Travel Flashback: The Outer Banks

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Too bad it's Monday and we're back to work today. Maybe I'll have a margarita later to celebrate? Anyway, I've been sharing all of the places we got to visit on our East Coast vacation in June of 2012. This weekend, I shared our experiences in Washington D.C., and Virginia Beach. Today is all about The Outer Banks, NC. (Warning: It's long, but there's lots of photos!)

I think it's safe to say that the Outer Banks was one of the coolest places I have ever seen, and one of my favorite places on the trip. We spent a full day driving through it, and exploring along the way. We drove from Virginia Beach, VA, through the Outer Banks, and all the way down until we got to our hotel in Wilmington, NC late that night. Here's a map of the Outer Banks to help visualize where we were:

We actually started in Virginia on 158, and went through Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, and all the way down to Hatteras. From there we boarded the ferry to Ocracoke, and then took a second ferry back toward Wilmington, North Carolina. A full day of driving and exploring the amazing sandy islands and the Atlantic Ocean!

Our first stop in the Outer Banks was in Kill Devil Hills (near Kitty Hawk). This is where the famous Wright Brothers made the first successful flight.

We're not total history buffs, but we thought it was kind of necessary while we were there, to stop at the First in Flight Memorial in Kill Devil Hills and check out the monument dedicated to Wilbur and Orville Wright and the famous first flights they made.

The monument was on top of a hill, kind of in the middle of nowhere. We first went into this building where they had a few exhibits, and then started the hike up the hill to see the monument up close and personal.

It was pretty cool, and the view from up on the hill was amazing.

It was really hot that day though, and making that trek up to the top of the hill, and all the way back, felt like running a marathon. My knee also started bothering me in Virginia Beach (I think from so much walking), and whenever I had to walk up and down steps it especially hurt. My legs were still sunburnt as well so I remember stopping a few times this day to apply more Aloe! Nonetheless, it was still an amazing day.

One of the coolest parts about the Outer Banks was just driving. And you have to do it with the windows down, at least for a little while.

There were sand dunes on each side of the road, and the sand was so white and so abundant. There were times when the island would get so narrow that you could see the ocean on both sides of the road, almost like an island bridge. 

There are several light houses in the Outer Banks, and we made sure to stop at a couple of them. This one is the Bodie Island Lighthouse in Nags Head, NC. It was in repair when we were there, so there was scaffolding surrounding it, unfortunately!

At a couple of points while driving down the island, we decided to stop and walk down to the beach. We had to walk over the sand dunes, which wasn't fun when you have a sore knee and sunburnt legs! I made it though!

Some of my favorite photos from the entire trip are from the Outer Banks. The sky was clear and blue, the ocean was clear, the sand was so pure...everything was just so pure and serene on these islands.

I collected a few shells, and it was nice to put our feet in the sand again.

When we got down to Hatteras, we took a ferry down to the island of Ocracoke. It was our first ever ferry ride, and it was very cool.

This was the shorter of the two ferries we took in the Outer Banks. (I think it was like 20 or 30 minutes) But I could not believe we were on a boat in the Atlantic Ocean!

Ocracoke was such a cool island. It almost felt tropical, but it was full of people, and lots of little shops. We drove from end to end, and may have even gotten lost a time or two. :) For dinner, we ate at a cool, laid-back bar and restaurant called Howard's Pub.

Trent had to have a taste of the local beer, Carolina Blonde.

 

We had a little time before we had to board the ferry (we couldn't get a ticket for the earlier ferry ride, so we had to board the later one). So we explored, went in some gift shops, and checked out the Ocracoke Lighthouse.

Then we went down by the pier and waited to board the ferry. 

Considering this was the view, we didn't mind waiting...

The sunset got even more beautiful when we were on the ferry. Leaving Ocracoke and heading out into the Ocean, really made it feel like we were in the middle of the ocean. The land behind us got smaller and smaller, and soon we were on a boat watching the sunset. It was one of the best endings to an amazing day.

It was windy on top of the ferry, so I didn't stay up there the entire time. It got darker, and the breeze got chillier, so I went back into the car and read for the rest of the trip. But Trent stayed out there enjoying the ferry ride.

It was late when we got back to the "mainland," and had to drive to our hotel in Wilmington. I still feel like this was one of the coolest experiences we've ever had together, and North Carolina was definitely the highlight of our East Coast vacation for me. The beaches, the light houses, the ocean, the sunsets... It was amazing! I know there was a lot of pictures in this post, but it was hard to eliminate photos when there were so many great ones!

My next East Coast vacation post will be about our time in Wilmington and Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. We loved North Carolina, so I can't wait to share more about our time there. Happy Cinco de Mayo, all!

East Coast Vacation 2012: Virginia Beach

To continue on with my East Coast Vacation flashback posts, today I'm sharing our experience in Virginia Beach. Trent and I spent two nights in Virginia Beach, after just having been to Washington, D.C. the day before. That had been a beautiful, surreal day in a wonderful city, but we were excited about seeing a beach, the ocean, and more importantly, the Dave Matthews Band concert in Virginia Beach (woot!).

We made a small side trip to the Arlington National Cemetery in the morning, and then drove to Virginia Beach that day. Our hotel was super nice, with a balcony overlooking the boardwalk, the beach, and the ocean. Here was the lovely Boardwalk view:

Trent spent a lot of time out here on our balcony watching the ocean waves, and he even got up in the mornings and watched the sunrise. I'm a little less of a morning person to do that.

The first night in VA Beach was the Dave concert. It's no secret we go to their concerts every year, so how could we pass this one up?

We were front row in the lawn / fan club area. And of course Dave was amazing as always.

Just looking at this pictures gets me excited for seeing them again in a couple of weeks! May 16 in Houston this year...can't wait!

Below is a picture of the Virginia Beach boardwalk at night from our hotel balcony. It was so peaceful at night by the ocean, listening to the sound of waves crashing. It was a little chilly at night, but for the most part, we had perfect weather the week of our trip, which was awesome.



Here's one of those Virginia Beach sunrises that Trent woke up early to see and take photos of:



We spent the next morning on the beach right outside our hotel. It was nice, because we could just walk right out there, and there it was. The beach, the ocean, and relaxation..It doesn't get much better than that!



I don't think I spent much time in the ocean - Trent swam in the ocean everywhere we went, but I think I just dipped my feet in here. I mostly enjoyed laying out on my towel with my feet in the sand. :)

One of my favorite things about Virginia Beach was that everything was right there, on the beach. There were so many cute beachy restaurants right next to our hotel, like where we had lunch - Chix Sea Grill and Bar. We stayed at the Ramada, and this was just a short walk away. We ate outside on the patio.

That evening we walked along the boardwalk, went to a few gift shops, and explored. It got a little overcast that afternoon and sprinkled a little bit, but it wasn't too bad. I liked how laid back Virginia Beach was. It was a perfect city to just spend a couple of days by the beach.





Of course we had to stop and take a few photos along the way, like when we stumbled upon these pretty cool fish sculptures...



And this King Nepture statue was definitely the highlight of the boardwalk:

We had both gotten a lot of sun that day, and I remember my legs were SO sunburnt! We walked into a Walgreens store and I got some Aloe to put on them. I was applying that the rest of the vacation!

We ended our last night there by eating at Waterman's Surfside Grille. Trent got their "famous" Orange Crush, and I got a Tequila sunrise. Oh yeah, and we had food, too. :)

It was the nice little couple of days of relaxation that we needed after all that walking in D.C.! Here's a picture of the last sunrise of our days in Virginia Beach. Taken early in the morning when they scrape the sand to get ready for another beach day -



After Virginia Beach, we headed to North Carolina, specifically the Outer Banks, which will be covered in my next vacation post! If you haven't seen enough of the beautiful Atlantic ocean, you're about to see plenty more in my next couple of posts....