TRAVEL TALES

Young Chang

On a strip of islands known for vulnerability to terrible hurricanes

with waters housing sunken war ships, Newport Beach’s Jeff Bracey and his

high school sweetheart Adreayn Swinney enjoyed a serene reunion after 29

years.

Make that 15 years, if you count the time Bracey saw Swinney for 15

minutes a decade-and-a-half ago as she passed through the city. At the

moment, Swinney lives in Virginia.

In October, the pair visited historic towns in Virginia and North

Carolina, looked up at many a landmark lighthouse and spent days on the

outer bank islands of North Carolina, including Ocracoke Island.

“She had wanted to go to Ocracoke,” Bracey, 50, said. “It’s kind of

like stepping back in time. A waterfront town. It’s kind of a resort but

very quaint.”

The travelers stayed at Blackbeard’s Lodge, the oldest on the island.

Blackbeard was a pirate who is said to have lived on Ocracoke, which also

is home to several Civil War sites. They dined at the Back Porch

Restaurant, where platters of fresh local seafood as well as crab cakes

and crab soups impressed Bracey so much he still remembers them.

“It’s like you’re living in the East Coast in the ‘50s’s,” said

Bracey, who fixes Mercedes Benz’s for a living. “You have to take a ferry

there and they want to build a bridge, but locals don’t want a bridge.

They want to keep it serene.”

At the colonial town of Williamsburg, locals went about in period

dress during a reenactment of the town’s historic battle. Cannons were

fired. Horses pulled wagons. Women wore aprons.

Residents there use the Bruton Parish Church, where presidents George

Washington, Thomas Jefferson and others are said to have worshiped. Their

names are still carved on the pews today.

Other stops during the 10-day trip included the cities of Kitty Hawk

and Kill Devil Hill (the Wright Bros. landed on a runway here); Roanoke

Island, where the Bodie Lighthouse stands; the Battleship Wisconsin in

Norfolk, VA.; and Cape Hatteras, where the duo visited the Hatteras

Lighthouse.

But the most meaningful part of Bracey’s trip was rekindling the past

with Swinney. She wants him to move east. He wants her in sunny

California.

“It’s a little tug back and forth, and we’ll see who wins,” Bracey

said.

* Have you, or someone you know, gone on an interesting vacation

recently? Tell us your adventures. Drop us a line to Travel Tales, 330 W.

Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; e-mail young.chang@latimes.com; or fax to

(949) 646-4170.