It All Started over Lunch

The Outer Banks beaches of North Carolina are some of our favorite places on Earth. We are lucky enough to visit three or four times a year. I pulled this article out of archive, an essay I wrote ten years ago for My Outer Banks Home about our first trip there. Enjoy!

Not long after my husband and I moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia back in the fall of 2001, my co-workers at the local paper started raving about their favorite vacation spot, the Outer Banks, about its unique shops and restaurants, the atmosphere, the lifestyle. Our curiosity piqued, the two of us hopped in our car a few months later, on Valentine’s Day in 2002, and headed down Interstate 64, newly wed, and new to the South, unsure where in the world we were going, but excited to discover, to take in all that awaited us once we arrived. Turned out, we drove the three hours to the Outer Banks simply for lunch, but it was the most wonderful lunch we’ve enjoyed, an experience we would never forget. Since Nags Head (what kind of name is Nags Head, we wondered as we passed the mile marker signs along Route 158) appeared to be a ghost of a town in the dead of winter (winter, huh? Mild, sunny, with kids playing baseball in February? We could get used to this!), we made our way across the bridge to Roanoke Island and the tiny town of Manteo. There, we stumbled upon a quaint little eatery, Full Moon Café, overlooking the small town. We sat by a window, soaking in Manteo’s serene personality. After our delightful meal, we walked around a bit, stopping in and out of the local shops (a kite and flag store, a peanut store, a beach bookstore), then back in our car and away we went, back to our new home just a state away, rejuvenated, and determined to visit and explore our neighbor again someday. Well, someday turned into many days, as we’ve made annual treks to these Outer Banks ever since, each time staying in a different town. In addition to Manteo’s charm, we’ve discovered the tranquility of Duck and Corolla, the history of Kitty Hawk, the gem in Jockey’s Ridge (A frequent hangout of ours, we’ve stopped there each Father’s Day since our first child was born in 2004, traveling down just for the day to fly our kites at the state park, to enjoy a picnic lunch there, then cross the highway for a dip in the ocean), and, our current favorite getaway, the wonder and beauty that is the Cape Hatteras National Seashore (Last August, when we sunk our feet in its sands for the first time, we were literally the only souls on the beach, and awestruck at how just for those few hours a little piece of the Outer Banks belonged only to us). We look forward to spending time here each year, and yearn for the day when we can make our stay in the Outer Banks a permanent one.