Outer Banks

I was going through some old keepsakes and came across a journal I had kept on a trip to the Outer Banks in 1990. What follows is a synopsis, trying to keep it short enough to be readable, but include as many highlights as I can.

We left Cleveland on Friday, August 3, met up with the Berg's, and traveled through Ohio and Pennsylvania, stopping for a picnic lunch before heading south through Maryland and a small slice of West Virginia. There was one misadventure when we tried to get gas before going through the Hampton Tunnel. We had a hard time finding an open gas station - we even tried to pump gas at one before realizing it was closed - until a kindly cab driver directed us to an open station. We spent the first night at a Red Roof Inn in Cheasapeakc, but as we pulled into the parking area, the fire alarms went off, so we had to wait and watch while police and fire units checked everything out and let us in.

When we got to the Outer Banks on Saturday, it was too early to check in, so we visited the Wright Brothers Memorial. There are markers showing the landing spots and distances of their first four flights and I found it interesting to see how close together the first three markers are, but then the fourth one went quite a distance. There's also a state park called Jockey's Ridge, home of the tallest sand dunes on the east coast, which are over 100 feet high. Due to shifting winds, they constantly change shape, but stay in relatively the same place from year to year.

The community we stayed in, Whalehead Beach, is almost as far north as you can go making it a great place to stay if you're looking to be out of the hustle, bustle, and congestion of Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills. Although the house wasn't ready on time, when we finally were able to move in, we found it much to our liking. The living area is on the top floor making for a great view. The ocean is somewhat obstructed by the row of houses in front of us, but at least we can see it. There's no grass, just brush growing out of the sand. The floor underneath contains the four bedrooms. Andrew and Liz shared the small bedroom with the twin beds, and the other four girls stayed in the room with 2 sets of bunk beds.

I noticed right off that you can feel the house sway when you're sitting down. This is considered a safety feature that gives the house a better chance of surviving a hurricane. A little disconcerting though.

Though already late, we went down to the beach for an hour. This being my first time ever at an ocean beach, the salt taste is what I remember most. Liz tried going in the water, but got hit with a wave and decided to stay in the ankle deep area. Leah just stayed on the beach after seeing that. Sarah was hesitant, but did all right. The Berg's were used to it, so all plunged right in.

On Sunday, we rented some beach equipment, including boogie boards, and spent the day at the beach. The boards allowed the little ones to catch waves and ride them in farther than the adults. I did catch two good waves and found I liked it. That night we picked up a lot of shells and saw a million sand crabs scurrying around. The full moon makes a great reflection on the water.

It rained on Monday, so we drove into town to hit the stores. We also noticed that gas prices were up again for the third time in four days, as gas companies were taking advantage of the Iraq-Kuwait situation. (It was $1.14 when we left for the trip, and $1.33 when we got back. Horrors!)

That afternoon, we stopped at a restaurant for what we planned to be our one big meal out this week, but after we were seated and were getting our drinks, we realized it was just a sandwich place, so we got up and walked out. This seemed to embarass Erin greatly.

Monday night, we went to Roanoke Island to see an outdoor drama called the Lost Colony. It was very well done, and I noted that Andy Griffith had gotten his start playing the part of Sir Walter Raleigh in this play. Elizabeth was able to answer some questions we asked about it on the drive back.

On Tuesday, we watched one of the wild mustangs as he made his way into the neighborhood, stopping to rest in the yard of the house next door. We went over to take pictures, and a lady drove up with some medicine for the horse. She explained that he was sickly and had been beaten and run out of the herd after his mother was killed by a car last year. Whenever the herd comes across him, he is forced to vacate the area. Sure enough, a while later when the seven other horses came through the area, a skirmish broke out between the sick horse and one of the other stallions until he agreed to leave.

We went to the beach for a few hours, even though it rained off and on - after all, that's what we were there for -  but the water was very cold, so we mostly laid around. Sarah and Elizabeth have gotten to love the water by this time, but Leah will only go in if someone carries her, and even then will only stay a minute.

More rain on Wednesday meant more shopping, but we did get to play putt-putt during a break in the rain. There was a wheel game in one of the shops that two of us spun, each winning a $30 coupon to the Sportsmen's Restaurant. All we had to do was sit through a 90 minute sales pitch for time share the next day. We also had our dinner out at the Dune's Restaurant. The food was good, but this was also when I learned that restaurants had started automatically adding the tip to the check. At the point, in my view, it is no longer a tip; it's a service charge. We also went back to the sand dune, climbed the highest one and watched as the kids had a super time running, rolling, sliding and falling down that hill.

Although the sun was shining on Thursday, we decided to go to the sales pitch because, after all, $60 is $60. This was when I first learned about time share, and although $8000 was something we could not afford for one vacation week a year, I noted that I would like to do this someday. Although the pitch was long and the salesman rude and pushy, the free breakfast was worth it. The pancakes were as big as frisbees and were served on huge trays.

When we got back to the beach, the weather was perfect. Leah started dabbling in the shallow water a little bit. Elizabeth and Andrew were totally oblivious to the rest of the world. And we all got sunburned because we neglected to put on our sunscreen due to the cloudiness.

Friday was a perfect final day - the kind of day in which, even if it were the only good beach day of the week, would determine you to go back again. Skies were partly cloudy, temperature in the 80s. The water felt great. We swam, we ate sandwiches, we laid on the beach, we played paddle ball, and we did it all wearing our sunscreen. The hardest thing in the world was leaving that beach at 5:00. Shortly before we did however, Eric came screaming out of the water saying she had a crab in her bathing suit. Somewhere along the line he had managed to disembark, though, so there was no actual proof.

One more notable thing happened that day. We had packed as much into the cars that evening as we could to save time the next morning, and evidently while we were doing this, hundreds, perhaps thousands of sand fleas managed to get into the house, and they were covering the beds and were throughout the second floor. The outside doors were covered with others trying to get in. We shook out the blankets as best we could, turned out the lights and went back upstairs. When we came back down later, all but David and Kathy's bed seemed to be all right, so they slept elsewhere.

On Saturday, we split up to take separate routes back home, as I wanted to drive up Skyline drive in Virginia. We made several stops along the drive to look at spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and valleys. During the night at the motel, a scary thing happened as some guy was pounding on the window at 3:15 and then again at 5:20. The second time I managed to get to the window before he left and asked what he wanted. He looked surprised like he was expecting someone else and he left.

On Sunday we toured Skyline Caverns and rode the miniature train before we continued our trip home.