Anyone who's vacationed in the Outer Banks, North Carolina knows that it is the best spot to vacation. With no major attractions around that you feel obligated to go to, everything worth doing on the islands within driving distance, and gorgeous houses on equally as gorgeous beaches, OBX is the perfect place to actually relax on your vacation. (Did you ever go on a vacation that you felt like you needed a vacation from? Well, luckily, OBX doesn't have that kind of impact on its vacationers.) If you're like me, you've been traveling to the Outer Banks once a summer with your family, probably since you were a kid, which means that you know these 6 things to be true.
1. You knew about Duck Donuts before they expanded to other states.
Last year, a Duck Donuts opened up a mere 5 minutes from my Jersey home. But I'd known about this OBX staple long before they left OBX. The original Duck Donuts store opened in Kitty Hawk, and was shortly followed by the opening of the Duck location, where their name derives from. Even if you've never had one of these warm, freshly made treats from Heaven while in OBX (um, why haven't you?!), you at least have driven past one of their locations.
2. The Dunes at sunset is the best time to go.
Jockey's Ridge State Park (I've only ever heard it called "The Dunes") is home to the East Coast's tallest sand dunes (I believe it. Have you ever tried to climb all the way up one of those things without getting winded?), and you can always catch kites flying sky-high when you pass during the day. The truth is, though, the best time to go is right around sunset. Going during the day can be brutal, but at the right time, the sand has cooled, the sun is low, and you can catch some of the most breathtaking sunsets you have ever seen. And then, once the sun has set, you can roll your way back down the massive walls of sand, and then walk across the street by Kitty Hawk Kites to do some shopping and get some ice cream at Scoop's.
3. There's a Wings on every corner.
Did you even go to OBX if you didn't go to a Wings or Super Wings location at least three times? Wings is the place where you can find all of your beach and souvenir needs. They literally have everything you could ever ask for--shirts, pants, hats, coffee mugs shaped like boobs, bumper stickers, sand toys, crude refrigerator magnets, water rafts, tubes, boogie boards, hermit crabs--you name it, they probably have it (and at a pretty reasonable price, too).
4. You're not sure why or how, but you always end up at Tim Buck II at some point or another.
No, not Timbuktu like the place where spies go in the movies. Tim Buck II. You've probably been here more times than you care to admit. However, there is something truly charming about walking along the shops and eating ice cream after a long day at the beach. There's so many cute stores and places to grab some awesome food. Plus, they have go-karts and bumper cars here. Who doesn't love that?
5. You can't count the number of times you've eaten at Sunset Grille.
Who could blame you though? Not only do they have a wide selection of great food, they're located right on the sound so you can see phenomenal sunsets right in front of you as you chow down and make memories with your family. And if you go without your family, it's an amazing place to have a sweet dinner outside with your sweetie as you share one drink with two straws and stare at the sunset (which is obviously nothing compared to your date).
6. You're not really sure why there's so many statues of horses around.
You're driving around Nags Head and every storefront seems to have a horse in front of it. They're cute, but why? You never really understood. I didn't either (until now, I just looked it up). It's called the Winged Horse Extravaganza, and it's actually a public art installation. There's 99 of them total and they're all life-sized and made of fiber-glass! The horse was chosen to be the icon of the project because of the large herds of native Spanish Mustangs that roam the northern beaches. The statues are really beautiful, and now you can appreciate them even more the next time you visit!
Oh, man. I'm getting nostalgic. The Outer Banks is my absolute favorite place to vacation, and there's just no beating the memories I've made there over the years with my amazing family. No matter what we do, we always have the best time.
