Over Memorial Day weekend, Gravy and I escaped to Ocracoke, one of the southernmost islands in the Outer Banks chain. Even though I grew up on the Outer Banks, I've never been south of Chicamacomico before! I was excited to explore this new territory (and test out all the new camping gear I received over the holidays).
Friday, May 23
After work, Gravel and I headed for my childhood home. Mom & I moved to North Carolina with my grandparents when I was six, and I spent a solid chunk of my childhood running around the sand dunes and being scared of the ocean. (Once, Mom sent me to a weeklong surf camp alongside my friend, Gracie. While Gracie was learning how to paddle out past the break with the other campers, I was sitting safely on the sand making castles. Even as a kid, I was highly demand avoidant.)
Even after Mom & I left the OBX, it remained my home. Until recently, my bedroom still had all of my childhood memorabilia on the walls—notably, rows of swim ribbons, faded Michael Phelps posters, and a giant pink butterfly. I lived with my grandparents for consecutive summers in college, lifeguarding at the local waterpark and working as a camp counselor at a local yoga studio, and our family has celebrated most of our Christmases over the past 15 years there.
My grandparents, now blessed to be well into their 80s, recently decided to move closer to family. That unfortunately means my beloved childhood home has hit the market. Gravel and I spent Friday night sleeping on the four seasons porch where I used to pretend to host royal tea and try to avoid my piano practice. I fell asleep to the sounds of waves lapping against the rocks and woke to mourning doves cooing.
I'm grateful I got the chance to say a proper goodbye to the bedroom that saw me grow up, the kitchen where my grandmother fried chicken for my visiting friends and flipped more pancakes than I could ever remember, the boat dock out back where I confessed my first love, and my grandfather's beloved koi pond and pepper garden. It was also a useful starting point for Gravel & I's journey to Ocracoke on Saturday morning!
Saturday, May 24
Navigating the OBX is delightfully easy. There is, in effect, 1 road, and you can either go north or south. So, Gravy Boat and I got in the car and went south. And south. And south some more. We eventually made it to the southern tip of Hatteras, where we got on the ferry to Ocracoke. Gravel's first time on a boat!
We made it to the island in the morning and campground check-in wasn't until 3pm, so we stopped to pick up some more ice for the cooler and hit the beach. Gravy's first time at the beach! I finished the book I started on the ferry: Vauhini Vara's Searches: Selfhood in the Digital Age. I was OBSESSED with Vauhini's novel The Immortal King Rao when I first read it in summer 2023, and even though it didn't make it into my thesis, the novel was—and still is!—a huge inspiration for me. This book is part-nonfiction, part-memoir (full review of all the books I read this weekend coming soon).
After a couple of hours baking in the sun, Gravel & I needed something to help us cool down. Into the village we went! Ocracoke is a delightfully small community and most people navigate the village on bikes or golf carts (or on foot). The tiny town is populated with the cutest pottery, smoothie, apothecary, and handmade souvenir shops, not to mention all the waterfront fresh seafood restaurants.
I was lucky to find a parking spot outside Moonraker Tea Shop. The walls of this adorable shop are lined with jars of loose leaf tea blends and I was in heaven bopping from jar to jar, sniffing to my little heart's content. I purchased a few ounces of 2 different tea blends—a "limoncello" white tea and a coconut(!) black tea blend. I've never tried coconut tea but it smelled divine.
I also had to try the shop's famous magic lemonade—bright purple, with glitter, and it changes color! It was the refreshing pick-me-up I needed. Then, Gravy and I popped next door into Books To Be Red, an adorable local bookshop. Gravel, ever the attention lover, likes to sing when she's in the backpack and there are other people around. She did it the entire time we hiked around the Grand Canyon and I have to admit I found it very funny to watch tired hikers question their sanity when they kept hearing a cat meow but couldn't (yet) see her. In this tiny shop, though, I was a little embarrassed about her chirping, but everyone in the shop seemed to find it adorable and cooed over her.
I picked up a copy of Shel Silverstein's Falling Up and Donna Tartt's The Secret History. I've never read that one of Donna's, but I adored Shel's work as a kid. I remember poring over Where The Sidewalk Ends for hours, and I wanted to add him back to my collection. Over the past year or so, I've been more consciously collecting books here and there for a future child's library. Nothing crazy! I picked up a picture book at the Badlands when I was there in the fall, a beautiful fairytale anthology at the recent library sale, and now this poetry collection.
The village is full of little gems like this, my alter ego
By the time we were done shopping, it was time to set up camp! We settled into our site quickly and I dug into my next read of the weekend: Eowyn Ivey's Black Woods Blue Sky. I've been struggling with my fiction reads lately, but this one blew me away! Set in rural Alaska, the major plot twist of this novel is revealed to us early on, but that doesn't lower the tension at all. I highly recommend it.
Sunday, May 25
Sunday's read was all about one novel: Madeleine Thien's Do Not Say We Have Nothing. This tome takes place during the Chinese cultural revolution, from the rise of Mao Zedong through the massacre at Tiananmen Square. Artfully written, this one is in the running for my favorite read of 2025!
After a few hours enjoying the sun, I was in the mood for a sweet treat. Gravy and I headed back to the village for a scoop of mint chocolate chip from Fig Tree Bakery & Deli. I'm not a regular cash carrier and Fig Tree has a $10 minimum, so I also treated myself to some of their fresh tuna salad. I cannot remember ever having said this sentence before, but...that tuna salad kinda changed my life?! It was SO good? Wow. I wish I had more, tbh. Next time you're in Ocracoke, don't sleep on the Fig Tree tuna salad.
Back at camp, Gravel and I were tuckered out from the sun and settled in for a lengthy nap. When I woke up, I dove right back into Madeleine's novel. The sun set slowly on Sunday, and Gravy & I enjoyed lazing on the grass, reading, doing sudoku, and cooking a yummy dinner.
The campground was full, so nighttime ambiance consisted of lots of laughter, kids racing each other on bikes, dogs wagging their sandy tails as they walked their owners past, and the smell of everyone cooking on charcoal grills. In other words, pure heaven. Monday morning, Gravy and I woke to the sound of rain drumming against the tent and we quickly packed our things to begin the (I'll admit it) lengthy drive home. We spent ~9 hours in the car on Sunday, and I was absolutely dead on my feet by the time I could finally lie down in my bed again. And it was entirely worth it.
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