761. The Outer Banks

Where: North Carolina
When: May 27 - June 1, 2017
With: Dave and the whooole family

When I thought of the Outer Banks, windswept dunes on barren beaches came to mind. When I thought of how I'd best like to experience the Outer Banks, I pictured a massive house for my whole family with more rooms than I could handle opening up right onto the sand. This was the only way I wanted to experience this beach destination.

So I got almost all of my wishes when Dave's mom suggested doing a massive family reunion in the Outer Banks. And while we weren't in the traditional Outer Banks, but just outside of them, we still got our windswept beaches with high dunes. That coupled with a stop at a few iconic spots in the actual Outer Banks, and I count this as an official trip to the OBX.

The house we rented was in Emerald Isle, North Carolina. While the traditional Outer Banks are a long stretch of barrier islands along the east coast of North Carolina, Emerald Isle is the barrier island that picks up at the southern end.

The house was everything I could have hoped for and more. It was a beautiful 4 story home right on the beach with...well more bedrooms than I could count, and even more beds than that. It had the perfect nautical decor to make us feel right at home on the beach, a great game room and a movie theater! And most importantly, it was all windows facing out towards the ocean. It was absolutely stunning!

The ultimate cherry on top to this beautiful house was the heated pool and hot tub in the patio. There is nothing like coming off the beach and jumping into a pool! 

So there's actually not too much else to say about the majority of the trip. We swam in the very warm Atlantic Ocean, built a lot of sand castles with Dave's little cousin, got to know distant family members, and watched thunderstorms over the water at night. Exactly how a beach vacation should be.

Thunderstorm by night. Almost looks like daytime.

The one adventurous day I had was with Jenna while all the men were out deep sea fishing. We hopped in the car and headed east towards the southern tip of the Outer Banks, Cape Lookout National Seashore, where there are two unique islands to explore, both only reached by ferry.

The first island was Shackleford Banks. This tiny island has literally nothing on it except a pack of wild horses! No one is quite sure how they got there, though a common theory is that they are descended from Spanish Mustangs that survived in a shipwreck in the 1700s. There are about 100 on the island, and while they are closely monitored by the park, they are completely self-sustained. 

When the ferry dropped us off, we were lucky enough to have passed some of the horses on the way over, so we knew where to set off to find them. They are those tiny specks on the edge of the island...curses for not bringing my good camera!!

When the captain of the ferry told us we may need to hike through some marshes to reach the horses, we said "ok!" and moved on. We first suspected this may be a harder hike than we first thought when we had to ford a knee-deep "river" of ocean water to continue to hike along the edge of the island. 

However, the subtle hoof prints in the sand made us excited to continue on. 

As we continued marching, the terrain went from beachy to distinctly marshy. While it was salt water, and I took comfort in that (alligators are only in fresh water, right?), there was definitely a lot of sea grass growing around us and clumps of oysters in the sand. 

However, just as we were considering to turn back, we could see the horses in the distance.

Sadly, it was very much in the distance. While I continued to march out into the water, I still felt so far from them, made to feel even farther by the crappy zoom capabilities on my iPhone. Jenna had long given up on this hike by this point.

So we decided to cut our losses and head back to the drop site. Somehow, we were the only ones left on the island at this point, and it gave me a glimpse of how Tom Hanks felt in Castaway while we sat in the sand waiting for the boat to return to us. 

And return it did, thankfully (I'm being dramatic, land was clearly in sight). 

Next stop was to Cape Lookout for a glimpse at the lighthouse that marks it. This island was much larger than Shackleford, and at least had a dock, some bathrooms and boardwalks to cross the dunes. And definitely some people. 

We luckily ran into a friendly ranger who gave us some quick fun facts about the lighthouse. Built in 1859, it was the second lighthouse built on this location. It's black-and-white diamonds provide more than just decor as the tips where they meet indicate north, south, east and west, so that boaters know where they are going by looking at it from sea. It is also about to go fully solar powered to light its still operational beacon. 

On the other side of the island is a beautiful beach where people pack up coolers and enjoy the white sand and blue waters. Since there aren't any shops on the island, a beach day here requires major forethought and packing or you'll be back on the boat home for lunch!

The Outer Banks was a gorgeous place and met all my expectations in years of dreaming about a beach vacation here. I would happily go back and explore some of the more remote areas of these islands. And hopefully rent another house with tons of people to explore it with!