The Outer Banks, North Carolina
Back to the beach…
My husband and I discovered the amazing Outer Banks (OBX) while previously living in North Carolina and fell in love with the lighthouses. The beaches are great too! I’ve just outgrown sun worshiping. My idea of a good time on the beach is for a long walk to watch the waves and surfers, admiring the beautiful beach houses, and looking for unique sea shells.
Bodie Island Lighthouse
There are three lighthouses we revisit every trip; Bodie Island (pronounced Body), Currituck Beach Lighthouse, and Cape Hatteras. Each are open for climbing and are amazing in their own right. Bodie Island lighthouse is neatly tucked into the marsh land in Nags Head. There are a couple of easy trails to the water for admiring the lighthouse, birdwatching, and fishing. Inside the old lighthouse keeper’s residence is a gift shop. It’s super easy to access and there’s a beautiful beach, Coquina, across the road. Bodie Island is my favorite lighthouse; probably because it’s the first lighthouse I ever saw. Author, Eva Gates, writes wonderful cozy mysteries set inside Bodie Island Lighthouse. She has created a dreamy world where a library is inside the base of the lighthouse and one of the librarians lives in a perfectly cozy room upstairs.
Currituck Beach Lighthouse
Currituck Beach Lighthouse is to the north, in historic Corolla. I love the original brick color as its never been painted. It’s nestled among huge pine trees and close to the Whalehead Club. There’s a small house on site that serves as a gift shop, loaded with precious keepsakes. We’ve never been inside the Whalehead Club; instead, we enjoy walking around the park and taking in the gorgeous sound side views. It’s also worth the time to walk through historic Corolla after touring the lighthouse. It’s a step back in time with a coffee shop, bookstore, and an old time charter schoolhouse. The Island Bookstore is a book lover’s dream. I could live here happily ever after. We then ate lunch at Corolla Cantina; the Island Rice Bowl was awesome!
Cape Hatteras Lighthouse
Cape Hatteras lighthouse stands proudly on the Atlantic side of OBX in Buxton. It’s massive in stature, with large grounds perfect for gazing at this majestic beauty. They have a museum inside the old lighthouse keeper’s residence and a separate gift shop. The beach is nearby, perfect for lounging and soaking up the vacation atmosphere. Along the drive from Kitty Hawk to Buxton there are shops and restaurants. We ate lunch at Gidget’s Pizza and Pasta; excellent food and kind service. Hatteras lighthouse is my husband’s favorite. He’s an artist and I’ve been begging him to paint each of the OBX lighthouses. So far, he’s only painted Cape Hatteras and it’s a beautiful painting titled ‘I’ve Come to Take You Home.’ He used one of his photographs from our previous vacation as a reference. It’s stunning! You can also check it out on his website.
Manteo
For the first time, we visited downtown Manteo. It’s a nice historical downtown with shops and restaurants. There’s also the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse. It’s a small lighthouse that sits out in the water on a pier. Of course, I had to find the local independent bookstore, Downtown Books, where I purchased a signed copy of Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John. Lunch was yummy at Poor Richard’s Sandwich Shop.
An ocean front hotel…
We enjoy having our home base at the Hilton Garden Inn in Kitty Hawk. We are right at home with with an ocean front balcony. I don’t mind waking up in the middle of the night and being able to listen to the ocean waves crashing. The hotel is really nice with a restaurant, indoor and outdoor pools, and courtyard seating. They have an ocean pier that’s popular for fishing and relaxing.
Oh, the places to eat!
As for eating in the Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, and Nags Head areas, we love Pigman’s Bar-B-Que for their delicious Carolina BBQ. We love Mexican food and highly recommend both Chilli Peppers and 3 Tequilas. Chilli Peppers actually offers a wide variety of foods. They also seem popular to the locals for their bar. Barefoot Bernie’s also offers a bit of everything. Probably the most memorable restaurant we ate at was Vilai Thai Kitchen. It’s conveniently across the street from our hotel. We had the best waiter! This is a family business and our waiter was probably the youngest on staff. He was extremely professional, courteous, and responsive. The food was SO GOOD too!! The best place to get donuts is definitely Duck Donuts. Holy cow! We sure ate our share of sugar on this vacation and it’s totally worth it!
This wouldn’t be a complete blog post about our vacation if I didn’t mention playing putt-putt golf. I think we played every course available. We had a good time competing against each other and just pain goofing around.
Until next time, OBX! Stay sunny and salty!
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