Outer Banks and The Beaches

Every time I stand before a beautiful beach, its waves seem to whisper to me: If you choose the simple things and find joy in nature’s simple treasures, life and living need not be so hard. —
Psyche Roxas-Mendoza

There is no alternative to spending a relaxing day at the beach. There is nothing more relaxing than the warm grains touching our hearts. Therefore, close your eyes, deepen your breath, and let the positive vibes at the beach loosen up your mind. There were two reasons to visit the Outer Banks’ islands Ocracoke and Hatteras—solitude beaches and access to completely dark areas to see the milky way.

We planned a three day trip to Outer-banks. We left from Charlotte, NC at 2 a.m. in the night and it was going to be a 6-hour journey. We had rented a Ford Expedition as there were 9 of us. We reached the Outer Banks around 9 a.m. and the first thing that we did was to visit the sand dunes at the Jockey’s Ridge State Park. It felt like a desert in the middle of the ocean.

After walking, and running on the sand and splashing in the water, we all were like a bunch of hungry bears and decided to enjoy brunch at a local cafe called Old Nag’s Head Cafe. We ordered loaded pancakes, biscuits, a variety of omelets, sandwiches, and hashbrowns. The cafe also had house made beers which were good, although the freshly squeezed juice tasted more like canned juice.

Our check-in time at the Airbnb was 4 pm so we still had at least 4 hours before we all could go home, take a shower and sleep for a while. Our next thing on the list was to visit the museum of Wright brothers. The area was huge and the museum had many interesting and interactive things. We did not spend much time there as some part of the museum was not in an enclosed space and it was more than 40 ℃ outside. We ditched the museum midway and went to Sam & Ollie’s beach and sat there in the shade or went inside the water. The beaches on Hatteras Island are covered with colorful, big seashells. I collected a bunch of sea shells and was competing with a few kids.

After we were done with relaxing on the beach we went to our rented place and everyone took a shower and some of us got into the hot tub. The weather of the first day was not in our favor as it started raining and thunderstorms kicked in. That night we survived on frozen food that we bought from a nearby store, had beers and played various card games. The most fun we had was while playing (drunk) Head’s Up.

Next day we visited Pea island national wildlife refuge. The ranger over there told us that the best time to see a large variety of birds was during migration season which takes place in August and lasts for a few months. However, we did enjoy the cold breeze and a few bird species that were still there.

In front of this wildlife refuge was a secluded beach, and the only people over there were us and two seashell collectors. After an hour or so we went to Atlantic Coast Cafe for brunch. The place had a rating of 4.2 stars on Google and the food was good too, especially the fries, which by the way we ordered extra. Then we moved to a beach called Avon beach, put on our swimsuits and played catch ball inside the water. We never found out where time flew. Then we came home rested for a while because there was a long night ahead of us, about which you can read in my next post.

By the time we came home after star gazing, it was already 4 a.m. in the morning and we went straight to sleep because we had to check out at 10 a.m. After checking out, all of us visited a souvenir shop nearby and bought some nice souvenirs to commemorate our trip. We headed to see the Cape Hatteras LightHouse. It is the second tallest lighthouse in the world and first tallest in the United States. Towering at 210ft and located 1500ft from the water’s edge, it has served as an imperative navigational aid for ships for decades. That day we had breakfast at Bros Sandwich Shack. The place has won many awards and has a variety of options when it comes to burger patties. I liked waffle fries and quinoa burger. Every one of us was happy with our order.

After breakfast we again began our journey to Charlotte, NC and back to our nests.