A couple of weeks ago we headed south for a week in the Outer Banks with some family.
None of us had ever been there before, so we were excited to check out someplace new.
Well, most of us were excited. ;)
I have always heard that the Outer Banks didn't have a lot to do, or restaurants to eat at, etc.
So I wasn't super excited about going to be honest.
And we booked this vacation prior to Covid hitting.
So I was already nervous about not having places to go to eat and such, and then things started getting shut down :(
Some things, including the actual Outer Banks, reopened in May and some more in the beginning of July.
I'm getting ahead of myself a bit.
Let me back up and start from the beginning of our trip.
We woke up way too early on a Thursday morning and hit the road for Norfolk, Virginia.
We decided instead of making a couple of stops on our way down to North Carolina, we would drive a bit farther and stay in one place for two nights.
Especially with Covid, it was much easier to just unload a few things from the car for a couple of days in the same location.
With some stops and such, we made it to Norfolk by the late afternoon.
We chilled for a bit in our room and then grabbed some dinner at one of the restaurants in our hotel.
X really liked it ;)
The food was good and we loved the atmosphere at Grain.
The next day we casually woke up and got ready to explore the waterside area of Norfolk.
We grabbed some brunch and then walked around by the water and such.
IT WAS SO STINKIN' HOTTTTT!!!!!
These metal letters were so cool!
Just as we were about to head back to our hotel, we decided to make a stop and check out the USS Wisconsin battleship.
I didn't mention this above, but the views of the Elizabeth River from our hotel room were gorgeous!!!
After cooling off in our hotel room for a bit, we headed out for an early dinner across the street at the Waterside District.
We hit up the hotel pool before calling it a night.
We had heard stories of how jammed up the bridge is crossing over to the Outer Banks, so we headed out pretty early Saturday morning.
One more pic of that beautiful view before we left Norfolk :)
Thankfully it wasn't too bad at all and we were all hanging out on the beach by 10am waiting for our house to be ready.
Downside of the entire trip...the house wasn't ready until after 4pm!!!
None of us had experienced that before, so it was hard to have to sit and wait so long.
But once we were in the house everything went really well all week long!
The view off one of the back decks of the house!
The area we stayed in was super small, so we had views of the ocean and the sound!
While there really wasn't much in the area we were staying, we were able to hit up the grocery store and a few restaurants that had dine-in seating about 25-30 minutes south of us.
We ate at the Froggy Dog in Avon, NC.
As well as Dirty Dick's Crab House, Watermen's Bar & Grill, and then pick up takeout from Top Dog Cafe and Atlantic Coast Cafe.
The rest of the evenings we had dinner at home.
The guys all went on a fishing charter one of the days on the Pamlico Sound.
They all seemed to love it, but just wish more fish were biting that day!
One other thing that wasn't so great about the Outer Banks in my opinion...
The beach.
It just wasn't that great to me.
The sand was super soft and there were so many dunes!
And the rip tide was insane!
We did venture to the Pamlico Sound side one day and it was nice, but just wasn't the same as being ocean side to me.
The boys enjoyed themselves though!
X and Kellen had a field day finding little dead fish.
YUCK!!
This kid was arguing with me that I should just hold the dead fish.
And that it wasn't a big deal!
He didn't win the argument ;)
Our house was awesome though!
The owners of the place we stayed have thought of everything!
Talk about a full kitchen, bathrooms, etc.
I don't think there was anything I could think of they didn't have in that house for us to use during our stay.
On the outside we had a our own pool, hot tub, tiki bar with outdoor cooler, a shed filled with floats, chairs, etc. and two big beautiful outdoor showers.
It definitely made staying at home during the day and eating quite a few dinners there easy to handle.
It was really was a great week :)
I felt relaxed and recharged.
And now I'm totally ready for fall!
Have you ever been to the Outer Banks?
If so, what area have you stayed?
What are you favorite beaches to go to for vacation?
Wishing you all a Happy Monday!
XOXO ~ Vanessa
None of us had ever been there before, so we were excited to check out someplace new.
Well, most of us were excited. ;)
I have always heard that the Outer Banks didn't have a lot to do, or restaurants to eat at, etc.
So I wasn't super excited about going to be honest.
And we booked this vacation prior to Covid hitting.
So I was already nervous about not having places to go to eat and such, and then things started getting shut down :(
Some things, including the actual Outer Banks, reopened in May and some more in the beginning of July.
I'm getting ahead of myself a bit.
Let me back up and start from the beginning of our trip.
We woke up way too early on a Thursday morning and hit the road for Norfolk, Virginia.
We decided instead of making a couple of stops on our way down to North Carolina, we would drive a bit farther and stay in one place for two nights.
Especially with Covid, it was much easier to just unload a few things from the car for a couple of days in the same location.
With some stops and such, we made it to Norfolk by the late afternoon.
We chilled for a bit in our room and then grabbed some dinner at one of the restaurants in our hotel.
X really liked it ;)
The food was good and we loved the atmosphere at Grain.
The next day we casually woke up and got ready to explore the waterside area of Norfolk.
We grabbed some brunch and then walked around by the water and such.
IT WAS SO STINKIN' HOTTTTT!!!!!
These metal letters were so cool!
Just as we were about to head back to our hotel, we decided to make a stop and check out the USS Wisconsin battleship.
I didn't mention this above, but the views of the Elizabeth River from our hotel room were gorgeous!!!
After cooling off in our hotel room for a bit, we headed out for an early dinner across the street at the Waterside District.
We hit up the hotel pool before calling it a night.
We had heard stories of how jammed up the bridge is crossing over to the Outer Banks, so we headed out pretty early Saturday morning.
One more pic of that beautiful view before we left Norfolk :)
Thankfully it wasn't too bad at all and we were all hanging out on the beach by 10am waiting for our house to be ready.
Downside of the entire trip...the house wasn't ready until after 4pm!!!
None of us had experienced that before, so it was hard to have to sit and wait so long.
But once we were in the house everything went really well all week long!
The view off one of the back decks of the house!
The area we stayed in was super small, so we had views of the ocean and the sound!
While there really wasn't much in the area we were staying, we were able to hit up the grocery store and a few restaurants that had dine-in seating about 25-30 minutes south of us.
We ate at the Froggy Dog in Avon, NC.
As well as Dirty Dick's Crab House, Watermen's Bar & Grill, and then pick up takeout from Top Dog Cafe and Atlantic Coast Cafe.
The rest of the evenings we had dinner at home.
The guys all went on a fishing charter one of the days on the Pamlico Sound.
They all seemed to love it, but just wish more fish were biting that day!
One other thing that wasn't so great about the Outer Banks in my opinion...
The beach.
It just wasn't that great to me.
The sand was super soft and there were so many dunes!
And the rip tide was insane!
We did venture to the Pamlico Sound side one day and it was nice, but just wasn't the same as being ocean side to me.
The boys enjoyed themselves though!
X and Kellen had a field day finding little dead fish.
YUCK!!
This kid was arguing with me that I should just hold the dead fish.
And that it wasn't a big deal!
He didn't win the argument ;)
Our house was awesome though!
The owners of the place we stayed have thought of everything!
Talk about a full kitchen, bathrooms, etc.
I don't think there was anything I could think of they didn't have in that house for us to use during our stay.
On the outside we had a our own pool, hot tub, tiki bar with outdoor cooler, a shed filled with floats, chairs, etc. and two big beautiful outdoor showers.
It definitely made staying at home during the day and eating quite a few dinners there easy to handle.
It was really was a great week :)
I felt relaxed and recharged.
And now I'm totally ready for fall!
Have you ever been to the Outer Banks?
If so, what area have you stayed?
What are you favorite beaches to go to for vacation?
Wishing you all a Happy Monday!
XOXO ~ Vanessa
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