Breaking Free

Photos: Beach Tour 2012

rochellemarquette — Tue, 3 Jul 2012 05:19:00 GMT

My pictures from several different beaches in NC

Beach Tour 2012

rochellemarquette — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 10:19:00 GMT

Our road trip took us from Raleigh to Wilmington, Carolina Beach, Jacksonville, Atlantic Beach, Morehead City, Beaufort, Swansboro, and finally to Shackleford Banks and Cape Lookout. I'm also going to include a previous and lone trip to Wrightsville Beach... just cause I can. ;)

Wrightsville Beach

A beautiful beach that was actually not very crowded at all. I went by myself on a seriously low budget. Actually it was one of my spur of the moment trips and I drove there with nothing but the clothes on my back, a little over $50 in spare change that I had collected and cashed in at a Coinstar, and a full tank of gas. I had only planned on staying for one day and then drive home. The beach is only about two hours away so this is definitely doable. But then, thanks to MapQuest, I got a tad bit lost. I ended up getting off the highway too soon and so I stopped and asked for directions and let's just say the directions were unreliable. I ended up seeing a sign for the World's Largest Frying Pan in a little town called Rose Hill, NC. I had to see it, even though the guy at the gas station said I was going to be disappointed. Oh was he right, trust me, don't go see it.

Anyway I finally made it to the beach and because I didn't get there until 7 p.m. I didn't have to pay for parking. But this also meant that I didn't get very much time at the beach. So I decided to spend the night. I stopped at a Waffle House for cheap food, used their outlet to charge my phone, and looked up a campground in the phone book. There was a KOA campground right down the street. When I got there it was closed and there were no prices listed so I thought it can't be too much and so I parked and slept in the back seat with my sleeping bag.

The next morning I went to the check-in office and found that they wanted $55 for the spot I slept in. I told the lady that this was a spur of the moment trip and I only had $45. I also told her that I didn't use any electricity or amenities, and I just slept in my car. She charged me $39. Ha ha so I had twinkies and a coffee for breakfast and combos for lunch.

The beach was beautiful in the morning and other than one lone fisherman, completely devoid of people. Before 9 a.m. you also don't have to pay for parking so I had one hour of free time and then I was going to have to figure something else out. There were lots of washed up cannonball jellyfish from a storm the night before and I found a pretty cool crab who was more than happy to pose for the camera. I found a sand dollar on my way back to the car. $12 for parking for the whole day or $2 an hour isn't bad but now I'm broke so I drive around looking for other options. I find the town hall has free parking but only for 3 hours so I park there and it takes me about 20 minutes to walk back to the beach. After my 3 hours are up I walk back, drive around a bit, park there again and now I have another 3 hours!

Carolina Beach

My friend Berenice and I met up with some other friends right on the edge of Carolina and Kure Beach. After swimming and catching some sand crabs we went to find a place to eat. First I chose a restaurant called Havanas and I was quite embarrassed when we decided we couldn't afford to eat there. It was really expensive and everyone laughed that I probably picked the most expensive restaurant in town. We went across the street to my next choice, Pop's Diner. They have really awesome sandwiches, deep fried oreos and twinkies, and frozen cheesecake on a stick dipped in your choice of chocolate or cherry. After eating til we could pop we took a midnight stroll on the beach under the stars.

Jacksonville

Berenice and I decided we could drive through the night and at about 5 a.m. we checked into the Days Inn in Jacksonville. It was $80 and included a continental breakfast. We had already stopped at 3 different hotels with no vacancies so we had to take the room. When we first walked in it looked nice and smelled good but then we found a cockroach in the tub. I called the front desk and she could only offer to move us. We were so tired at this point we said the heck with it and slept there anyway. The next morning breakfast was a little weird. They had waffles that could be heated up in the toaster but no syrup, the coffee was cold until the front desk attendant made a fresh pot, and even then it was pretty weak. I love my coffee to be black and extra strong! It was not worth the money we spent. When we went back to the room to shower it took almost 30 minutes for the water to heat up and even then it barely dripped out of the shower head. We started the coffee maker before we took our showers and it still wasn't done by the time we finished. It is the world's slowest coffee maker! I don't think I have to say it but I will never return.

Also that morning we found out that there was a wildfire in the national park that had been blazing for a few days and our van was covered in ash. The air was thick with smoke for quite some time but thankfully we were headed away from the fire. It was sad to see the sky so black.

Atlantic Beach and Pine Knolls Aquarium

It was only $8 each to get into the aquarium. They have a really awesome display of otters and they now have penguins too. The penguins weren't as playful as the otters though. Apparently they are molting right now and therefore they don't like to do anything except lay around during that time. They also have a tank with skates and rays that you can pet, which is pretty awesome. They have sea turtles one of which is named Nimbus. He is partially albino with some health problems. He will not be able to be released back into the wild like the others but instead will have a specially built display just for him and a campaign: "Dare to be Different!" It's a cool idea I think. They also have snakes, jellyfish, sharks, alligators, and various other creatures.

Harker's Island

So the whole reason for this trip was: 1.) I've never seen a lighthouse in person. Only on the internet and movies and such. 2.) I wanted to see the wild horses aka banker ponies. I've wanted to see them ever since I saw the movie Nights in Rodanthe. Yeah yeah I'm a total girl and a sucker for romance especially when it comes to Richard Gere ;) But I also have always loved horses. My favorite book growing up was Black Beauty and I collected Breyer Horses which I still have.

When we got to Harker's island we immediately looked for a ferry. The first one we came to was called El's local yokel ferry. No joke. It did not look promising and the lady was not very informed. She also said because there were only two of us that it might cost more and we'd have to call them later that night to talk about prices and everything with the captain. We kept looking. The next one we found was called Cape Pointe Marina and boy did we hit the jackpot with this place! The young man inside the office was very smart; he knew the area and a lot of the history. Captain Chuck showed up shortly after with very happy customers getting off of the ferry. We talked about me wanting to see the wild horses and he promised that he would get me very close to them and we wouldn't have to get off the ferry, and then take us to see the lighthouse, all for $10 each. He also told us about a guy who drives people out to the point of the island so they can collect conch shells. The last ferry pickup runs at 5 p.m. so we'd have to come back the next day. He recommended places for us to stay in Beaufort. We googled some places and called around and hotels around there are very expensive, $120 being the lowest price we could find.

So we drove all the way to Swansboro and camped in the van at Cedar Point Campground, in Croatan National Forest. It only cost $17 total to stay there. This is the same forest that had the wildfire though and although the fire was a safe distance away from us, ashes were still floating in the air. At one point we actually saw the sun turn completely red and disappear. Jokingly I told Berenice it was the end of the world and we were going to wake up with zombies surrounding the van, she didn't sleep well. I slept like a champ for 11 hours! Then again I can sleep anywhere. :) *Side note* Bring bug spray! Not the cheap stuff either, the heavy duty deep woods stuff. These mosquitoes are a special breed they actually hurt when they bite. It's like being stung by bees... seriously.

The next morning we drove back to Harker's Island and met up with the captain. He delivered on his promise to get us close to the ponies and we saw several. He was very patient as the group took pictures. He then dropped us off right next to the lighthouse. Wanting to save money Berenice and I decided we could walk to the point to get these giant conch shells that we had heard about instead of taking the truck. The plan was to have lunch on the point and then walk back. It took us 2 hours to get to the point and right before we got there we stopped a park ranger, who was zipping by on a 4-wheeler, if it was better to keep walking around the island or to go back the way we came. He said to keep going and there would be a cut through that would lead straight to the lighthouse. He also couldn't believe that we had walked all that way. We found a bucket full of conchs plus some! We were starting to get tired now and worried about getting back on time. We talked to some fishermen about this cut through that we couldn't seem to find and they pointed it out and said, "sure, sure just go down that path and then it will turn into concrete and when you come out of the clearing the lighthouse shouldn't be that far away."

We kept walking and found the cut through. After a short while hundreds of mosquitoes were covering the both of us. Our cheap bug spray was not working at all! We sprayed ourselves from head to toe three times. I even sprayed the mosquitoes directly and they would fall to the ground and get right back up again unfazed! We had even bought a bug-blocking anklet. Nothing worked on these demon mosquitoes. We finally came out of the clearing only to find ourselves at a dead end. We were staring at a fence blocking our path to a dock, with a sign that read: "Caution may collapse." On the other side of that fence and dock was the lighthouse... separated by the ocean...and there was no way to get there except by boat. This is where words like #!#@* and *&**^%$#$#@@! started coming out of my mouth.

I'm not proud of it. But by this time we had walked approximately 5 miles, we'd been out in the sun for 4 hours, lugging around our beach bag and a bucket of shells, we were almost out of water, we'd been attacked by crazy demon mosquitoes, I was sunburned really bad, and to top it all off we had one hour to get back to the dock to get on the ferry. There were some boaters on the other side of this dock and so we asked one family if we could pay them to drive us to the lighthouse and we told them our story. It literally would have taken 5 minutes. They refused and even made their kids give us back the shells we had given them. Wow! All I could think is what if we were one of your kids. Put them in our shoes. I might have said a few more choice words under my breath. While we were waiting for the family to make their decision about driving us I had called the captain of the ferry and left a message on his voicemail. And thank God he called as back just as we were receiving our No from the family.

"Rochelle, how do you get lost on an island?" was the first thing Capt. Chuck said to me with a laugh. "Let me explain, we aren't exactly lost, we know where we are we just can't get to the lighthouse from where we are. We're at the Coastguard dock."

Apparently while we were getting chased by the demon mosquitoes we missed the road we were supposed to take back to the lighthouse. So Captain Chuck sent someone to rescue us so that we could be back in time to catch the ferry. I will be forever grateful! So let me sum up what to do and what NOT to do when going to Cape Lookout Lighthouse.

Do's:

1. Do go Wed-Sat to climb the lighthouse. We went on a tuesday and didn't get to climb the lighthouse. Poor planning on our part!

2. Do go see Captain Chuck of Cape Pointe Marina! It was more than worth it! Tell him Rochelle sent you!

Cape Pointe Marina
1390 Island Road
Harkers Island, NC 28531 Phone: (252) 728-6181

Email: capepointemarina@embarqmail.com

Web Site: CapePointeMarina.com-->

Don'ts:

1. Don't get lost! Definitely spend the extra money on the truck tour of the island. Go straight to the "Sound Side" for the best shells.

Cape Lookout Conch Tours (252-732-4578) Runs from the Cape Lookout Light Station Transportation Shelter to the area of Cape Village and the point of Cape Lookout.

2. Don't skimp on the bug spray! I was still itching 5 days later.

I had a hard time getting my pictures uploaded and edited. There are a few on Facebook and Google+ right now and more to come. I will upload them here as soon as I can! Questions and comments are welcome! And stay tuned for my next blog post about trying to get my Passport.

Exploring Raleigh: Part Two

rochellemarquette — Sun, 27 May 2012 00:56:00 GMT

I'm constantly surprised by the kindness of the people in Raleigh (including Cary and Apex). While exploring or working or even just going to the grocery store I consistently see small acts of kindness, opening of doors, waves and smiles. Even this morning as I sat out on the porch reading Frances Mayes, A Year in the World, drinking my coffee, listening to the birds chirping, and dreaming of far away lands... I was interrupted by my neighbor who I've only seen this once. With a smile and a wave he says, "Good morning! How are you?" I respond with "I'm fine, how are you?" "Good, good," he answers back as he walks into his garage and wheels out his lawnmower. There goes my quiet time I think to myself, my smile quickly disappearing. Then my neighbor yells over, "I'm so sorry to be interupting your quiet time, I really need to mow the lawn before it gets too hot today. I thought I'd start in the back so you could have a few more minutes." I say, "Oh no sir, don't worry about it, go ahead!" I walk inside and the biggest smile returns to my face, wow! How amazing :)!

Who am I that he felt the need to apologize for mowing his own lawn? But the people here are like that! I have had countless random conversations with complete strangers since moving here. Several customers at work have given me their email addresses, wanting to be kept in the loop for my future travels. I spent about an hour talking to a woman named Teresa in a little shop across the hall from Common Grounds, the coffee shop located in downtown Apex. She is the manager of the store, who sells local artist's jewelry and art. We talked about everything under the sun!

Some other cool places to visit that I have found:

The Carolina Ale House- It's THE place to go especially for age 20 to 30 somethings. Their food is great, the atmosphere is beyond fun, and the drink specials outstanding! There is an outdoor area containing a second bar and games of cornhole are always going on. Pool tables and video games inside, sports themes throughout with lots of tvs, and even a sound proof, British style, phone booth for people with cell phones to escape the noise if needed!

Sweet Tomatoes- Directly from their website: Let's just say within 24 hours of being in the ground, it's on a refrigerated truck on its way to us. Our food is made from scratch every day. Our salad bar buffet features over 50 fresh ingredients, including specialty tossed and prepared salads. In addition to salads, we serve original recipe hot pastas, hand-crafted soups, scratch-made muffins, and Focaccia breads in our hot buffet. Create. Indulge. Enjoy.-- So you may have one of these in your area but I've never heard of one until I moved here and let me just say I fell in love the very first time I went! And Oh My God the strawberry lemonade is devine! I crave it daily! It's around $12 a person and everything is unlimited.

Sushi Nine-- They feature BOGO (Buy one get one) sushi rolls everyday. We go as a group after work once a month and everyone gets 2 rolls and we trade back and forth. I'll give you one American Dream for a piece of your Philadelphia! Everyone leaves with extremely full bellies and smiles! Not bad for $12!

Adventure Landing-- Go Karts, putt putt and an arcade. My friend Learmond and I just went for the Go Karts and it was super fun. Price for 2 people and ten laps, $15.

Alright now on to some trip planning stuff. I have been reading some books to help inspire and inform me for my upcoming trip. So far these 2 are my favorites.

Female Nomad and Friends, Tales of Breaking Free and Breaking Bread Around the World. By Rita Golden Gelman and 40 other authors. I was particularly drawn to this book because of the words breaking free in the title. I had chosen the same for my blog title well before even hearing about the book. The stories are heart-warming and heart-breaking, stirring, quirky, and just plain amazing. I laughed hard and cried harder. It is now in my top 3 of favorite books of all time!

A Woman's Path, Women's Best Spiritual Travel Writing. Another book with several excerpts and authors including Maya Angelou. The stories take place all over the world and the authors come from many different backgrounds. It's beautiful and inspiring.

I can't wait to start my trip! In my dreams I'm already there, I can smell the lavendar fields of France, I can feel the heat in Africa, I can see the green in Ireland. Every morning I wake up with a smile on my face dreaming of my far away lands. I have filed for my passport this past week... I'm so close to living my dreams, instead of dreaming my life.

Photos: Exploring Raleigh Part One

rochellemarquette — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 13:24:00 GMT

Photos of the Gregg Museum and Raleigh Arboretum

Exploring Raleigh Part One: jewelry, museums, flowers, NC State Campus

rochellemarquette — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 05:15:00 GMT

Exploring Raleigh

After working 9 days in a row, two of which were doubles, I was looking forward to finally getting to explore Raleigh. The morning brought a random thunderstorm and my plans were canceled. My friend and I laughed as we tried to make literal "rain check" plans for later in the week. Disappointed, I settled into my giant fluffy chair. I watched some TV, surfed the web, and ordered some pizza... a lovely lazy day. Then God decided to bless me with a beautiful (rest of the) day so my friend and I texted each other at the exact same time, "Hey the rain cleared! Wanna meet up?"

She lives near NC State as she is enrolled there so we met at her apartment. She offered to drive me around since I don't know my way yet and our first stop was a jewelry store called Light Years. If you like jewelry this store is heaven! They have jewelry representing the entire world; Eiffel Tower necklaces, Ganesh rings, Buddha earrings galore! They also have a few luggage tags and passport covers, coffee cups, magnets, incense, and other cool items. Located in Cameron Village near several other quaint little shops including a Thousand Villages Store, which sells items made by villagers and proceeds go back to help them. Next stop was a Starbucks for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up. After ordering our coffee we went outside to sit in the warm sun. We sat down at a vacant table and the woman next to us moved down two tables. We both looked at each other with puzzled faces. What was that about? Well in Raleigh people are either snobs or nice, it's a weird mix but I have found on several occasions that you never know what you're going to get from this bunch!

Raleigh Mixed Nuts

On an elevator several days ago, as more and more people kept packing into the small space, I mentioned aloud to my uncle that I was freaking out a little bit that there were so many people trying to get in. I mean we were all practically contorting to play this odd game of elevator twister with complete strangers. A lady overheard me and said for everyone to hear, "Well if I were afraid of elevators I just wouldn't get on! And that's that!" I didn't say anything back. She was rude I'm not. A few days later at a Mexican restaurant, On The Border, who by the way boasts the best margarita in Cary; I mentioned to the bartender that I had never been there before and didn't know what to order from the menu. The lady next to me reached over and said, "Do you like enchiladas? They have all you can eat for $6.00." I replied "That sounds good!" And she said, "Well I overheard you talking to the bartender and I thought I would help."

Now back to Starbucks, as we sat there laughing about the lady who obviously has some people issues, we noticed a much older lady walking her greyhound. My friend asked if we could pet her dog and she obliged. The lady told us about how she rescued the former racing hound from a shelter that specializes in the care of retired racing greyhounds. If people don't adopt these animals or "donate" them to a shelter they are put down. I almost got sick as we talked about this. The dog was sweet and obviously old. He really liked his new owner who loosely tied him to a pole as she went inside and he stared after her. When she came back out we said our goodbyes and thank yous and she walked to the sidewalk. Nervously we watched as we realized she was trying to cross the busy street, not at an intersection. She thankfully made it across and we went on our way to the NC State Campus and The Gregg Museum.

I should mention that the traffic around the campus is crazy! These people drive like maniacs. I more than once was stepping on the imaginary break in the passenger's seat and had made some stifled whimpers. They just got a new traffic circle and apparently no one knows how to use it yet and there are accidents all the time. So drive with caution or take a cab so you don't have to worry about it.

Gregg Museum

The Gregg Museum is located inside of one of the NC State Campus buildings. I was allowed to take pictures of one of the exhibits and the man at the counter was really helpful. The first exhibit- Barkcloth, Bras, and Bulletproof Cotton: The Powers of Costume. From the NC State website: Using amazing objects from the Gregg Museum’s permanent collection, this exhibition explores not only how clothing serves to protect, shelter, shield, and modify the human body, but also how what we wear helps us lure, seduce, dominate, segregate or manipulate others, discover spirituality and personal self-awareness, proclaim our individuality or group membership, or express ourselves.

This exhibit is an amazing display of clothes from around the world; including colorful hats, ceremonial dress, and military uniforms. Both beautiful and informative with a mix of the weird and surprising. Free admission makes this museum even cooler!

The next exhibit entitled: Textiles of Exile, I wasn't allowed to take pictures and honestly I wanted to for this exhibit much more than the other. From the NC State website: In Textiles of Exile, the Gregg displays examples from Hispanic immigrants in California, African slaves brought to the Americas, Afghan refugees in Pakistan, imprisoned women in Chile, and relocated Cambodian Hmong in North Carolina; all call attention to the universality of the “silent scream” of homesickness. This description leaves out that there are also tapestries from 9/11 here in America, a sweater from a schizophrenic, and some needle points made by a man in prison unraveling his multicolored tube socks. While the latter was the smallest example it was the most detailed.

The JC Raulston Arboretum

This little gem is free to the public 365 days a year. I've never been to a place where the flowers were so fragrant! Peaceful, relaxing, gorgeous a great place to go if you generally just want to have a good day and get out of the house. There are benches scattered around and some are set off in some private places. I can imagine grabbing a book and sitting there all day. : )

I hope you enjoyed my post. Comments and questions are welcome! Check out my photo gallery too!

Drop the stereotypes, your job is not who you are-- A duel rant.

rochellemarquette — Mon, 5 Mar 2012 14:16:00 GMT

So the other night I got into a debate with a coworker. We are both servers at a local restaurant and he had just received a not-so-great tip from a table. Sometimes this happens... I usually just shake my head and move on. But this guy instead stated that he didn't like people of a certain ethnicity because they don't tip. Needless to say the table that had just left was of this ethnicity. They weren't Caucasian nor were they African American so let's just mark them as "other" and not get into any kind of racial battle.

Anyway, I piped up and said you really shouldn't judge people based on stereotypes not everyone is the same and to group them all together isn't fair.

He countered with, that's what stereotypes are there for; because they are true. There may be a few exceptions to the rule but for the most part that's how people are.

At this point I shook my head again and started to rub my temple, feeling the signs of a headache coming on. So I say, you know a stereotype doesn't really allow for exceptions. That's the point. People come up with these generalizations about groups of other people and clumps everyone into that group.

At this he laughs at me and asks me how long I've been a server (FYI 6 1/2 years and much longer than him) and he can't believe that I don't think like him. I stood my ground saying that in my experience I've seen all walks of life tip me in all kinds of ways.

When I was greener I used to judge a little, I'll admit it, and then people would just surprise the heck out of me. So I stopped judging. I'm a better server and a better person for it. I've made lifelong friends with some of my customers! Now this leads me to my next rant.

I then said something to the effect of, when you get out into the real world you'll start to see people for who they really are. He stared at me with a confused look and said this IS the real world. People come in here and treat us however they want to treat us. True, I said, but this is just one part of the real world. This is just your job. Things are different outside of this restaurant.Then he said the one statement that, to me, is the equivalent of grinding your nails on a chalkboard. "But your job is who you are."

Your job is NOT who you are! Your job is only one part of you. There are so many different things that make up a person. But we let our jobs define us. We work 80 hours a week, kiss up to our boss, don't take sick days, and neglect our friends and family because of a JOB??! That's ridiculous! Why? So we can participate in society? So we can drive a fancy car, get married, settle down, with a husband or wife, have 2.5 perfect little brats, a dog, and don't forget the white picket fence around the four bedroom house. Talk about stereotypes! It's like we've all been brainwashed.

These are some of the things that make up who I am: A Christian, a granddaughter, daughter, sister, cousin, niece, friend, dog owner, photographer, travel lover, explorer, board game addict, Chinese food craver, independent, outside the box thinker, in my car music turned up really loud singer. Need I go on? I am so much more than my job. And so are you!

When I told my family I wanted to travel the world. They called a family meeting... seriously... an intervention. Because this plan just isn't normal. After listening to me talk about what my plan was, and how now was the perfect time because I didn't have any real responsibilities (IE no kids), my grandmother said, Go! Get this out of your system. Little does she know that I plan on getting the travel bug even more in my system. Ha ha. My uncle said, we'll reassess in six months. OK sure. Another member of my family said the French hate Americans. Why would you want to go to France? I seriously doubt every single French person hates Americans. Also you know who probably most of Europe really hates? People who come over there acting like they own the place. Being all snobby and rude. So I've got some walls to break down I'm sure but I'll convince people I'm not just another snob. I'm a likable person :). A family member also offered to have some sand from the Egyptian pyramids shipped to me via the internet. Um thanks for the offer I said but totally not the same!

So my point is, not everyone fits into the same box, category, (cough cough) stereotype. Not everyone can travel the world and not shower for God knows how many days. Don't let people deter you from your dreams; just shake off the different views of everyone else. Drop the stereotypes in your own life. Don't judge others. Don't let others judge you!

Sorry for not using quotations I wrote this pretty quickly.

A Girl in Raleigh

rochellemarquette — Sat, 3 Mar 2012 06:11:00 GMT

I've moved around a lot. Something like 24 or 25 times, and I'm only 25 years old. Yes, I know that sounds nuts and you are now wondering if I am an Army brat. My parents were in the Army when I was born, but they were out soon after. Anyways, I'm just going to skip straight to the latest move and not bore you with all of my younger days stories. So most of my life was spent in or around small towns. In fact the last county that I left has been dubbed "Small Town Friendly" by the locals. Now I have moved to Apex right outside of Raleigh, the capital of North Carolina. Apex itself isn't too big and barely has a bigger population compared to Rutherfordton but Raleigh is a different story all together. I'm not used to traffic and noise. This is all very new. No matter... Exploring is one of favorite things to do! Stay tuned as I explore the city and find inspiring and amazing things about Raleigh and the surrounding areas!

Photos: Profile pictures

rochellemarquette — Sat, 3 Mar 2012 04:54:00 GMT