Its the last day of our week-long vacation at the beaches of the Outer Banks, North Carolina. Tomorrow, we’ll begin the trip back to Maryland and resume normal life; back to our home and our jobs while leaving behind the cool breeze and the salty air of life on the beach. We’ve been so fortunate to have had beautiful weather all week. It has been uncomfortably hot and the waters have been cool and refreshing and with rarely a cloud in the sky, the portable sun  shelter has proven itself to be an invaluable asset on the beach. 

Overall, the vacation has been fantastic. It’s been many years since I’ve been to the Outer Banks, and it was Nicola’s first time. The drive, including the bathroom, food breaks, and traffic took over eleven hours! And there is only one way to make up for that lost time: enjoy the beach. Thus we’ve designed our stay here to take full advantage of our time off and the daily routine this week has been pretty consistent:

  1. wake
  2. eat
  3. pack
  4. get to the beach
  5. setup base camp
  6. get wet, relax, nap, get wet, eat, relax (in any order)
  7. pack up
  8. go home
  9. relax
  10. eat
  11. sleep

In truth, while this schedule has been quite a treat, one thing has fallen short in this vacation and that is the dining experience. We’re afraid to report that we haven’t found a decent place to eat around here and we believe it’s because of the seasonality of the life around here. Restaurants don’t have any pressure to improve food because most patrons come and go. They may eat at a restaurant once during their week long stay here. So while we’ve soaked up the sun and have relaxed our brains to the point of mush, we leave here with a hunger for some good old home cooked food and the familiar dining of our favorite eat out spots.