The Casanova Family: Outer Banks Vacation!

Last week we visited the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We flew in to Raleigh on Sunday and then drove a little over three hours to our condo in Nags Head. Sarah and I were in desperate need of a vacation and the kids had been looking forward to the beach all summer.

Sunday, July 22

Departing from KCI at 11AM. Flight and rental car went fine. The drive out was scenic and there was no traffic on a Sunday evening.

The giant bridge over Croatan Sound told us we were getting close!

We made it!

First steps on the sand...

First of many times dipping our toes in the waves.

Monday, July 23

The forecast was for rain. Rain, rain, rain, and more rain all week long. Monday morning it was raining. There isn't a whole lot to do indoors in the area. We found Raleigh State Park on Roanoke Island. This is where Sir Walter Raleigh set up the famous Roanoke colony and where Virginia Dare, the first English person to be born in the New World, was born. It is also where the Roanoke Colony was before it disappeared. I've always been fascinated by the mystery...

We watched a 15min movie about the lost colony and looked at historic artifacts. I enjoyed it, but the kids wished they were at the beach.

This is the site of the original fort.

Before lunch we decided that even if it was raining, you would already be wet at the beach, so we walked down and stood in the surf. The waves were pretty rough the first couple of days. It wasn't a tropical storm, but they were getting tons of rain and it was causing rip currents and a very harsh shore break where the waves brake right next to the shore. It feels like getting your feet sandblasted. :)

Elsie is SO happy she is doing cartwheels!

After lunch the weather improved some, so we decided to go see the Bodie (pronounced "body") Lighthouse. We had planned to walk up it, but there was about a 2hr wait, so we just walked around the grounds. It was really neat!

Kinda glad we didn't end up walking up. :)

After the lighthouse we drove south across the Oregon Inlet and found a protected seashore where there were no houses. It was almost deserted and it was very pretty. The kids collected lots of shells. We brought home at least 10lbs of seashells!

The treacherous Oregon Inlet, where the sound meets the ocean.

After a pit stop for ice cream it was back to the beach at our condo. This time we broke out the swimsuits.

Owen ran and ran and ran

Kicking back after a hard day...

For dinner, we ate at a place on the sound. This was our waiting area. We dined with the same view. I had a tuna steak and it was darn tasty!

And of course, mini golf.

The first night we were there, we noticed kids running around with nets and flashlights on the beach. Turns out, they were chasing ghost crabs. So we bought a net and took a bucket down to the beach to see what we could find. The kids ended up loving this and we did it most evenings.

Success!

Tuesday, July 24

Still raining on Tuesday, so we went to the Aquarium. It was super busy, but it was really neat!

The otter was doing all sorts of tricks for Owen. I should have taken a video...

They had a lab where sea turtles were brought for medical attention. Apparently, they are pretty busy, especially in the winter because cold weather can hurt them.

Petting the rays

AWESOME SHARK TANK!

Coincidentally, it was Shark Week on Discovery Channel, and we'd been watching a lot of it because the rain had been keeping us indoors.

After lunch it looked like the rain was going to stop, so we headed up to the Wright Brothers Monument which was just a few miles north. The main building was being renovated, so it wasn't open, but you could still tour the grounds. They had this really cool scale model of the Wright Flyer.

The monument was on top of a big hill that you had to walk up...

...and as soon as we got to the top it started raining. :(

So we walked down and across the field to where the first flights happened. That's me acting like an airplane. :)

Elsie was not impressed.

Whether he was interested or not, Owen at least played along. :)

To get to the last monument for the 4th flight, you had to walk through a few inches of water, or go around through the field. Owen and I made it around with our feet dry...only to blow it on the way to the gift shop and get our feet and shoes totally soaked.

What did Elsie do while Owen and I walked to the monuments? Hide out in the shed where the Wright Brothers worked on their planes.

Later at the beach...

Wednesday, July 25

Wednesday it was storming when we got up, then we hit the beach, then it stormed, then we hit the beach again.
Got some neat pictures though!

STILL running!

On our 2nd trip to the beach we took the boogie board...

The sun came out around dinner time so we ate outside at Nags Head Pizza Co. It was so beautiful!

After dinner it was mini golf and fro-yo

Thursday, July 26

Thursday was the only day it didn't rain. The sun felt really good!
We had booked a two hour fishing lesson at Jeanette's Pier just down the street.

The kids each caught one. We didn't have much luck aside from that.

The pier was really neat.

Since it was our first sunny day, we hit the beach after lunch. Not a lot of pics because we were all covered in sand and were wet.

My turn on the boogie board!

I got one!

For fun, I turned on the GPS on my watch and tracked my activity. When I went back to view the activity, it was kind of funny. Said I hit a max speed of 12.5mph (when I caught a wave on the boogie board). :)

Friday, July 27

Friday morning we went on a Dolphin Watching Cruise. It was basically a giant pontoon boat. Our captain said the sound is only an average of 3.5' throughout. A pontoon is a great way to get around the shallow waters.

After getting hit with a brief but very intense rain squall, it was dolphin time.

SO COOL!

Lunch with a view

In the afternoon, we ventured up the street to Jockey's Ridge State Park. It is essentially a gigantic sand dune.

We saw a lizard!

WOW

We hiked to the top and the view was great!

Dinner was at an upstairs, open air beach bar type place. The kids had a lot of fun because there were some guys kite surfing right outside. It was SO neat. They'd go one direction and then cut back against the wind and catch like 20 feet of air!

Go Karts and fro-yy

Saturday, July 28

We booked and air boat tour for Saturday morning. It was our last full day in Nags Head so we wanted to go out with a bang. Jamie, the guy who ran the boat, was awesome. He took us down the sound to the Bodie Lighthouse and Oregon Inlet and we stopped at a few sandbars to check out the wildlife. We got to see all sorts of nooks and crannies that were off the beaten path.

VROOM!

Watch the bird at the end of the video

This was our favorite activity of the whole trip. Awesome to get out on the water and so cool to see everything up close with a guide who knows what they are doing.

Rain came in the afternoon, but we made it down to the beach for a little while. Owen got the award for most awesome sea shell. He snagged it with his crabbing net between big waves.

One last round of mini golf and fro-yo... :)

Sunday, July 29

Saying goodbye to the beach before we head back to Raleigh

On the way back, we drove through the Alligator River National Wildlife Preserve. You basically just drive up and down gravel roads which have swampland next to them. It was pretty creepy to think about breaking down out there. There are gators, black bears, and lots of little turtles. There are also a bunch of snakes, horseflies, and who knows what else.

This guy was on the road and went into the water when we approached. We drove along with him for a little while and took pictures.

Right before we left the preserve we saw a bear!

The sightseeing wasn't over just yet. The Carolina Mudcats Minor League team (which was Owen's baseball team this year) are located just outside Raliegh, so we decided to pop in and see the stadium.

It was a Sunday and the team was out of town, but the stadium gates were open, so Owen and I just went on in. :)

After that we headed our hotel in Raleigh. We got a place with an indoor pool (because of the rain) and the kids swam before we went out for dinner.

Monday, July 30

Monday we swam again in the morning and even got in a game of pool before checkout. Our flight wasn't until 4PM so we killed some time at the mall before going to the airport. The flight was fine and we got back home around 7PM. It is nice to be home, but we all miss the beach and carefree life that you get to live when you are on vacation.

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