My family took our fifth trip to the Outer Banks this year. It felt like our hundredth trip. It was my sixth. My High School graduating class (small class of roughly 23) took spent our Senior trip in Corolla Light. Yep it was amazing to spend a week with a bunch of your friends. Our class was a tight knit group, but I digress. Usually, we like to stay in Kitty Hawk or Duck. This time my mom wanted to try Corolla Light.
Go to your ‘happy place’…
This island is my ‘happy place’. If you know anything about the East Coast beaches it is nothing like Ocean City (MD and NJ), Wildwood, etc. There is no boardwalk. It is developed but mostly with beach homes. The beaches aren’t as crowded. You have plenty of space to spread out with your family. It’s quiet and you have mostly families vacationing around you.
There is a lot of nature to explore with the sound on one side and the beach on the other, there are many nature preserves along the island. There are wild horses, the descendants of horses that swam to shore from shipwrecks long ago.
There are 4×4 beaches that allow you to drive your 4wd vehicle on the beach and explore or fish. The main ones are Corolla, South Nags Head, Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island. However, permits are needed for the latter three.
We had a Sunday check in. We went grocery shopping before we even checked in, which worked really well. We had that out the way! Tip: I made a point to pack the boys a lunch the night before so that we could feed them while we were unpacking the van and getting situated! I totally recommend that! Once we were situated we all headed out to the pool in the backyard! This was great! We had never rented a house with a pool! It was definitely a great addition to our vacation, especially with little boys!
It rained and stormed Sunday night and most of Monday, but let’s face it, there is no bad day at the beach!
On Tuesday, we drove down to Jockey’s Ridge State Park. This is the largest sand dune on the East Coast. I love to see how different it is each time we go. Small fact that I find so interesting, the sands once overtook an 18 whole mini golf course at the base of the dunes. It is located right along the 158 bypass.
On Wednesday morning, I participated in the Lighthouse 5K, which is held every Wednesday morning during the summer. It is sponsored by Brindley Beach rentals and OBX Running Company. This was held starting at Historical Corolla Park- more on that in a future blog post.
On Thursday, Joe and I took the boys over to Ocracoke Island- more on that in this blog post!
On Friday morning, the boys and I took a walk on the beach. We looked for seashells and seaglass. There was a sailboat that ‘ran aground’ up the beach. I wanted to go up and check it out but knew it would have been a hike with the two of them.
Later in the morning, Joe and I walked around the Historic Corolla Park. We explored the grounds Whalehead Club- an old hunt club from the 1920s. It was so neat to imagine what the area was like when they first built the mansion. Back in the beginnings, the Northern part of Outer Banks was a prime hunting location, predominately duck hunting. I didn’t know that Currituck means ‘Land of the Wild Goose’ and is located in the Atlantic Flyway for migratory birds. were many hunt clubs and cabins around. This is also where the Currituck Lighthouse is located. In the village, there is a historic schoolhouse and many little shops including a bookstore.
After that, Joe was tired and I put Reed in for a nap and headed down to the beach. Later, Joe had been wanting to try shuffleboard, haha. Well that backfired because he thought Kyle would be able to play it and well he didn’t have enough strength to push the disc down the court. So the boys ended up playing on one side and we played on the other. Our resort had so much to offer. It had a Oceanfront and Soundside pool, sports center, basketball courts, tennis courts, beach volleyball, playgrounds- just to name a few.
Saturday, we pretty much just lounged and enjoyed our last day in the Outer Banks. My brother went jet skiing and we met him at the Sunset Grille along the Sound in Duck. Our oldest wanted a hermit crab so stopped at a Super Wings store on the way back and got one, well actually two, I learned that they like to be in communities so I bought our youngest one too! We lounged by the pool after we got back and then started to pack up. This is always so sad. We have been saying the last two times that we would love to stay two weeks. At the end of your week you feel like you are just getting started. I seriously could live down there year round!
Are you thinking about planning an Outer Banks vacation? Are you an Outer Banks veteran? Let me know in the comments! I want to hear from my readers! If you have any questions for me about vacationing in the Outer Banks, let me know! I am putting together a Q&A post and would love to include your question!
