The Outer Banks – A “Wicked” Family Adventure

As we are in the middle of the horrors of winter, I know many of my friends are already thinking about summer beach vacations! As you begin to make your plans, let me recommend The Outer Banks of North Carolina for you consideration. Actually, don’t just consider it…I INSIST you plan a visit! It’s not just a beach vacation, it truly is an adventure!

If you’ve followed my many adventures, you know I love hiking in the mountains, but when I asked my kids where they would like to go this summer, they both yelled “beach!” So the researching began…

I checked out all the usual beach destinations: Gulf Shores, Destin, and other Gulf of Mexico “hotspots.” But it was while I was watching an episode of “Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks,” a question came to mind, “What are the beaches like on the Outer Banks?”

Come to find out, the isolated islands of the Outer Banks have some of the most beautiful beaches in the country! Countless national polls and “lists” naming “top-rated American beaches” listed more than one of the beaches of the OBX (Outer Banks). The beaches of the OBX were known for swimming, sunbathing, surfing, fishing, and shelling. For 2018, Ocracoke Beach was ranked #2 in the nation.

First a quick geography lesson on the Outer Banks.  The OBX is a series of barrier islands off the coast of North Carolina.  A barrier island is an island that lays parallel to the mainland, protecting it from erosion and storms.  These islands are connected by a series of bridges and ferry routes.  All the towns are unique and offer various different attractions starting with the town of Corrolla in the far north to Hatteras and Ocracoke in the south.  A few other locations that may sound familiar to you on the Outer Banks are towns such as Duck, Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, and Rodanthe.  Also, the island of Roanoke is located near the Outer Banks.  The islands are surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and Pamlico Sound to the west.  The islands are so narrow in many areas you can see both bodies of water at the same time while driving!!  Here is a map to help you visualize that I borrowed from another site: 

Depending on what kind of beach vacation you want, will determine which area of the islands you should stay.  If you like to go shopping, want a lot of various activities to partake in besides sunbathing such as miniature golf and go-carts, value a lot of restaurant choices, and don’t mind more crowded beaches, then you need to stay on the northern part of the island, around the towns of Nags Head and Duck.  However, if you are like me and want a little more solitude and a more “original” Outer Banks experience, then please make your way south!  While doing research, I read for the most authentic Outer Banks experience, one should stay in the little town of Hatteras.  This is the most southern town on the islands that you can drive to.  So that is where I started to my planning.

Knowing, I wanted a “true” Outer Banks experience and wanted to avoid the tourist traps, I started my search for room and board in the southern towns of the islands.  I found plenty of Airbnb homes, but on a whim I decided to check out my favorite camping app:  Hipcamp.  Lo and behold, there was one Hipcamp location available  in all of the Outer Banks and it was found in the town of Hatteras!  It was called Hatteras Soundside Surf Camping.  I was super pumped.  Not only would we be in the area I wanted to stay, but we would be tent camping on the sound!!  (Update:  Since writing this blog, new ordinances have been passed in the county and “backyard camping” is no longer allowed.  There are other camping options in the area however.)

MONDAY

We left early on a Monday morning to make the 1,068 mile trip to Hatteras, North Carolina.  We planned on getting into town midday on Tuesday.  I had my usual family adventure crew with me:  The husband, Enrique, all three boys, Tanner, August, and Oakley, and Mom.

Thankfully, there was nothing too exciting about the drive.  We went through the Smoky Mountains in the dark, so didn’t get to admire them too much.  I stopped and slept a few hours and then we continued on.  We made it to North Carolina Tuesday morning.  If I had any thoughts of “we are almost there,” they were dashed as the drive across North Carolina is very long!!  Quite possibly the “longest” state I’ve ever driven across!

TUESDAY

Once we got to the coast we crossed one long bridge after another as we made our way from one island to another and then down the coast along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore (bring your National Park passports to stamp!).

When one reads that you can see both the Atlantic Ocean and Pamlico Sound on both sides of the highway, they aren’t kidding. The islands are so narrow in some places both bodies of water are literally almost on top of you!! It’s no wonder that the roads flood as often as they do.

A few things we immediately noticed as we made our way To the southern tip of the Outer Banks:

• The houses on stilts are just as you may picture them, but times their size by 10! Many of these houses were 3 or 4 stories high, on top of being on stilts that are at least another story or two tall as well. And they are gorgeous!! I especially loved the balconies and decks right on top of the roofs of many of them!
  

  
  There are numerous pull offs to the beach along the main road. And hardly any of them had cars in the parking lot. So one could assume that you’d have the beach to yourself.
• People love to kite surf in the area. We saw them on both sides of the highway as we drove.

I’d say it took us about 45 minutes to get from the Northern end of the islands that we entered the Outer Banks to Hatteras where our camp site was located. All I knew was that we were basically going to be camping in the backyard of a house in Hatteras. Turns out that the house was probably one of the oldest and original homes smack dab in the middle of town!! The back of the property backed up to the Hatteras docks on Pamlico Sound. So in the evenings we got to watch the sun set over sound.

The property was large enough for 4 campsites. However, this week we had the whole place to ourselves!! Our camp host was extremely accommodating and made us feel extremely welcomed. He also had several suggestions for food. And the best thing was we had a private bathroom with real toilets and a hot shower in the underside of the main house!!

There had been several storms gone through earlier that week and it was extremely windy when we arrived to set up camp. I had a moment of panic as I watched our luxury tent about blow away several times while the boys were trying to set it up! I immediately thought about how my teeny tiny backpacking tent would probably have been better. But we just had to deal with what we had. We ended up finding as many large rocks, outside furniture like the picnic table, and heavy coolers to tie our tents to in hopes they didn’t blow away. I’ve never experienced wind like this at camp!

After we got the tents set up it was time to hit the beach! The boys were so anxious I couldn’t possibly make them wait another day. The closest beach entry was just about a 2 minute drive from camp so that’s where we went. It had a nice bathroom and shower room by the parking lot and a series of boardwalks to take you over the sand dunes to the beaches along the ocean.

I didn’t know what I expected to see that first day in regards to waves. I should have known by the many “rip current” warnings I’d been getting from my weather app since reaching the Outer Banks, that the ocean was going to be anything but calm. But nothing had prepared me for the, what I would consider, monstrous waves that came into view as we topped those final sand dunes! We just don’t see waves like that in the fishing lakes around Missouri. And I’ve been to the ocean several times, but still yet have never seen waves as “angry” as these!! I immediately yelled at the kids heading towards the rough waters to “STOP!” Mom and I were so nervous about turning the kids loose we gave them the rule that they could only get in water up to their knees. And one of us adults had to be right by them!!

The kids seemed okay with that. I think they were just as leery of the rough waters as I was. I couldn’t believe the kite surfers who were out in this. As one even made it his was inshore, I was reassured by our decision not to “go swimming” when he even told me that the rip currents were extremely bad out there and to use caution with the kids. So that told me all I needed to know. I only hoped that the seas would calm down the next several days so we could get some good beach time in.

After I got over my anxiety about the waves, I finally took a few deep breaths and took a moment to really take in my surroundings. Wow! What an amazing place we found ourselves!!

The beach was beautiful! It stretched endlessly in both directions and I could count the number of people there with us on two hands. The backside of the beach was lined with endless tall sand dunes covered with sea oats that gracefully blew in the breeze. There weren’t any tall condominiums or resorts or tourist attractions blocking the view to the skies to the other side of the island. We played in the surf and in the sand, doing the traditional name writing, and gawking in awe at where we found ourselves. It was goose pimple worthy!

After spending some time taking it all in and getting some obligatory beach pictures, we made our way back to Hatteras for dinner.

We ate at a nice restaurant next to our camp. It had a beautiful balcony that we could watch the sunset from over the sound.  They had an excellent selection of fresh fish and other entrees.  The food was excellent and you couldn’t beat the waterfront atmosphere or convenience to camp.  For my foodie friends, I present some various seafood pastas and crab cakes:

After dinner, we were beat and headed back to camp.  The wind was still whipping pretty good, but our tents held up!  We had a full day planned for the next day so it was off to bed!

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday began in Buxton, NC at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. We were going to start the day’s adventures by climbing the tallest lighthouse in the United States at 193 feet!!

As we approached the famous black and white painted lighthouse, I could feel my nerves already start to react. If you’ve followed along, you know I’m afraid of heights, and once again I was going to have to face my fear to get to the top.

Because of height restrictions, Oakley couldn’t go up with us, but Enrique was happy to sit this one out. August was more than happy to volunteer to stay at the bottom himself, but I told him if I was going up, so was he!

We turned in our tickets and started climbing the spiral staircase inside the lighthouse. It wasn’t the heights that were getting me inside, but the tight area! I guess I have a touch of claustrophobia too! And August is definitely his mother’s son.

When we reached the top, we stepped out on to the metal balcony which circled the lighthouse. Once I got my bearings, I didn’t do too bad. Looking out along the beautiful seashore and towards the endless ocean one found the most spectacular views! Looking down was a little more difficult. August circled around the light house with at least one part of his body touching the lighthouse at all times. I had to threaten a good grounding to get him away from the lighthouse so that we could take a picture by the railing (bad mom, I know). Tanner was fearless as usual.

As we continued our way North up the coast, the next town we stopped at was Avon, NC. Avon is famous for the Avon Pier.

Avon Fishing Pier opened its doors in 1962. At 600 feet long, it is one of the longest piers in the Outer Banks. An all wooden structure, the warped boards and unlevel deck, make it quite charming and resembling a mini roller coaster. Though some may question its stability, it has survived numerous hurricanes and any damage is always quickly fixed.

People from all over flock to the pier to fish for the famous red drum that frequent the area. As we paid our dollar and made our way onto the pier, we were greeted with several fisherman with their lines in the swift waters hoping to get that once in a lifetime catch. We walked all the way to the end, admiring the ocean, checking out everybody’s catch, and snapping a few pictures before it was time to find our next point of interest.

The next town up the coast is Rodanthe, NC. If you are a romantic movie buff like me, that name probably sounds familiar. Think Richard Gere, stranded in a beach house during a hurricane with the attractive landlord, secrets, drama, passion….sound familiar?

“Nights in Rodanthe” was a popular movie that featured one of the iconic beach houses that the Outer Banks is known for. After a little bit of research I found the address for the actual house from the movie. The house had some very distinct features compared to others in the area, most noticeably, the blue window coverings and the weathered exterior of authentic beach homes. I also learned that the house had been moved from its original location since “starring” in the movie because the ocean was slowly about to take it over.  The Inn at Rodanthe is now one of the Outer Banks most celebrated vacation rental homes.

After finding the house down some sand covered roads, I jumped out and took a few, quick pictures since it’s actually private property. I would’ve loved to go inside and look around because I read it still looked the same as it did in the movie, but trespassing wasn’t on my agenda for the day.

As I mentioned earlier, inspiration from this trip came from my love of the show “Wicked Tuna.” Up and down the sound one finds several docks that house the iconic fishing boats like those on the show. Before the trip I told myself it would be awesome to actually see the boats from the show in person, but after seeing how many there were, I didn’t feel very confident that would happen.

One of the largest bridges we crossed while island hopping was called the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge. I knew the name sounded familiar, and come to find out, that’s the bridge that all the boats must go under to get to the ocean side of the islands. It’s actually very dangerous for the boats due to the currents and shallow waters.

Once we crossed the bridge, Mom wanted to stop at the large dock and walk around to look at the boats.  This dock was called the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center.  One can’t honestly imagine just how big these boats are from watching the show. To truly realize their magnificent size, one has to see them in person. They make the boats we see on some of the larger Missouri lakes look like John boats!

As we made our way up and down the dock I noticed a bright red “green stick” sticking up in the air that looked a little familiar. (Picture the longest fishing pole you’ve ever seen). My heart started beating a little faster because I had a feeling that I was going to recognize the rest of the boat very shortly. When I walked up to the vessel, sure enough, right in front of me was none other than the “Fishin’ Frenzy” from “Wicked Tuna: Outer Banks!”

I was pleased as punch to get see one of the boats in person and get some pictures.  But upon approaching The Frenzy, first mate, Billon, was there working!  I tried not being too obvious while taking a few pictures, but he caught me.  The next thing I know he invited the whole family onto the boat to look around and then he took our picture!! To say I was a little star struck would be an understatement. The whole visit must have left quite an impression with my mom, because the next two weeks, at least, she was watching reruns of the show on her phone!

Our next stop was Jockey’s Ridge State Park on the northern end of the island. Jockey’s Ridge is home to the tallest active sand dune system on the East Coast. If you want an interesting, but exhausting hike, this is a must visit.

After leaving our shoes at the end of the boardwalk, we took the “trail” up and down and around several different sand dunes to to the top of the tallest one where we were treated with one of the most beautiful views on the island! You could see the ocean and the never ending Outer Banks beaches for miles!!

There are many other activities that one can participate at Jockey’s Ridge, but I was most fascinated with the hang gliders and those attempting to sand sled on cardboard boxes!

Word of caution, if you’ve never “hiked” on sand, be prepared for a workout! Especially the deeper sands found on a sand dune. The effort is worth it!

Next on the agenda for the day was Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers National Memorial! There was a lot of construction going on and it was very hot by now, and crowded, so we did not get out and do much walking of the grounds.

Due to my love of history and my husband’s love of aircraft, I felt it was important to visit the site of the first flight. They have the field marked with the original take off and landing zones of those first flights and then an impressive granite memorial that stands tall above the grounds. Under different circumstances and if we weren’t so hungry for lunch, I would definitely have spent more time here.

Yes, I said lunch. We’d done all that I had mentioned before ever eating lunch!!

Tortugas Lie is a Caribbean-inspired restaurant in Nags Head, NC and has been featured on Diners, Drive-In’s, and Dives. I got the “Catch of the Day” tacos and was not disappointed. The food was great, the atmosphere terrific, and the drinks went down smooth! I would definitely recommend it.

Not yet satisfied, we realized we were very close to a Duck Donuts, which had also been featured on Food Network as one of the best donut shops in the country. A few things I loved about Ducks Donuts: you can watch the Donuts as their made, you create your own donuts from a list of different glazes and toppings, and they have giant yellow chairs you can sit in!! The donuts definitely hit the spot!!

We’d had a busy morning exploring up the coast of the Outer Banks. As we headed back south, our next goal was to find a nice spot to stop and swim some more.

As I stated earlier, there are pull offs up and down both sides of the highway that travels the length of the Outer Banks. Because there are so many places to stop, you can almost guarantee that you can find an area all to yourself if you wish.

Today we decided to stop on a section of the beach that is part of the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. Pea Island is a 13 mile stretch of beach that begins as you cross the Herbert C. Bonner Bridge (coming from the North). It is most popular for bird watching, naturalists, and those saving sea turtles (more about those later).

We spent the remaining hours of daylight soaking up the son, combing the beach for seashells, and watching the boys swim in the surf (by now we’d gotten a little more comfortable with the waves).  There was no other person in sight anywhere else on the beach!  Just the Martinez Family and the ocean!!

We made one more stop as we headed back to camp for the evening. The sunset on the sound side of the island was just too gorgeous to ignore, so we pulled off on one of the many pull offs that had a large parking area and several cars parked.

As we took in the sunset we also came across a very old family cemetery right next to the sound. I don’t know about you but I’ve always been fascinated by old gravestones: the names, ages, and some cases the story the stones tell. I always wonder about the life these people led, especially in areas like these of the Outer Banks. As beautiful as the beaches are in the summer, the life on these islands could not have been easy hundreds of years ago.  I was particularly touched by the grave of a little girl named Missouri who was just a year old when she passed.

When we got back to the camp, August, Mom, and I decided to go back to the Hatteras section of the beach from the night before. We gathered our flashlights and headlamps and decided to head to the beach to hunt for ghost crab!

If you want some heart pounding fun, there’s nothing like walking along the beach in the dark waiting to startle some ghost crab! I don’t know that we’d ever laughed as hard as we had that evening.

While down at the beach we noticed several people, without lights, sitting along the roped off area on the beach we noticed the day before. I just figured the roped off area was some kind of beach restoration area. Turns out the area was roped off because it was a sea turtle nest!! An organization that monitored the Outer Banks sea turtles knew that the hatchlings would emerge any day now and make their way to the ocean. Volunteers would come and set up camp to monitor the nest and help give the hatchlings a clear path to the ocean. Come to find out several of the turtles hatched the night before. We were extremely excited to hopefully see this event occur. We waited for quite some time with the others but no luck that night. The volunteers said that if no more hatchlings came out in the next several days then they would dig in and see if they could find any babies trying to dig out still and count any eggs that didn’t hatch. That started August’s interest in sea turtles. They claimed there were 100s of nests along the coast. And someday I hope to go back and actually see if for myself.

THURSDAY

Thursday would turn out to be my favorite day in the Outer Banks. Our plan was to take the ferry to Ocracoke Island and spend the day on the beaches that I had read were the some of the best in the country.

The only way to get to Ocracoke Island is via ferry. I’d found a ferry schedule online.  Knowing that there were a limited number of cars that could ride each ferry and that we didn’t want to waste time having to wait for another one, we planned to get up early and catch one of the earlier ferries. Even arriving about 45 minutes before the arrival of the ferry, we still ended up being in the “second line” which made me nervous if we would make the first ferry. But these ferries hold a lot more cars than you’d think. Let’s just say that the contact detectors on Mom’s Yukon were giving me quite a “buzz” when they guided us on the ferry and had us park!

The ferry ride to Ocracoke is 60 minutes long. One can get out of their car and go to the upper decks to enjoy the view as you travel through the sound to the island. It was a nice, relaxing way to travel. Oh, and it’s free!

Once we exited the ferry we drive down the island until we came to a pull off not too far outside of the town of Ocracoke. We spent the remainder of the morning at the beach.

It was the most perfect day. The weather was amazing, the water had settled down and had just enough waves to keep it interesting, and the company couldn’t be beat. We bought some body boards so we all took turns playing with them in the waves. Even Mom made her way to water. Of course, it took her down once or twice too!

The only drama of the day was when Oakley decided to have a face off with the sea gulls flying around. You can see in the picture who blinked first!

After a full day on Ocracoke beach we made our way into town for dinner. Ocracoke Was bustling on this beautiful Thursday. Unlike other towns on the Outer Banks, Ocracoke did not have so many of the stilted houses used by many tourists and weekenders. The streets were small and most people got around by golf carts, mopeds, or walking.

We chose Smacnally’s to dine that afternoon. It was an outdoor seafood bar and grill right on the docks of Ocracoke. While eating you can watch the boats come in and throw their catch on the docks and filet them!!  BTW, gas is over $7.00 at the dock!

While waiting for our table I took the boys for a quick walk through Ocracoke. First we found a neat kite shop and I let the boys each get one and then we found another old cemetery. Just to give you an idea, one of the gentlemen buried here was born in 1776! You know, the year The United States declared their Independence!

After eating some amazing fresh seafood, stopping by and taking a quick pic of the Ocracoke Lighthouse, we headed back to the ferry. We weren’t so lucky this round and missed the ferry we intended to take back because it filled up. So around 30-40 minutes later, the next ferry came and we headed back to Hatteras.

Leaving Mom and Oakley back at camp, Enrique and I took Tanner and August back to the beach to try out their new kites.

After a little trial and error, we got the kites up and rocking and rolling! We watched another beautiful sunset as a group of people started a bonfire on the beach. As I said, it was the perfect day in the Outer Banks.

FRIDAY

On our final full day we decided to make our way back North and hit a few more attractions and then drive over to Roanoke Island. This day would be filled with a lot more amazing food, lighthouses, aquariums, Gardens, and more “Wicked Tuna” sightings.

First we had a typical breakfast at Fatty’s Eatery in Buxton, NC. They offered your typical breakfast items, but when you’ve basically been eating pop tarts and Cliff bars for several days now, any kind of homemade, warm breakfast is going to be amazing.

Next, we stopped at the Bodie Island Lighthouse. Since it was a Friday, it was very crowded and all the tickets to walk to the top were sold out until right before close that evening. Not sure of where the day would take us, Enrique and I just walked around the lighthouse and then down the boardwalk trail that took us over a very swampy, mossy area over the sound.

After going over the series of bridges back across the islands, we finally made our way to Roanoke Island. Our first stop was the North Carolina Aquarium in Manteo, NC. Anytime we have a chance to go through an aquarium, we always go.

On this day we were in luck, they were also hosting a special Dinosaur exhibit! And our Oakley is obsessed with dinosaurs!! As we made our way through the exhibit, Oakley was faced with more “life-sized” dinosaurs, to his terror! It was quite entertaining watching him react to the lifelike dinosaurs moving and making noises.

After going through the dinosaur exhibit, we made our way inside of the aquarium. It was a very nice aquarium with a lot of hands on exhibits. I particularly liked the jellyfish room. There’s just something very mesmerizing about them “floating” in the water under black-lights.

One room that set this aquarium a part from others we’ve been to was the sea turtle rehabilitation room. In this room we got to get up close and personal with sea turtles who had been injured in the wild and brought here for medical attention, rehabilitation and hopefully release back into the wild.

Our next destination wasn’t something the boys were exactly pumped about going to. This was a “Mom pick.” Manteo, NC is also home to the Elizabethan Gardens.

The Elizabethan Gardens are designed to be similar to the gardens one would find on the royal properties in Europe back when the British first settled Roanoke Island 400 years ago (have you been thinking that that name sounded familiar from your history lessons?). The gardens are just yards away from the original location of the “Lost Colonists.”

There were plenty of beautiful flowers, different gardens with various species of plants, and statues/statuettes to check out. My favorite garden was the “Queen’s Garden,” which was a structure that made a perfect square with identical archways and windows on all sides. It was exactly what I would picture the gardens to be like in England. The boys weren’t as impressed.

The Elizabethan Gardens is also home to the “Ancient Live Oak.”  This tree is believe to have been alive in 1585 when the colonists first arrived on Roanoke Island!

Since the evening of our encounter with the Fishin’ Frenzy, I’d been doing a lot of internet research to try to figure out where some of the other boats from the show dock. I knew that most of the boats (or maybe all) took their catch to Wanchese Harbor and unload at the Wanchese Fish Company, one of the leading providers of Atlantic seafood. It just so happens to be on the southern point of Roanoke Island!

If you think the fishing vessels are large while sitting in the water, nothing prepares you for how big they are when they are on land! As we neared OBX Marina in Wanchese, NC, we passed several boatyards with the boats being worked on and even a company who were building new vessels! They were humongous!! Once we parked at the harbor it didn’t take long for me to find exactly what I was looking for, where two more Wicked Tuna boats dock: Dog House and Little Shell. Unfortunately they both were out with some charters (people pay them to take them out to fish). Someone who worked at the dock told us that the Dog House usually comes in early evening. Deciding that we wanted to see it in person, we decided to wait it out. There was plenty of other boats coming and going so we had a lot to keep us occupied.

While we waited we decided to get some lunch from Sooey’s Dockside, a tiny little walkup restaurant right next to the dock and an outside bar. What it lacked in size it made up in taste! We chowed down on pulled pork sandwiches, brisket nachos, waffle fries, and some adult beverages from the bar while we watched the fisherman bring in their catch.

A few of us ventured over around the dock to where the commercial vessels were unloading their tanks of hundreds of tuna fish. Most of these weren’t the bluefin giants that we see on the show, but they were still bigger than any fish I’ve ever caught in the lakes of Missouri! Anytime they had one with any significant size, they always separated it from the rest and tested its quality for the open markets.

Finally around 4:00 p.m. I saw a familiar green boat coming into the harbor: the DogHouse!! She was magnificent!! By far the largest charter boat in the harbor. It’s owner and captain Britton Shackelford turned that boat around and backed it into its tiny slip without incident.

Once the boat was secured they tossed their fish on the dock with the people who chartered the boat, took some pics, and sent the fish off to be processed. Also on board was the first mate, Cain (from the show as well) who cleaned up the boat while Britton took the time to meet with people and take pictures. I honestly thought there would be more “competition” for his attention but there were just a few other families there like us and the rest were locals. Britton was as down to earth and as social as he comes across on the show. He took the time to speak with all of my kids and give them DogHouse stickers and take a picture with us. While we hung around and watched a few more boats come in he stayed and talked to the locals for at least a good hour. The Little Shell never came in and it was time for us to get dinner and head back to camp.

We stopped at The Mad Crabber, one of the oldest family-owned restaurants on the islands, for dinner. And of course we had some more delicious seafood! Tanner finally took the opportunity to get some of his favorite, crab legs. While we waited the kids got to draw and color on the paper tablecloth. August’s crab was so good, they cut it out and asked if he’d like to hang it on their wall with many other nice children’s drawings.

We’d been watching the weather all day and it appeared that some storms were blowing in for the evening. Since it was late we didn’t have time to swim anymore that day, but we couldn’t resist going out on the beach as the storm made its way to the islands. Not only was the windy conditions making the ocean waves come in very angrily again, but the blowing sand was pretty difficult to take! It was probably one of the best natural exfoliating experiences I’ve ever had!! But it did hurt just a little.

Since this was our last night we had debated going ahead and packing up and heading home an evening early instead of riding out the storm in our tents, but we were just too tired to pack up. And it was already so windy it would’ve been just about impossible getting our tents safely in their packs. So all 3 boys decided to stay in our tent.

It was a rough night. Our 12 year old tent has gotten kept us dry through a lot of wet weather events. But this night he decided it was going to spring some leaks!! I don’t know if it was the fact that the rain was coming down so hard for so long that the water eventually just soaked through tent material or that the tent was just so old it can’t handle that anymore, probably both, but there was basically a steady drip of water that fell on my face throughout the night. The boys didn’t seem to be too bothered by it, but Enrique and I didn’t sleep well.

SATURDAY

The rain continued all through the night and morning. We decided that we would wait until it stopped and our gear dry up a little before packing up. So we went down to Avon and let the boys run around an arcade and play some laser tag. We did a little shopping for some souvenirs and finally the rain stopped.

Wanting to get our toes in the ocean water one more time before departing back to the middle of the country, we let the boys go swimming one last time.

Afterwards we quickly packed up camp and headed up the highway. We made one more stop at Bros Sandwich Shack in Avon to fill our bellies as we started the long drive home. I gotta say, this was one of the best burgers I’d had in a long while. Definitely add it to your list.

When we got to the last island of the Outer Banks, Roanoke, I decided to take a little detour and see if The Little Shell was back at the dock at Wanchese. Sure enough, there she sat! Her design was completely different than most of the others typical for the Outer Banks, but she was no less impressive.

With our final pictures taken we headed West and made it home on Sunday with no incident. As usual we made the most of our time at our destination. We probably would have been just as happy laying on the beach for 3 days, but in the end that’s just not our style. As the winter winds down, you must consider this location as your next family adventure. It truly is amazing!!

Do you have any beach destinations that you would suggest for our next Lagom Adventure?

Below are two books that were most valuable to me for the planning stages of this trip.

Lagom Adventures is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to www.amazon.com.

Explorer’s Guide North Carolina’s Outer Banks

Insiders’ Guide® to North Carolina’s Outer Banks