As the title states, I went on a large family vacation last week to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I've been twice before, but the last time was about 8 years ago. We went with my mom's family (her four brothers and most of their kids/significant others/etc). We started the week with about 24 people I think, but a few had to leave early for work and such. There is no easy way to fly to the coast, so most of us decided to drive. I had the idea to leave a day early and make a Baltimore stop on the way (it didn't take me too far of course).
I left Friday morning and drove through to Bmore. Since I know Jesda likes food pictures, so I grabbed a couple of my lunch:
It tastes ok, but it does kind of look like a wrapped turd:
I also wish the midwest shared some of the scenery of either coast as it made the drive far more enjoyable.
I wanted to hang with Michele and Ryan and meet Dante, and I also hoped John would be around for a bit. I accomplished all of this and was able to enjoy some excellent lasagna from Michele. We chilled for a bit and hit a bar. Of course I didn't take any pictures cause I'm an idiot. After hanging out into the wee hours of the morning, I figured it would be better to just hit the road rather than catch a short nap, so without sleep I trekked on. I thought this sign was a bit demanding, so I grabbed a shot:
And I ended up sitting in traffic for most of the drive from Bmore to the OBX. It cleared up a bit near Norfolk and remained open until about 15 miles from the island. For anyone ever planning on making the trip from the midwest, certainly head south first before heading east. There is a south bridge that has far less traffic.
I found it amusing that my navigation made it look like I was in the middle of the sound. I also enjoyed the town name "Coinjock"
Once I hit the island, it's basically a single road heading north (our house was north, but the island stretches far to the south as well) and the speed limit is relatively slow:
We stopped and got some groceries we needed for the week. Saw this pull into the parking lot (and it had PA plates, so I was slightly shocked he drove it so far on vacation):
The house we stayed in was amazing. Clearly, to fit 24ish people, it needed to be relatively large. The rental price seems shocking at first when looking at some of these places, but when split 20+ ways, it's less than $1k for the week. Most of the places have the rooms on the lower floors, so the common area can be on the highest floor with the best view. I snapped a few photos of the kitchen/dining area (the first is the view you see when you first walk up the stairs to the top floor):
If you didn't feel like taking the stairs (or carrying coolers of food up to the fridge), you could've rocked the elevator. It was slow as balls, but it had a cool design behind a door:
I didn't take any photos of the front of the house as it wasn't that exciting. I did take one looking out, and you can tell that houses are kind of shoe-horned in here:
The back of the house, on the other hand, was far cooler looking:
And one from the beach:
The pool was a decent size, and came complete with a kiddy pool and a hot tub:
There was also a table and chairs in the pool, but the chairs were too high so too much of your body was out of the water while seated, IMO:
Step out of the second floor bedrooms, and there is ample deck space for relaxing or whatever:
The top deck had a better view (the sliding doors to the right lead into the kitchen/dining area):
If you looked off the back of the top deck, you were looking over our private pool at the ocean:
While most of you were getting ready for work or starting work, I began the day enjoying a bloody mary with a view (going back to work tomorrow will suck):
From the top deck, here is the view north:
And south:
The last day we had some nasty seas. My cousin informed us later that someone was dragged out with the undertow and drown. The lifeguards were recommending extreme caution for swimmers. I was dumb and went out a couple of times without a swim buddy. Personally, I didn't think the currents were that bad, and the waves were kind of fun. However, swimming out a bit would drag you south a few hundred yards every couple of minutes. Getting back to shore wasn't difficult, but it made for a long walk back to the house:
I spent most of the week drinking on the beach or at the pool and stuffing my face on amazing food. Once again, I failed at getting pics of the food because I was too busy nomming. We did do a bit of sight seeing though. First stop was a lighthouse a few miles north:
They let visitors climb to the top for $7 iirc, and the steps up looked kind of cool from the bottom:
The view from the top, about 200 feet up, was pretty epic. It also illustrates how narrow the island is:
I snapped a few more from the ground up:
The next day, we headed out to the Wright Brother's Memorial. The monument is on top of the hill where the ran experiments with their gliders before developing the aircraft. They were from Ohio (I believe) but traveled out every winter to experiment (after dealing with the heat and humidity I can understand why they chose the winter, plus I think the weather was more stable and led to more consistent wind).
And I do realize I overexposed the snot out of this one. I guess I didn't take another shot:
Here is a shot looking off the hill. The field is where they actually flew. You can see the flight area way down at the end if you zoom in (marked by some stones):
Walking from the hill to the flight area, there was this sign:
But I certainly didn't see any. Am I missing something?
Here, I'm standing at the launch point for the flights. The brothers made four that day, and each one is marked with a stone signifying the distance traveled. It really puts the first "successful" flight in perspective (120 feet in 12 seconds I believe):
I walked out to the end and took a picture looking back. If you zoom in, you can see the large stone that is sitting at the launch point - it is to the right of a guy in a white shirt):
Also, they didn't use a runway. Rather, they fabricated a rail out of wood and some metal. As the plane was getting up to speed, the brother not flying would run along side it holding a wing to stabilize it, then let go at the launch point (this is a replica of the rail, as I'm sure the wood would rot in that weather over 100 years):
Finally, the last thing we checked out was some of the crabs that come out at night. These things burrow into the sand during the day and you can actually see some of the holes they make when you're chilling on the beach. Armed with flashlights and booze, we set out and my flash worked well enough to catch a couple of them. They were honestly running around everywhere. You probably see one every 25 feet or so:
Being close to the beach, we had at least one in our pool or hot tub every morning. I think fishing them out is what gave my cousin's husband the idea to grab a skimmer to take out to the beach to flick them back into the water or at other members of our party.
When that one got agitated enough, it stood up ready to fight. My uncle decided the best action would be to offer the little guy a drink (don't worry, it was just MIller Lite, and not Yuengling):
The rest of the time was basically spent relaxing. Lots of reading, and our family is huge into gin rummy, so we had a tournament. We played some golf and the women-folk did some shopping. All in all, just a lazy, relaxing week. I woke up to hit the road at 1:30 in the morning to try to beat the check out traffic. Took a shot of what I believe was a coal plant in WV:
Spent more time booking through the mountains and enjoying my drive. Then, I hit Indiana and all we really have is a windmill farm:
And finally, I saw this cloud and couldn't stop laughing. Anyone think they see the same resemblance I do?
I probably should have taken more pictures, but there aren't too many places I can hide a camera in a swim suit. That and I don't particularly want to ruin cameras with water.
Anyway, I would highly recommend the trip out for anyone looking for a fun vacation destination. There are tons of different size houses you can rent for a week depending on how many people you have. I also don't think it is crazy expensive, as all the houses should have a kitchen where you can cook so you don't have to go out for all your meals. If you're interested, just google "Outer Banks Rentals" and you'll find numerous realty companies that rent these places out. During peak season (like right now), you should be able to find houses from probably about $2k to over $20k. The ones on the sound side tend to be cheaper. If anyone is looking for any more ideas/info, feel free to hit me up.
