CELEBRATING IN THE OUTER BANKS

This was our beautiful view from our balcony.

Recently my hubby and I took a mini vacation to the Outer Banks in North Carolina. It was a birthday present for me. (Happy Birthday to me!) We live in an oceanfront city about 4 hours away -and yet we had never gotten around to visiting the OBX. Go figure. I also have a few projects I am working on I'll share later. :)

But my goodness, what an awesome weekend we had! We had lots of laughs and a good time with such a beautiful backdrop to explore and enjoy. Having never been before we weren't quite sure where we wanted to stay so I ended up just picking Nags Head out of the blue. We stayed at a gorgeous hotel right on the beach. Our room was on the first floor, with a balcony overlooking the ocean. 

We had a beautiful Jacuzzi tub that sat just inside the balcony door.

It was pretty amazing. We even watched a couple get married on the beach outside our room. 

So Nags Head is pretty much central in the OBX. Right smack in the middle of the long strip of the island. Kill Devil Hills, and Kitty Hawk are right there also. Those 3 towns kind of blend one into the other. About a half hour north is Duck and then Corolla where the wild ponies roam. And an hour south of us was Rodanthe, Hatteras and Ocracoke Island. We like to drive and this was a 3 day weekend so we had plenty of time to explore. We spent an afternoon shopping and dining in Duck and we loved the area. Duck is probably my favorite area of the OBX. We then went looking for wild ponies in Corolla but didn't find any. We were pretty disappointed. But we found a great nature trail in the process that was a fun hike. Still, sadly, no ponies. Maybe next time.

Is this not the most amazing looking nature trail? We didn't see wild ponies but we saw some beautiful nature.

We then drove for miles on the beach in Corolla and saw some great homes that were literally on the beach. No driveways or grass in sight. You need a four wheel vehicle (we do) in order to drive out and live there. And you drive for miles in the sand with homes sitting right on the beach with sand dunes as driveways. It’s pretty beautiful, although I think I might miss the greenery quite a bit. 

We then went the next day in the other direction. We went south down through Rodanthe and I loved that area too. It was remote with ocean sand dunes on both sides of the road as you drive. Very rural. Trust me, if you have to pee. Go ahead of time because it’s a long drive with NOTHING for miles. We got to see the beach house from the movie "Nights in Rodanthe" with Richard Gere and Diane Lane. Its no longer sitting out in the middle of the beach due to hurricane damage. It’s been moved, but it looked the same. We also crossed one of the most beautiful winding bridges. I normally hate bridges (yes they scare me) but this one was cool. 

We then continued on to Hatteras Island. And on to Ocracoke. Both of those areas were very rural and not really my favorite areas. They were small with occasional gift shops and restaurants. We had to take a ferry to Ocracoke. And then another 2 hour Ferry to Cedar Island to get back to the mainland and head home. All in all my favorite areas were Duck, Rodanthe and the Nags Head area. I guess in that order. Duck and Nags Head are more touristy. And have tons of shops, restaurants, piers, beach, etc and Rodanthe was so rural and beachy that it would be a beautiful place to spend quiet time alone. 

So, that’s my “review” of the area. It was a blast.

We had a few mishaps. Such as…who knew you couldn’t put bubble bath in a Jacuzzi tub? Not me!!! Haha…I filled the tub, threw in bubble bath (apparently a bit too much) jumped in and turned it on. Before we knew it we were drowning in bubbles! So there was my naked husband, completely covered in bubbles, shoveling buckets (using the trash can) of bubbles out of the tub and over the balcony! I was laughing so hard! O my goodness…so funny. 

My husband was bringing in the luggage. While getting in the elevator another woman kinda squeezed in and in doing so knocked over one of our bags. Crash….”oops, did I do that”? She says. Uh yeah…ya did. And that was my favorite wine glass and favorite coffee cup that I brought along. Broken. Hmmmm…

Who wouldn't stop for this beauty?

And then the Ferry ride. Geez. I am used to being on a ferry. As I said we live in an beach town ourselves and there is a ferry that we take quite often. But its about 30+ minutes and this one in the OBX is 2 hours. It was also an incredibly rough ride. And I mean rough with very high winds which was a bit unsettling to me. And then when I went to get out of my car to go upstairs and sit in the viewing room, the wind grabbed my car door and flung it into the car next to me. Are ya kidding me??? Geez. The guy was really nice about it though and we exchanged insurance info and went about our day.

On the drive home we had to stop in the middle of traffic to let this guy cross….

On another note, I found this beautiful coffee cup that I fell in love with. Four years ago my daughter lost her best friend. They had been friends all there lives, since about 3^rd grade. They grew up together and had there first child at the same time. Sadly, Beth died tragically 4 years ago. You can read about that tragic loss here. I loved her. Since as I said she was my daughters best friend so she was at my house all the time. If they weren't at my house then they were at her mama's house. Beth called me GiGi. Always did. It was just her thing. While shopping in Nags Head I found this cup. I've never seen one with this name before. How awesome is that? I guess there was a reason my coffee cup broke in the elevator. Lol…

So all in all, we had an amazing time filled with laughter, love and adventures. It was really fun. I highly suggest the Outer Banks for a vacation spot and I definitely will go back. How about you? Have you gone to the OBX? And if so what is your favorite spot? And please let me in on any great restaurants or hot spots!