July 21 - 28, 2012. Outer Banks has been on "my list" for years now. I never even heard of the Outer Banks before moving to Maryland in 2005, but it's definitely a popular excursion for Marylanders (just 6 hours away without traffic; 8-10 hours with traffic!) and so I've been wanting to do this for years. Well, this summer, the stars aligned and we got our chance to come here on a family reunion. Here we are at the tallest lighthouse in the country, Cape Hatteras.
And here we are at the top! You can climb to the top for a fee of $7 per person (ages 11 and over) or $3.50 for those under the age of 11. To climb, you must be at least 42 inches tall, so my 4 year old just barely made it. But he was thrilled and did a great job climbing to the top by himself!
Just south of Hatteras is Ocracoke Island. You can take a free ferry (about 30-40 minute ride) to the island. It is a car ferry, so you can bring your car to the island and then drive around and explore. The first thing we did was visit the Ocracoke Lighthouse.
Unfortunately, you can't climb inside this one.
Another "must do" in the Outer Banks is visiting the Wright Memorial
This is the spot where the Wright brothers made the first successful airplane flight in history on December 17, 1903. Amazing to see the place where that happened. (Cost: $4/adult. Kids are free). Admission includes parking, and several exhibits including the memorial, a movie, etc.
And if you're a "Hollywood buff" then you can also see the exact home used in the film "Nights in Rodanthe." Where is it, you ask? Well, in Rodanthe!
Here is a picture taken from the back yard pool of the house we stayed in. The Outer Banks is known for it's huge rental homes. We had a group of 35 people and stayed in 2 big houses. It was perfect!
And no trip to the Outer Banks is complete without beach time. Our two houses were right on the beach. It's more expensive that way, but totally worth it in our opinion since we all spent tons of time at the beach. I chose to use the one formal picture we took on the beach, but I have about 100 others of all of us in our bathing suits playing in the sand and water. The water temperature was great and we all had a blast at the ocean!
Verdict: Yes. Do it! BUT.... I would highly recommend doing it with a big group of family/friends. There isn't a ton to do aside from playing at the beach and exploring a couple nearby towns, so half the fun is just playing in and around your big house with all your friends and family.
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