Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

*Note:  This is not a sponsored post.  I was not paid by any of the companies in this post or any of the linked posts.  I did not receive any products in exchange for writing this post.  This post is based on my own personal experience.

How to Vacation in the Outer Banks without Breaking YOUR Bank

My husband and I just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary.  We decided to celebrate by taking a vacation in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  We wanted to take an entire week, but we didn’t think we had enough money.  We were afraid we might not get to go until we remembered Just Gotta Go.  Several years ago, we took the family to Orlando, Florida for an entire week.  We had never taken an entire week before, but we were able to secure a top-notch condo for the entire week for just $700.  The condo included a full kitchen and dining room, living room, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a washer, and a dryer.  We enjoyed a huge TV and ceiling fans.  It was amazing.  I was sure we would be charged a lot more at check out because the condo was way too nice for just $700 for the whole week.  Thankfully, there were no unexpected expenses and the entire week total for the condo was $700.  We decided to check Just Gotta Go and I’m so glad we did.  We were able to get a whole week in a condo at Barrier Island Station in Duck, North Carolina for just $625.  Once again, I was a little bit nervous because you’ve heard the saying, “If it is too good to be true, then it isn’t true.”  However, again, there were no unexpected charges and our entire week long vacation in the Outer Banks totaled $625 for the condo.

For Your Convenience:

Just Gotta Go Website

Just Gotta Go on EBay (This is where we purchased both of our vacation rentals.)

After purchasing our rental, we set out on a 9 hour road trip.  Our trip up there took longer than 9 hours because we heard about the ferry system.  I wanted to ride a ferry so we drove to Cedar Island, North Carolina to board one.  If you decide to ride a ferry, be sure to make reservations first.  We didn’t know this so we waited in line for about 2 hours just to take a chance on getting on the ferry.  They only take about 40 or 50 cars, depending on weight.  We didn’t make the ferry.  We had two choices.  We could back-track inland and continue on the road north to the bridges or we could wait on another ferry.  We were guaranteed a ride on the next one, but we would have to wait 3 more hours.  Either way, we would get there about the same time.  We waited.  The good news is that the ferry ride costs $10.  That’s it, just $10.  Then, once you board, you can get out of your vehicle and make your way to the deck.  We enjoyed a nice ride that afternoon.  It took the ferry 2 hours to travel 28 miles but it was a nice ride.  Finally, we drove onto the southern Outer Banks.  After several miles, we boarded another ferry.  This ride was free and took about an hour.  We drove onto the area of Hatteras Island.  We drove the length of the Outer Banks, from Hatteras to Duck in about 1.5 hours.  We had planned to do this in daylight so we could see the area but since we missed the first ferry, we had to drive in the dark.  Be sure to make those reservations!

For your convenience:

North Carolina Ferry Division

We arrived at our condo at Barrier Island Station.  Just like years ago in Orlando, I was nervous.  Just like then, I wasn’t disappointed when we walked in the door.  The condo in Duck wasn’t as nice as the on in Orlando had been but it was perfect for us.

Ferry Boat - Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

 You can read my review on Barrier Island Station – Duck here.

To our pleasant surprise, tourist attractions as you vacation in the Outer Banks are not too expensive.  Here are several things we did.  Click on the links for details.

Shop the Waterfront Shops 

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Visit the Wright Brothers Museum and National Monument 

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

 Visit Whalehead in Historic Corolla 

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Visit the Currituck Lighthouse 

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

 Visit Roanoke Island and see the Lost Colony Outdoor Drama

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

The last thing we did before heading home was to kayak on the Currituck Sound.  The Sound is shallow and not overcrowded.  It was fabulous!  There were a few other kayakers, one or two people on paddle boards, and a small motor boat in the distance, but for most of our 2 hours on the water, it was just us.  We rented our kayak from Ocean Atlantic Rentals on Highway 12, just before you get to the Waterfront shops.  We rented an Old Town Double Sit-In for 2 hours and it only costed $ 42.70.  It was more than worth it.  We live near a huge lake so now we’re in the market for our own kayaks.  I don’t know why we haven’t tried it before.  Be sure to kayak on the Sound if you’re in Duck.  You won’t regret it.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

 Yep, that's me enjoying a kayak on the Currituck Sound.

The only thing that seemed expensive to us was the food.  Restaurants seemed pricy but we did enjoy some good food.  Since we didn’t spend a fortune on a place to stay and the attractions were affordable, we didn’t mind enjoying a few meals even if we thought they were too expensive. 

Read about a few places to eat here.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

We enjoyed our week by the Atlantic Ocean in the Outer Banks, North Carolina area.  If your planning a trip to that area, I hope this information helps you.  There are SO MANY things to do there.  I'm not sure we could do it all if we were there for a month.

Here are a few other resources which might help you plan your trip.

Read about other great places to visit in the Outer Banks of North Carolina here.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Today I want to tell you about restaurants in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  There might be a few fancy restaurants around the area, but we chose a few smaller eateries instead.  Some friends of ours told us about the Bad Bean Baja Grill so that’s the first place we headed.  The restaurant is located in Kitty Hawk, just a few miles south of Duck.  I ordered the Taco Salad.  It was the best taco salad I’ve ever eaten and I’ve eaten a lot of taco salads.  The food had a different sort of favor.  I’m really not sure how to describe it but to just tell you it was different.  It was different in a really good way.  I opted to add beef brisket to my salad.  It was absolutely delicious.  My husband ordered a burrito and it was huge.  He loved his meal too.  It’s the only place we swore to revisit before our journey home.

Restaurants in the Outer Banks

 The Bad Bean Baja Grill Taco Salad

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Duck Duck Burgers is another day for lunch.  The restaurant is located on Highway 12 right there in Duck on the opposite side of the street from the Boardwalk.  It was a cute little burger place that seemed a little bit retro.  We liked the atmosphere there.  The burgers were a bit expensive for our tastes.  After pricing a $12 burger, we noticed that most toppings costs an extra $1.00 per topping!  We thought that was outrageous.  The meal was OK.  It was close to our resort and the food was good.  It wasn’t $15 dollars good, but still good.  As far as restaurants in the Outer Banks goes, if you are staying in Duck, you have to drive a little ways to get to most of the restaurants.  Most of them are down in the Kitty Hawk, Nags Head area.  This little place is right there in Duck so you don’t have to go far for a burger.  You just have to be prepared to pay more for it than you might be accustomed to paying.  Here are a few pictures of the place.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

If you won’t mind a 20 or maybe a 30 minute drive over to Roanoke Island, you will want to eat at the Avenue Waterfront Grill.  It sits right on the water.  We were fortunate enough to get a table right by the window where we could view the Roanoke Marshes Lighthouse.  We like inexpensive meals which is the reason we don’t go to fancy restaurants much.  I wouldn’t necessarily consider this a fancy restaurant.   Casual attire is perfectly fine, but it is one of the nicer places we visited.  It was just a little bit pricy but the food was fabulous and the view was even better.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

 I only took the photo above because I smiled at the political statement.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

 The view from our dining table was nice.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

The dining room was large and airy.  It was such a nice place to enjoy an evening meal by the water.

There are many more restaurants in the Outer Banks area of North Carolina.  These are just a few of the ones we visited while we were there.  Maybe someday we’ll get a chance to go back!

Read about other great places to visit in the Outer Banks of North Carolina here.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Of all the things we did while we were visiting the Outer Banks, I think my favorite attraction was the Lost Colony Drama on Roanoke Island.  I remember studying about the lost colony as early as my elementary school days.  I’ve always loved history and this story captured my attention from the first time I heard it.  What happened to those first colonists?  Jamestown was the first successful English colony but the colony of Roanoke was the first actual attempt at an English colony in the New World.

 The Lost Colony Drama on Roanoke Island

In July 1587, 117 English colonists (men, women, and children) came to what is now American soil to establish the first English colony.  1n 1590, just three years later, the colonists’ governor returned from England with supplies to sustain the colony.  They found the area deserted.  There was no sign of the colonists except for two small clues.  On an abandoned structure was written the word “Croatoan.”  The letters “CRO” was carved into a tree.  Now, more than 400 years later, we still have no idea what happened to that small settlement of men, women, and children.  There are theories, but no one knows for certain what happened to them.

 You can learn more about The Lost Colony here.

For me, it was serene to stand there on those grounds among the same trees where the colonists would have built their homes.  I looked around and wondered what had happened a few hundred years ago on the very spot where I was standing.  Was there some sort of battle?  An attack? Or did these people simply move to a new place so that they could survive until help and new supplies arrived from England?  I doubt we’ll ever know.

If you get a chance to visit the visitor’s center on Roanoke Island, you can view artifacts from the colonists.  They know they are from the colonists because they have dated the items to those times.  Archeologists can determine what items were English and which ones were native.  We couldn’t take photos but looking at those items was interesting.  They still find things.  One of the artifacts we saw was found by a visitor as late as 2008.

When we stepped outside the back door of the visitors’ center, we stepped onto the same grounds where the colonists had lived before they disappeared.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

The monument in the photo above was placed there in 1896.  It marks the area where historians believe the colonists lived before they disappeared.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

The drama was awesome.  I wasn’t all that impressed at first.  I’ve always considered this subject a serious one.  I didn’t like some of the humor, I suppose.  It got better though.  I ended up enjoying the play.  If you visit Roanoke, be sure to see the play.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Be sure to check out The Lost Colony here while planning your trip.  They present different dramas on different days so you’ll want to plan your trip to Roanoke Island for the drama you want to see.

Read about other great places to visit in the Outer Banks of North Carolina here.

The Currituck Lighthouse – Outer Banks

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 The Currituck Lighthouse - Outer Banks, North Carolina

When we first decided to visit North Carolina’s Outer Banks, one of the first things on my “to do” list was to visit the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.  I really don’t know why I wanted to see it so badly except that I’m always seeing pictures and figurines of it.  I guess I developed a “liking” for it over time.  I was a little bit disappointed when I realized it’s location was about an hour and a half from our resort.  At first we had planned to make the drive but after spending two days in the truck, the last thing I wanted to do was get back in it for what I considered a long drive.  We looked at some tourist pamphlets and discovered that the Currituck Lighthouse was only 20 miles from our resort.  In fact, it’s location was at the end of the street where we were staying, the famous Highway 12.  So, on Wednesday morning, we headed down the street.  A resident of the area told us the Lighthouse is a nice one to visit but that it really isn’t all that pretty, “just plain brick all the way up,” she said.  I didn’t expect much but we really wanted to visit Whalehead which was right next door anyway so it certainly wouldn’t be a wasted trip.

Let me say up front that the Currituck Lighthouse was definitely not a disappointment.  The all-brick structure was absolutely beautiful.  In fact, I thought it was prettier than Hatteras or any of the other striped lighthouses.  Of course, I’ve only seen pictures of those.  I remember visiting a lighthouse in San Diego about 23 years ago.  This one, from what I can remember, was much prettier and more impressive than the one in San Diego.

As I stood outside and looked straight up at the tall structure, I wasn’t sure I could do it.  Climbing the lighthouse in San Diego had been easy, but I had been 23 years younger.  The thought of the climb intimidated me.  I was determined to make it to the top anyway.  Enjoy the pictures!

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

 The ground surrounding the lighthouse are peaceful.  It wasn’t overcrowded.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Just outside the lighthouse, there is an older house.  If I remember correctly, the house used to belong to one of the lighthouse keepers.  They’ve turned it into a store.  There was another pretty white house there too but I didn’t get a photo of it.  I think that one is where the current lighthouse keeper lives.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

You can’t see it all that well in the photo above, but the stair case is beautiful.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

There are two windows overlooking the grounds.  Every so often, there is a little platform where you can stop and rest.  This made the climb to the top much more bearable.  There were also fans on the platforms.  There is no air-conditioning inside so, if you visit during the summer months, make sure you take bottled water with you.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

When we arrived to the top of the lighthouse, I sheepishly stepped outside.  My fear of heights kicked in big time!  I’m terrified of heights.  There wasn’t much room up there.  I stayed as close to the lighthouse wall as I could.  My back pressed against that wall, but I did make my way around.  The next few pictures show you the gorgeous view from around the top of the lighthouse.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

If you ever visit the Northern area of North Carolina’s Outer Banks, take time to stop and visit the Currituck Lighthouse.  The climb is not so hard.  The view is amazing.  It only takes a short time to complete the entire tour.

 You can learn more about the Currituck Lighthouse here.

Read about other great places to visit in the Outer Banks of North Carolina here.

Whalehead: Historic Corolla – Outer Banks

So far this week, I have reviewed the Hampton Inn in Florence, South Carolina and Barrier Island Station, the resort where we stayed during our week in the Outer Banks.  I’ve also told you about the Waterfront Boardwalk Shops along the Currituck Sound and the Wright Brothers Museum and National Monument.  Today, I’m going to tell you about an old house we toured in the historic town of Corolla, North Carolina in the Outer Banks.  The house is beautifully restored and the estate is called Whalehead.

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My husband was looking at a tourist site and found information about the house.  We love old houses and antiques so he thought we would like to tour the home.  It was a good decision!  We didn’t recognize the owners as anyone famous or of any historic significance but the photo of the house and the property was absolutely stunning so we visited the estate.

Whalehead:  Historic Corolla - Outer Banks, North Carolina

The beautiful yellow house was built in the 1920s and sits along the Currituck Sound.  Edward Collings Knight, Jr. loved hunting waterfowl.  He purchased the property and the Lighthouse Club.  The property sits right next to the Currituck Lighthouse.  They began working on making the property a beautiful home which was completed in 1925.  The Knights named the property Corolla Island.  A new owner later renamed the property the Whalehead Club.

We were not allowed to take photos inside the house so I can only tell you how beautiful it is.  The woodwork, the staircase, the front porch . . . I could go on and on about this house.  If you decide to tour the home, you’ll see the main family resident areas and the servant’s quarters which were upstairs.  In the downstairs kitchen area, you’ll see the bell system the servants used to call the family members.  If you are a Downton Abbey fan, you’ll recognize this as similar to the one frequently used in the television show.

The basement was huge!  I noticed something a little odd down there.  Underneath the staircase was a lone toilet – a toilet – just sitting there under the stairs – without any privacy.  We learned later that at some point, the Coast Guard owned the property so extra toilets had to be installed around the house to accommodate their needs.  This was the only one I saw that seemed out-of-place.

The grounds were just as beautiful as the house.  We were allowed to take photos outside the house.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Crossing this bridge was quiet a treat.

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On Wednesdays, they have a few family events on the grounds.  While we were there, we observed employees teaching kids how to fish and how to play games that were popular in the day.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

I could have walked around on this wooden walkway all day long.

Image Credit:  Abundant family Living

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

An employee had set up an area so visitors could practice their bow and arrow skills.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Visit Currituck.com here to learn more about the Whalehead Club, their hours, tour schedule, etc and plan your visit.

Read about other great places to visit in the Outer Banks of North Carolina here.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

Previously, I told you about a great place to stay on your visit to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  I also told you about a nice little shopping center right on the water.  Today, I’m going to tell you about our visit to the Wright Brothers Museum and National Monument.

Image Credit:  Abundant Family Living

 The Wright Brothers Museum and National Monument

The Wright Brothers, Wilbur and Orville, are credited for inventing, building, and flying the first airplane.  The brothers moved to the Kitty Hawk area of North Carolina from Ohio to complete the project.  When Wilbur and Orville were living in Dayton, Ohio, the city was a center for manufacturing and manufacturing growth.  The brothers were in the right place at the right time to manage their own bicycle manufacturing business.

Wilbur and Orville drew upon their knowledge of bicycles to design their airplane.  We didn’t take any photos as we made our way through the museum above but we did learn that the brothers were about much more than air planes.  They were incredibly intelligent and gifted men.  You can learn so much more about them, their family, their studies – just about anything you want to know about them here.

The field at Kitty Hawk provided them with the space they needed to build and fly the first plane.

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As we walked out onto the field, we noticed markers lined up in a row.  Each marker indicated the length of each test flight.

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On the grounds was a replica of the brothers’ accommodations at Kitty Hawk.  The window was tinted so we couldn’t see into the building which was disappointing.  I pressed my cell phone against the window to snap the photo above.

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 Visitors can walk up a hill to visit the Wright Brothers’ National Monument.

I’ve read about the Wright brothers and Kitty Hawk, North Carolina since I was a child but never thought I would actually visit the place where the first air plane flight took place.  Standing their on that field was pretty cool.  I hope you get a chance to visit.

Read about other great places to visit in the Outer Banks of North Carolina here.