The day we got back from Sweden, Liz’s parents picked us up, and seven of us caravanned to Atlantic Beach! As I said in my Archipelago post, I am not a huge beach person. I don’t like having sand everywhere, it’s hot, it can be boring… I typically would rather just explore. BUT when I got to Atlantic Beach I fell in love with the Outer Banks and I realized that here I can get the best of both of those worlds.
In Atlantic Beach, I was coming off of a month of traveling in Europe and when I realized that I loved the beach, I just was seriously hight on life. If you could see my face in this photo, it would say it all! We got to the beach late, but the next day we started off the day with a boat ride. Every time we hit a wave I couldn’t help but giggle. I was all smiles all day and I realized even more how beautiful and amazing my new state is.
Feeling like a North Carolina Girl
We spent afternoons and evenings on the dock. It was such a cozy place to sit and relax… Especially at sunset.
We had an actual beach day, and even just hanging out at the beach here, was AMAZING! The water is so warm… like warm, warm. There was no inching in, I just jumped right in and played in the waves. We waded out and jumped into the waves as they crashed over us or rode them into the shallower parts. It was just too much fun!
Our last day on the ocean was spent on the boat again. We rode through the islands following the coastline. We passed an island that has wild horses on it, kept a lookout for dolphins and we ended up at Cape Lookout Lighthouse. This was an especially cool stop because Liz’s family has a direct connection with this lighthouse. Her 4x great-grandpa was the lighthouse’s first keeper! How cool is that?!
This beautiful lighthouse, now a National Monument, was lit in 1812 and is the second to stand in this place. You can only get here by boat- either your own or the ferry that brings visitors twice a day. We walked up to the light keepers house, where Liz’s parents actually volunteered for a summer. After going up on the island for a while, we kept the boat parked there, swam around, snacked and just loved life on the ocean.
Our last day on the beach it was raining all day. Water was flooding the streets, and there was simply no going out on the water… But we still did something really fun! We went to the North Carolina Aquarium at Pine Shoals! We saw a lot of different animals native to NC, see pieces from a shipwreck and I touched a stingray and a crazy-looking horseshoe crab!
The other great part of Atlantic Beach was the food! We grilled and ate at home some, but we went to a couple of really fun restaurants. The first was The Shark Shack. This place is just too cute! I had friend shrimp and some amazing hushpuppies! It was so cute, and the seating was outside under palm trees!
The other place we ate is called Amos Mosquitoes! It was also very tasty! I celebrated beach life with an obnoxiously fruity beach drink- mango daiquiri! YUM! Lina and I split a super tasty pasta dish! We all shared some tasty calamari and Liz let me try some of her crab cakes, which she loved, but I wasn’t really a fan of… Apparently I’m not a crab cake person.
The beach, and Tom & Nancy, treated me really well! It was so great to get to experience all of these amazing places and foods while loving every second of my life on the beach, and it made me really excited for more Outer Banks explorations in the near future!
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