By the end of winter we were ready to head toward warmer weather and we decided to take our new minivan for its first roadtrip down to the Outer Banks and Cape Hatteras. On the way we would visit two of the ten national seashores of the United States: Assateague Island National Seashore and Cape Hatteras National Seashore.
With our second child on the way we decided that the ten-plus year old RAV4 was not going to cut it and we started looking for a new car. It wasn’t a particularly great time to buy a car since coming out of the pandemic prices were up and there was a limited supply of used cars on the market. We went to the Philadelphia Auto Show to test out all of the minivans and SUVs for storage/trunk space and comfort … and it was the Honda Odyssey that we decided we liked. After at least a month of watching the used car listings online and a visit to another honda dealership, we ended up with a “practically new” 2019 Honda Odyssey. We assume that they bought it right before the pandemic and then let it sit in the garage because it only had 19000 or so miles on it and was as clean as a whistle. Sitting on the lot we decided it was definitely an option, we took it for a test weekend, and the financing / price worked out for us so we ended up buying it.
So the first big trip was down to Outer Banks for a “Baby Moon”. We were stuck at home for the pandemic with our first child, so after we cleared it with the doctor, we rented a small one bedroom place down in Outer Banks on Airbnb and headed down for a few days.
The Outer Banks is a bit of a drive from Philadelphia, and while it could be done in one day for some people, we split it into two days by leaving after work and stopping for the night in one of our recurring destinations – Chincoteague – where we got a hotel on the water for the night through Priceline.
In the morning we woke up, packed the car and headed to the national wildlife refuge and national seashore to look for wild horses, birds and perhaps play on the beach. We ended up spending a while at the two visitor centers and then got on the road. Our son absolutely loves to explore the park visitor centers.
As we drove down the eastern shore we discovered that our path would take us not far from another national wildlife refuge – the Eastern Shore of Virginia NWR. This wildlife refuge is known for its migratory songbirds and raptors in the fall migration. We were a few months early (or late) to enjoy that, but I did manage to see a small kettle of eagles soaring around while in the parking lot. We were near closing time for the visitor center, but it served as a short, interesting stop on our journey. We explored the surrounding area looking for any other interesting birds, and then got on the road south to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.
The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is a 17.6 mile bridge and tunnel that connects Virginia Beach to the Eastern Shore and replaced a ferry system across the mouth of Chesapeake Bay when it opened in 1964. It is one of only 12 bridge and tunnel systems in the world. We have taken the highway to Key West once before so we have done the long bridge travel once before.
Wright Brothers
We spent our first night on the Outer Banks at a beachfront hotel in Kill Devil Hills. We got a great price for a first floor room looking onto the beach. Our plan for the day after we woke up and spent some time enjoying the beach was to explore the area and work our way down to Cape Hatteras, where our Airbnb for the next few days was located.
Since we were not far from the Wright Brothers National Memorial, it seemed like the perfect place to start. Although it is often said in lore that the first flight happened at Kitty Hawk, it was actually Kill Devil Hills where it took place. The memorial includes a visitor center, full size replica plane of the 1903 flyer, monument, sculpture, and walkway with markers for the length of the first, second, third and fourth flights. The memorial also has a working airstrip and we happened to see a small plane land there while we were walking around. We spent a while there in the morning taking it all in and then decided to work our way north to Duck, NC.
Duck is about 20 minutes north of the Wright Brothers Memorial, and of special note to us because of Duck Donuts. We have been fans of the donut chain for what seems like a long time, and we have two near our house. If you haven’t heard of them, they make made-to order (customized) donuts. The original is located in Duck and we were excited to check it out. They are also known for the rubber ducks dressed in different outfits that they sell and our kids lover. Unfortunately, the Duck Donuts in Duck was still closed for the offseason and we weren’t able to have any from the original location on the Outer Banks (we eventually got them later in the trip from a different store). We did get to walk around on the Duck boardwalk and shop in some quaint shops that were still open for the offseason.
We ended up for lunch at an outdoor table on the water at the NC Coast Grill & Bar. Even though it was in March, the sun was out and it was a beautiful day with practically no wind, so the weather was perfect. We sat their for a while and enjoyed the view, and then headed south from Duck to pick up food in Avon at a grocery store and eventually settle in for the evening at the Airbnb in Cape Hatteras.
Update: Later in June 2024 we were able to do part of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, which commemorates the Wright Brothers work on flight in Dayton, Ohio.
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Sometimes you have to roll with the punches on vacation and make the best of it. We were supposed to be headed down to Ocracoke for the day but when we drove down to the ferry from our Airbnb it never actually loaded. We hung around in the car for a while waiting for the ferry to load (because it was still the offseason and we thought perhaps the schedule had changed) when around the time of the next ferry’s prospective departure an employee walked around and told everyone that due to the high winds the ferry departure was at the captain’s discretion, and even if the weather eased up and we were able to get down there today their was no guarantee we would be able to get back. Plus they said that the reports were that it was pretty choppy there and so probably not a trip in the car that you would actually enjoy.
Ocracoke is known for its wild horses, lighthouse, unoccupied beaches and historic village. It is at the southern end of the Outer Banks, 18 miles from the mainland, and reachable only by boat. Jayne was particularly disappointed because she had really wanted to go.
Well that really put a damper in the mood but we decided to make the best of it and head north to Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in Cape Hatteras National Seashore. We could see the lighthouse in the distance at night from the Airbnb condo and it is one of the famous landmarks of the Outer Banks. On our way in we saw a huge snapping turtle crossing the road, and traffic stopped on both sides. When we arrived at the lighthouse, we got out of the car, took a few pictures, walked around at the visitor center and then continued our adventure. We stopped at the sight of the old lighthouse (but it was SUPER windy that day) and then we continued our adventure north.
Our next stop was the visitor center for Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge. We were hopeful that perhaps we would see some migratory birds from the spring migration in the ponds, but with the high winds there was very little activity and it was not nearby. We had fun exploring anyway and had a good chat with the staff there. Before we left the island we also tried to stop at the Oregon Inlet Life Saving Station but the parking area was still buried in sand from the offseason.
Our next stop was Bodie Island Lighthouse, which was a short jaunt off the main highway on the next island. The Outer Banks has so many lighthouses because there are thousands of shipwrecks in the area, so many that its nickname is Graveyard of the Atlantic. We weren’t here for long, but we did practice our photography skills once again.
As we were working up the Outer Banks my goal was to take the bridge over to Albemarle Peninsula and see Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. Alligator River was established to protect the pocosin wetlands and it is connected with the Dare County Bombing Range, which did worry us a bit as we were driving around it. We knew nothing about a pocosin, but we did know a few things about the area: there were reintroduced red wolves as well as otters and owls.
When we turned off the main road and started winding our way through the back roads that make up the wildlife refuge, we drove slowly and our eyes scoured the swampy ditches on the side of the road, the trees and the forest openings for birds and wildlife. It wasn’t too long before I saw a creature scurry across the road and we pulled up in the general vicinity to see our first animal – an otter! We watched it swim for a while and then lost track of it in the woods. After a brief trip to the restrooms which were nearby, we turned around and continued driving with our eyes peeled.
It wasn’t long before I was able to see another pair of otters swimming along the road. We followed them a little while before we decided to keep driving and see what else could be seen. Having seen three otters already, my eyes started scanning for owls among the trees. Unfortunately, I was not able to spot one of the many that is in the area. We did spot a bunch of northern harriers, a kingfisher and a great blue heron.
We had a tip from the staff at Pea Island about the best place to look for the red wolves and their litter, but we didn’t spot them when we were there. The refuge is one of the only place in the world where you can see endangered red wolves in the wild. They have been reintroduced there after extinction in the wild. We didn’t have a lot of time there, and it wasn’t the best time to see them, so we’ll have to go back another time to try again.
It was getting about time to get back to cell phone coverage as well as find some lunch so we made our way over to Roanoke Island and Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. We didn’t know it before we got it but this is the site of the Lost Colony of Roanoke. A group of English settlers numbering just over 110 established a colony there in 1587 but had disappeared from the area by 1590. The governor of the colony set sail for England to gather and return with supplies, but when he was able to return a couple years later no one was there. There has been evidence of drought in the area during those years, but no conclusive evidence of what happened has been found to end this longstanding mystery.
After our ranger tour, we ended up exploring the Waterside Theatre. It is home of the long running play The Lost Colony and the theater has a magical backdrop with the seats facing the stage having the Sound in between Virginia and the Outer Banks as the backdrop.
