Recovery Weekend and Beach Time in The Outer Banks

We left Rehoboth Beach and headed south to Kiptopeke State Park which is right on Chesapeake Bay in Virginia. It’s a beautiful park with lots of outdoor options but we used this time rest up and catch up on some tasks before continuing on to the Outer Banks. Next time!

Another first for us was taking the tunnel under Chesapeake Bay pulling our rig. Our rig is 13’4″ high and clearance in the tunnels is 13’6″. I was a bit nervous and felt myself ducking as we entered the first of two tunnels but we made it through with no problems.

We stayed at Oregon Outlet Campground in the Cape Hatteras National Seashore which allowed for a quick dune hike to the beach. The park is dry camping and allowed generators until 10pm so nights were a bit steamy but this was a small price to pay to be soo close to so many cool things to do and see.

We spent our first afternoon on the beach and followed that up with dinner and drinks at Fish Heads on the pier in Nags Head. We scored seats at the bar outside which allowed us to bypass a couple hour wait for a table.

The next morning we visited Bodie Island Light Station. Its a bit inland but its headlight can be seen for 17 miles at sea.

We followed that up with a visit to The Wright Brothers National Monument in Kitty Hawk. The Visitors Center is well done and highlights all the obstacles they faced in developing their gliders and airplanes. As an engineer I must admit I geeked out a little bit. The grounds outside were equally impressive as you get the see the hill they flew from and different landmarks for each of the four attempts they made on the day of their “first flight”.

The next day we made the trek down to Cape Hatteras to snap some pics of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Unfortunately, its being restored and is jacketed in scaffolding. We spent some time in the Visitors Center, it’s amazing how many ships have sunk in these treacherous waters. I was surprised to learn that the Monitor, one of the ironside warships used in the civil war, was one of its victims.

Our final morning we got up before dawn to head to the beach for sunrise and donuts. It was pretty overcast so it wasn’t the best sunrise, but we were able capture the last glimpses of the moon over the dunes.