OBX Trip 2022

Our long-awaited trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina finally arrived as we flew out of Fargo on July 16th, connecting in Chicago, before landing in Norfolk, VA and then driving about an hour and a half to the beach house where we would be staying with my parents and my sister and her family for the week.

We flew with my parents the whole way, meeting up with Tessa and fam in Chicago.

 

Even though we arrived late at night, some of the kids and Grandpa couldn't resist checking out the pool.

On Sunday we went shopping for groceries and things we needed for the week. Everyone else hung out in the pool and on the beach.

A little pre-dinner game of charades.

We got try a seafood and sausage boil for the first time which was super fun...and tasty!

So many ghost crabs! They would skitter about on the beach going down and coming up their many holes in the sand. This was one of the bigger ones.

Beautiful sunrises!

I had signed Reagan and myself up for a fitness class on the beach. It was fun, but I think Reagan wished it wouldn't have been so early in the morning.

On Monday after the fitness class, Tessa brought Chad, the boys and Brynn to the beach access, actually to the same place where had our fitness class, for our surf lessons. Unfortunately Brynn was not feeling well, so she had to miss out on the lesson.

The instructors were total surfer dudes and it was so comical to listen to their laid back instructions of how we were going to go through the safety part of things, learn what to do and then 'just catch some waves.' Haha.

I got into a tangle with my board and another surfer's and my board smacked my forehead, so things were a bit downhill after that, unfortunately. I was able to get up on my board one time. I tried a second time, but it didn't work. It took so much effort just to paddle out and fight against the waves that I called it good a bit early. It was fun to try, though, and a good experience. Chad and I both agreed the salt water was too intense for us. I think I'll stick to fake/wave surfing on the MN lakes back home. :-)

More beach time back at the house...

Here you can see my head wound. 😜

We went out for a great dinner at a steak and seafood place in Corolla on Monday night.

I did get some good reading time in - I finished one I had been working on for a while, read one whole book and then started another on our flight home.

Hands down, Big Buck's was the best ice cream place we found in the Outer Banks area. I had cookies and cream every time...which I think was about four. 

This was a pretty walking path along the little road that goes along all the beach houses on the back side.

Clara slept with us in our king-sized bed for one night, in the boys' room a few other nights and on the floor of our room the other nights. Brynn was able to have a room all to herself, but I think Elise may have bunked with her one of the nights as well.

Benjamin instilling his chess knowledge onto Clara.

Some of our group noticed Grave Digger on our drive to the house on Saturday night, so the guys went back to visit that Tuesday morning.

Trying out some other ice cream that I heard was good, but still no comparison to Big Buck's.

Dana picked up some local brews that were really tasty.

Tuesday night Tessa had arranged for family photos on the beach. Mom and Dad gathered us for some pre-photo shoot photos.

Beach baby...

Wednesday morning was the much-anticipated ping pong tournament! Elise arranged a double-elimination bracket and we got underway at the community pool area. It was a perfect set up for us with two tables and tables and chairs under an awning. 

The competition was intense and everyone was at the top of their game, only to be bested by wind gusts at times. I still can't believe I was the tournament winner! I went head-to-head with Ben who played an excellent game.

Sleeping with my trophy.

....after a laughing fit that I got into with Tessa.

Third trip to Buck's, I think? 

Wednesday evening Tessa had booked a catamaran cruise for us on the Currituck Sound. The weather started out seemingly harmless, but some thunderstorms started to move in and we ended up cutting our trip short. We still had a great time while we were out, though, and it was really interesting visiting with the captain and first mate of 'Surfer Girl.' 

Clara and Dana got to help out.

We spied a rainbow later that evening after we had returned to the beach house.

This was the house we stayed in, looking from the beach toward the back side, where the pool is. It was a great place to stay and as you can see, we had plenty of room for all 12 of us to stretch out!

Beach Brynnie...

Dana learned how to play our favorite Dietz family card game, Nerts, and one of the Weckerly family favs, Cover Your Assets.

The game got really serious once everyone started playing standing up. haha.

Not sure which one of us had the brainiac idea to run to the pier and back on Thursday morning, but at 7:00 AM Chad and I headed toward the pier, everything starting out smooth and fine.

Eye on the prize...

We thought it was three miles from the beach house to the pier; turns out it was four. Still doing pretty well at this point.

Coming back, not so much. It had gotten pretty hot by the time we were on our way back, but we made it!

Weckerlys had planned to hit up an aquarium and take in a play, so while Clara, Dana and Grandpa stayed at the house, Brynn, Grandma and I headed to Bodie Island near Nag's Head to see the lighthouse there. 

We got Brynn a ticket and she bravely navigated 200+ steps up to look out at the top. It was really windy that day, so there was no dilly-dallying out at the lookout.

Mom and I walked around while we waited for Brynn.

Mom and Clara stayed behind while the rest of us attempted dinner (sans reservations) in Corolla. Every place was a one to two-hour minimum wait, so some of us ended up at the Chicken Coop inside of a gas station. The food actually was good though!

The sunset off the front deck after a rainstorm on Thursday night.

We were enjoying our last beach day on Friday when Dad alerted us to a bunch of dolphins swimming and playing not too far from shore. Actually there was a couple in a raft in amongst them and we were so excited for them as the dolphins were swimming around them, right up next to their raft.

That couple left the area after a bit and Reagan decided to swim out to see if she could get close to the dolphins as well. I didn't want to leave my spot on the beach to run and get my camera, so I didn't get any photos, but there is some far away footage in my video at the end of this post of Reagan swimming with them. It was absolutely magical and incredible. She wasn't able to actually touch any dolphins, but she did say she got within about two arm's length away. So awesome!

Staying cool on the beach.

Tessa took Ben and Brynn to Duck for some shopping on Friday afternoon.

Last group dinner together on Friday evening... 

Haha - I loved this pic of Chad and Ben with their crab legs.

Their was a Zoltar machine (like from the movie Big) outside the restaurant so the girls had to get their fortunes.

One more trip to Super Wings! When I say these stores are on literally every corner of the Outer Banks, I am not kidding. I believe there are 12 total in the OBX area. They had great OBX-wear and touristy things to buy.

...and one last stop at Big Buck's. :-)

In my last-ditch effort to use up more food from the fridge, I made a whole bowl of guac on our last night. 

All the girls especially had a fun time shelling on the beach.

Last sunrise on Saturday morning before we made our way back to Norfolk to fly home.

Someone found this bucket list in one of the area attraction magazines. We did pretty well!

None of the kids were ready to leave to come back to North Dakota, or what Brynn refers to as the 'most boring state.' But, we had an absolutely amazing time and felt like we got to see and do most of things we had wanted to do. We had intended to do yoga on the beach, but didn't get a chance and it didn't work out for us to rent dune buggies, which we had been interested in as well. I think Brynn would have liked to try parasailing, too, but we still had an amazing experience.