Our Outerbanks Vacation - Part I

We left for Outerbanks, NC on Saturday, September 15th for a week long stay in the town of Duck.  Rick, Addie, and I joined up with my immediate family to travel down to the Outerbanks.  Luckily, Southwest was having an amazing sale on flights and we were able to snag roundtrip airfare for the two of us for $280 total.  The drive from Ohio to Outerbanks is about 11 hours so add in a toddler who hates her car seat, we were sold.

The few weeks leading up to our trip I was getting really nervous about the flight.  I really hate flying, but my anxiety wasn't due to my fear of flying.  It was my fear of Addie having a meltdown on the plane and being those people you don't want to get stuck sitting next to on the plane.  I read lots of blogs and thought of things I thought would keep her entertained longest and made sure she had a bag full of distractions (more to come on that in a later post). 

So, we boarded the plane Saturday afternoon for Addie first plane ride from Columbus to Baltimore.  The flight was 50 minutes from gate to gate so it was quick intro flight for us both.  She did really great.  The flight was right around naptime so I was expecting her to pass out pretty early into the flight.  She did surprise me by staying awake for nearly the entire flight.  About 15 minutes prior to landing, she crawled onto my lap and passed out.  She remained that way during our entire hour and 15 minute layover and woke just as we were boarding the next leg to Norfolk, VA.  And wake she did.  She woke up screaming, bloody murder type scream.  Thrashing back and forth, didn't want to be held, didn't want milk, cookies, play-doh, nothing.  She screamed this way for 20 minutes while we all boarded and several minutes into the flight.

I started to panic because we were suddenly those people.  I've never felt so helpless in my entire life but nothing was making her happy.  Finally after 20 minutes, she passed out again and slept for another 50 minutes until we landed in Norfolk.  Success!  I've never been so happy to begin a 90 minute car ride to end at our final destination.

We stayed at a private home in a small community within the cute town of Duck.  The houses along the way were amazing and did I ever dream that one day I could own a house like those on a beach.

We loved the house.  Plenty of space for us all to get around and feel comfortable and was somewhat child proof for Addie.  We quickly unpacked and settled in for the night since we got in around 8 Saturday evening. 

Sunday we were up early and headed to the beach to put our "toes in water, toes in sand". 

The beach was gorgeous but the waves were killer and the water was cold.  The only place I've ever seen bigger waves was in Cancun several years ago. 

Even though the water was cold, Addie enjoyed playing in it for a while.

 For the rest of the afternoon we did some grocery shopping and just relaxed at the pool and house.

We ate dinner at the Sunset Grille and we weren't impressed so I would not suggest it. Service wasn't great, food was overpriced and they were small portions and really didn't taste good.

Tuesday, Rick, Addie and me loaded up our suits, buckets, and shovels and headed south to Ocracoke Island.  Rick did a lot of research leading up to our trip and found out that Ocracoke was ranked as one of the best places to find seashells.

 

The entire 2 hour drive is so scenic and weird at times.  This was our view for a majority of the drive.

Then you board a free ferry for another 40 minute ride.

I'll be honest, the ride was boring.

Especially when we we were beached on a sandbar for 10 minutes.

We finally arrived and the beaches were very nice.  Not so much luck on the shells though.

The rest of the week was spent at the house, at the pool, at the beach, at the clubhouse in the indoor pool (it was chilly some days), or shopping at the cute shops down Duck Rd.  We really loved Sooey's BBQ, great food, great prices, and a really cute waiter!

Check back next week for Part 2.

-stephanie