North Carolina

Hello again! Three posts in one week, can you even believe it? You know, when I started this blog, posting three times a week was the norm. Ha! That didn't last. But I'm very determined to get caught up this year and end 2022 with all the books I've read neatly recapped and logged here so we can start 2023 fresh. 

But today we're not talking about books: I'm chronicling our trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina which was the special thing we did to check this state off in our endeavor to #SeeAll50. If you're not sure what this #SeeAll50 is about: my husband and I have a goal of visiting all 50 of these United States and doing something unique to each state when we visit (so driving through a state doesn't count towards the goal). We had done a bit of traveling together to visit family and what not, but we didn't officially start working toward this goal until November of 2016 when we drove down to the Keys to check Florida off the list to kickstart this venture. After we visit a state, I record it here on the blog, and I also create a spread in my scrapbook. North Carolina is our 15th state which puts us 30% of the way toward our goal. What with the global pandemic and all, this whole thing has been on hold since our last state trip to Maryland and Delaware in October of 2019, but since moving to NC last year, it was the natural next state to check off our list!

2015

We're obviously no strangers to the Tar Heel State. We've visited North Carolina together nearly every year of our marriage, and now we even live here. Prior to moving here, I thought we might visit the Biltmore Estate while the tulips are in bloom as our special North Carolina thing. But now the Biltmore is practically in our backyard and I even delivered there while I was working for Amazon so that kindof took the bloom out of that idea. It would have been like going to Disney World as our Florida thing. So instead, we decided to drive eight hours out to the Outer Banks and explore the Wright Brothers National Memorial.

We made the drive out early on May 20th, and rolled into Nags Head right at lunchtime where we went to Tortuga's Lie for lunch and the most delicious key lime pie we had all weekend. We then headed over to the memorial and spent the rest of the afternoon taking in all the exhibits, walking the distance of Orville and Wilbur's first four historic flights, and climbing the hill up to where the monument is erected.

I call this next sequence "First in Flight: A Progression".

We really enjoyed this little national park. The museum is colorful and engaging, and the way they've set up the grounds, flight markers, and monument is all very interactive and fun. We learned a lot and would recommend a visit. 

After we had our fill of the Wright Brothers National Memorial, we got checked into our hotel where our balcony opened out on this:

Ahhh, my happy place. We unpacked, took naps, got cleaned up, then headed out to a little pizza place called American Pie. Highly recommend. This is maybe the best pizza we've ever had in our lives. And we like our pizza. We weren't super impressed with their ice cream (which they're also famous for), but the pizza was off the chain. That night, we relaxed at our hotel and watched The Amazing Spider-Man. 

The next day we spent reading on the beach, swimming in the hotel pool, going to lunch at The Black Pelican, watching The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and just relaxing together. The Black Pelican was a fun spot. It's a historic building and has lots of fun Wright Brothers memorabilia and great food. 

That night, we wanted ice cream, but all the local places were closed by 7 so we ventured to the lone Dairy Queen and I think every single person in the OBX was there. We got our ice cream though and headed back to the hotel to crash for the night.

Sunday morning, we got up and had breakfast, got packed up and checked out, stopped back by the Wright Brothers National Memorial for a few souvenirs, and then headed home. 

It was a quick weekend, but it was the perfect way to celebrate our 10th Anniversary, and we owe a big Thank You to my parents for surprising us with this trip and Cody's mom for sending us spending money for all our meals and souvenirs. We had a wonderful time, and I hope we get to go back. OBX is gorgeous and there are so many more fun things to do there.

North Carolina : done.

Have you ever visited North Carolina? What's one of your big bucket list goals?