7:00am. Both doors swing open from each of the children's room, Happy Father's Day, daddy. My wife rolls over and gives me a kiss and says Happy Father's Day as well. It was a good start to the day.
The plan for the morning was to meet my parents, sister and her husband, Nick for breakfast at 8:15. We got ready, then drove down the street to get our grub on at The Village Market. Breakfast went without a hitch and we started to plan the rest of the day. We said goodbye to the family and went back to our casa. We got back and Brandy thought it would be a good idea to go in search for sailboats. I thought it would be an excellent addition to Fathers Day, the kids agreed.
We all got our act together and piled in the 4Runner. Our destination would be the small sailing community, Oriental. It's renowned as North Carolina's sailing capital. One of the cool things about going to Oriental, is that you get to ride the ferry...a free one at that. We boarded the ferry and made our way across the Neuse River. The kids were entertained by the tailing garbage gulls looking for breadcrumbs handed out by the fellow ferry riders. The ferry came to a halt at the Minnesott Beach ferry dock. We offloaded and continued our journey to Oriental.
Lunch hour was creeping up and the kids were getting hungry. We told them we were going to look at a few sailboats first and then we would stop for a bite to eat. The first marina we saw, we stopped. All we could see were a multitude of giant masts reaching upwards for the sky. Excitement and a bit of anxiousness came over us. Well, except for Soleil, she had different plans. She was still complaining about the big empty hole in her stomach and the fact it was quite warm out. Dorian was sizing up every vessel. He is very particular about his boats. Brandy was looking for that gem, the one that stood out. I was taking it all in, walking from dock to dock, looking for that magic one as well.
We saw many, but our gut feeling was pointing us in a different direction. We left the marina behind us and went in search for food instead. A half mile ahead lied the old, quaint town of Oriental. The reason this town is so popular amongst sailor's and boater's is because of the close proximity of the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway). This inland waterway stretches 3,000 miles. All the way from New Jersey to the "Lone Star" state of Texas with only a handful of quick ocean detours. Oriental consists of a few boutique shops, some restaurants, and a couple hundred sailboat's.
We did some sightseeing and had lunch at the Water Street Grill. After lunch, it was nearing late afternoon and it was time to head'em on back. We loaded up and got back on the ferry towards home. The sailboats that we encountered were nice, but the one we were looking for...well, she's still out there. The search continues, but it was a great Father's Day none the less!
