Outer Banks and Back

It’s always nice when you're on the road and can pick a hotel that includes a meal or so in the cost of your hotel.  Last Saturday morning we were all ready to take advantage of that.  We had planned on hitting the road early but still the breakfast hour of 6AM to 9AM seemed especially early. Perhaps, that's because our bodies were still on west coast time which was 3 hours earlier than the clock on the east coast was telling us.

The boys always had something to chat about.

Our plan was to head towards Kitty Hawk and Nags Head.  Justin said he hadn’t been there so we thought it would be a great trip.  That lasted until we crossed over into North Carolina.  That's when he realized those places were on the Outer Banks and he’d been there  …. oh, oh – been there and done that.  It wasn’t particularly a long drive but it seemed that way.  There were lots of tourists and cars doing the same thing we were doing.  The weather was beautiful even though it was pretty hot and humid. 

We made a few stops at places Justin hadn’t seen before we decided to head on back to Norfolk.  There was more interest in heading north the next day instead of continuing on our southward trek.

Flight Memorial

Our first stop was at the Memorial of Flight.  That is an interesting memorial and one that really helps you realize how fast the advancement of flight happened after the Wright Brother’s first flight in  December 1906.

Next, it was on to the actual place of their first successful flight.

Wright Brothers landing stops

You can’t be on the Outer  Banks without that walk on the beach.  Even though it was September and kids were back in school, folks still were packing the beaches.  The boys were more interested in the walkway than actually getting sand in their shoes.  I think they were lightweights! I like sand between my toes so that's what I did.

The boys were also more interested in finding a place to eat lunch than a view of the Atlantic and all that sand.  With their bellies getting hungry, we turned our search to picking the perfect seafood restaurant.  Once full we still continued south just a bit.  We went down to Bodie Island before we made the u-turn.  Justin was pretty pleased when we did the turn around because he was pretty interested in the promised trip back to Williamsburg and Jamestown on Sunday.

That morning we had checked out of our hotel.  We figured we wouldn’t be needing it since we’d probably be staying someplace around Nags Head.  I was happy I hadn’t made reservations for Saturday night.  We were in luck as  there was one room left and it just happened to be the same room we had checked out of earlier that morning. 

Bodie Island Lighthouse with Justin in the background

We were zonked but once we knew we weren't going to be without a place to stay, we decided to head to the NEX. The NEX in Norfolk is HUGE.  It’s either the largest one in the US or  next to the largest one.  I’m not going to tell you we didn’t find anything we wanted because we did.  I won’t even tell you I found an Asus Tablet on clearance  I couldn’t resist.  I won’t tell you that at all but I really do like gadgets.  After we finished up with our shopping we had one more place to go.  This time it was at Joe’s Crab Shack for dinner.


Then, there’s food and more food.

That was Saturday.   Sunday would be another day and Sunday would be Justin’s turn.  He was taking us to Jamestown, Williamsburg and hopefully we’d be having dinner at Shield’s Tavern in that historical town.  Shield’s just happens to be one of his favorite places to eat.  Why ?  One reason may be because he’s descended from James Shields who owned the tavern beginning in 1705.  Shield’s Tavern is also located in one of the 88 original buildings of Williamsburg.

‘Tis life on the road.

As soon as I saw you, I knew an adventure was about to happen. -  Winnie the Pooh