Romantic plans for Outer Banks...what am I missing? About This Page:

[Courtney892]

We were given a week in the Outer Banks for our last anniversary, and due to strange availability around the time our coupon was expiring, we are leaving Saturday!! We're taking the trip there in 2 days just to slow down and stop anywhere we want along the way.

Though I was hoping to go when the weather was warmer and more things would be open, this will be a good time for us to just get away and do some relaxing as the last few months have been fairly brutal....several deaths among friends, work changes, etc

Is hubby and I only and we'll be staying right on the ocean in Kill Devil Hills from this Sunday to the following Sunday in a condo and will have a full kitchen. We are planning to have breakfast in the condo (though we're open to trying a really good breakfast out if someone has a restaurant suggestion), and will also do quite a bit of cooking in as nothing relaxes me as much as just being able to look at the ocean. I hope it is warm enough for us to do a picnic or two, maybe a crock pot meal or two, but we also do want to try out any real good restaurants that come recommended. Not so into the chains when on vacation.

Been trying to gather suggestions from previous OBX threads here but this is our first time here, so all suggestions welcome!

So our must dos so far:

Close to home we want to see the living dune at Jockey Ridge State Park (try for sunset at least once). We want to fly kites and climb the dune. Read there is good eating across from the park.

Wright Brothers National Memorial

Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum

Also I read that the Rundown Cafe has awesome burgers.

I will be honest that while I did quite a bit of research back when we booked the trip. I can't find anything I wrote down about the ferry schedules,and I forgot to sit down with it again to try to get it well in mind till now

We absolutely want to drive to all the lighthouses--don't think any will be open for climbing, but we like drives and water and lighthouses so should be win-win-win.

We want to spend some extra time at the Hattaras Seashore--Have heard that we should go to The Cape and possibly eat at The Fish House

Definitely want to see Orcacoke Island and possible just walk around or rent bikes. The Blackbeard Museum sounds wonderfully cheesy, see the pony's and see the British Cemetery.

I would love to see the Nag's Head Woods Preserve and do a little hiking

Literally can't remember how far away Manteo is from where we'll be but I have listed the Aquarium and to try to go on the first Friday of the month (didn't write down why)

If anyone has any suggestions at all or can let me know if anything we want to do will be closed during our visit, it would be a great help!

Thanks so much!!

[GingerJ]

Sounds like fun!

We have a cottage in Kill Devil Hills...right near the Outer Banks Beach Club and Sun Dunes Villas I think they're called. Are you at either of those?

Weather looks like high 40s/low 50s, so not that great, but not too awful either. At least the winds look to be fairly calm, and that makes a huge difference there.

Your plans sound great. Manteo is maybe 15 miles, 25 minutes or so from the heart of KDH.

Across from Jockeys Ridge, kinda, is a place called Sooey's Barbecue, which I only just tried for the first time last year! It's tiny, but the food is yummy, home-style, cheap, and plentiful. Be sure to try some Carolina barbecue...they'll probably let you taste it before ordering it if you want. Jockey's Ribs is also very near the dunes, but I haven't been there and can't give you much info about it.

My DH and DS17 have taken hang-gliding lessons at Jockeys Ridge, but they're probably not offered in February.

Have fun! And don't forget my absolute favorite: sunset walks on the beach!

Ginger

PS: Ooh, ooh, here's a fun thing--on the south side of the Wright Brothers Memorial State Park, there's a little park-type of thing, with statues of the brothers and a large metal replica of their airplane. It's a fun place for pictures. You can get there from the memorial itself.

[Courtney892]

Yes!! We are at the Outer Banks Beach Club...possibly II? Not sure but it is the oceanside. Thanks so much for the suggestions. I just really really want it to be a romantic and relaxing trip........and I know sometimes you can *work* too hard to try to make that happen, so having some good ideas of places to go in our pocket if we want to venture out rather than eat in will be a good plan for us this trip I think.

Do you know any really good out-of-this-world breakfast places nearby? I ask because my hubby breakfast out and I think it is nothing but a waste of money, so he often misses out on vacation breakfasts by just having them in the condo. I don't mind 1 or 2 really special ones though.

[GingerJ]

Here's a pancake place, think I ate there once years ago, but I'm not a big breakfast eater either. Stack'em High Check out the website--there's one very close, around milepost 9.5, on the bypass.

For other meals, my husband and sons love (and I like) Dare Devil Pizza, across the street from your condos.

Oh, quick tutorial in case you didn't know....the mileposts start at zero when you cross the bridge from the northern part of the Outer Banks, and the numbers increase as you go south. You have "the beach road" (Virginia Dare Trail), which your condo is on...and the bypass, also known as Croatan Highway or Rte. 158, 2 very short blocks west of the beach road. The condos are at milepost (MP) 9. That info will help you find pretty much anything!

So, the YMCA is at MP 11 on the bypass, and there's a nice scrapbook store around 10.5 on the bypass. Jockeys Ridge is something like MP 14 on the bypass, and the KMart is MP 6.5. We recently found a neat little restaurant/bar called Lucky 12 Tavern, at MP 12 on the beach road. The food is good, great variety, fun surroundings, and the menu descriptions are a hoot.

Oh, and there's an outlet mall around MP 16 or 17 on the bypass. Food Lion is the biggest local supermarket, and there's one at MP 7 and 10.5, both on the bypass. Hope all this helps...have a wonderful time!

Ginger

PS: I'm with you on breakfast out, too! I usually eat fairly light breakfasts, but when I go out, I end up eating a lot of food, consuming too much time, calories, and money!

[Courtney892]

Hope all this helps...have a wonderful time!

You have been SO SO SO helpful, and I really appreciate it. I have looked through several travel books on the Outer Banks and I don't think any of them mentioned the mile markers! Also I scrapbooking so finding out about that store is awesome.

PS: I'm with you on breakfast out, too! I usually eat fairly light breakfasts, but when I go out, I end up eating a lot of food, consuming too much time, calories, and money

That is so funny as it is exactly like me. I mostly eat fruit.....maybe fruit and an egg in the mornings, but when I go out to breakfast I want a 'little' of a bunch of different things and it ends up being ridiculous!

I do have one other question if you have the time about Duck. Everyone says we MUST see it. Does that mean plan to drive up there and see the sights and the beaches, or does that mean there are specific things we should plan to do there?

[GingerJ]

We used to stay up by Duck & Southern Shores, and I don't recall much about it. I guess it has more of a "village" feel to it than the rest. I don't even remember much to do up there, but they do have some special events in the summer.

Did you go to the on-line OBX sites? Let me see if I can find one or two....Okay, here's one: Outer Banks Of North Carolina - Carova Beach, Corolla, Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, Rodanthe, Avon, Waves, Salvo, Buxton, Ocracoke Village, Manteo, Wanchese and Roanoke Island If you click on the Duck link, it tells you more about it. It mentions the village-y feel, boutiques, etc.

One last thing...pretty much all the stores and restaurants have the free tourist magazines, with lots and lots of coupons for restaurants and other things. For instance: Jolly Roger is a fun place, mostly Italian food and of course seafood, and all the magazines have coupons for buy-one-get-one-free entrees there if you're seated by 5:30, I believe. Most coupons are not quite that generous, but there are some gems.

The tourist magazines--Sunny Days is the only one I remember top of my head--will also have lots of info on what to see and do, usually with nice descriptions of all the towns and areas.

Enjoy your romantic getaway!

Ginger

PS: When you go to the scrapbook store, tell her you heard about it from Ginger! She has tons of beautiful beach papers and embellies. For some poopyhead reason, I can't keep her name straight in my head...Debbie or Karen or Susan, something like that.

[GingerJ]

Courtney, How was your trip??? Hope you had a great time.
Ginger

[Courtney892]

ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS!!! One of my most enjoyable just the 2 of us USA destinations. I loved all the helpful hints here and we took advantage of as many as we could. We came home on March 2 and several things didn't open until March 1, so we were limited in how many of them we could try We have a late October anniversary and we hear that is actually one of the best times to visit Sept/Oct time, so we will definitely be planning a trip back!

Thanks for asking And for your help!!