Outer Banks

Since we're living in Northern Virginia now we decided that we should try to go to some of the vacation spots popular in the area.  This summer we went to Duck in the outer banks of North Carolina.  It's a pretty hefty drive and traffic (even though we split it up over two days) was horrible on the way down (turns out traffic was impossible the entire time we were there).

The water was warm and the beaches were nice.  They were very different from New Jersey - anything goes - dogs, huge tents, really anything.

There were some large sand dunes that were supposed to be fun to hike about 30 min away (turned out to be over an hour - remember, the traffic was horrible). When the kids got there it was flaming hot and they had no interest in hiking up a huge hill in the "mini desert". They were unimpressed.

Regardless, we got to the top of the sand pile and there were some folks flying kites and hang gliding.

Right by those dunes was Kitty Hawk where the first powered flights took place. I really enjoyed seeing it and I think Evan got a kick out of it as well - but we were all hot and a little grouchy so the visit didn't last too long.

One of the best parts of the trip was when the kids found a bottle that washed ashore during a walk we were taking (thanks Grandparents!). Inside the bottle was a treasure map that we followed.

The treasure was found pretty quickly (it's a good thing too - it was starting to rain)

There was lots of loot inside - candy (I guess it was really old?), pirate flags, and gold coins! The kids were all about this adventure and we heard about it for days.

Evan got to drive his own go cart which was a first.  He did a pretty credible job for a first time driver.

We had fun in the outer banks. It was something different. I'm not sure we'll be heading back next year - we'll likely try somewhere else out - but it was very good.