We deemed today “road trip day” as we planned to drive from the northernmost town on the Outer Banks (Corolla) to Hatteras Island 90 miles south, making a bunch of stops along the way. There’s a lot to see on the Outer Banks, and because of where we chose to stay so far north versus in the middle, we knew we’d need to dedicate a marathon day for site-seeing.

First, in the town of Duck, we grabbed a few hot, made to order treats from the original Duck Donuts (now there are 100+ locations in the US.)

Second, in the town of Kitty Hawk, a national park and museum dedicated to the Wright Brothers where we learned about their historic first flights, saw the starting point where they launched from and the markers for the very short distances they flew.

Third, in the town of Nags Head, Jockeys Ridge state park with North Carolina’s tallest sand dune (100 feet) where people can parasail, hike the trails, go sandboarding. It was too hot so I bailed after 100 yards but the boys went further than me to checkout the landscape.

Fourth, also in the town of Nags Head, we popped into an outlet mall for some shopping and a quick lunch.

Fifth, at the beginning of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, we stopped by the Bodie Island Lighthouse which is unique because of its black and white stripes and the light is visible 20 miles out to sea.

Sixth stop, further down the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, we passed a vast nature preserve but then spotted a place to legally park the car and climb between the dunes to get to the ocean. It was very windy with the sand pelting our exposed skin, but it was quite empty and serene.

Seventh stop, in the town of Rodanthe, we grabbed a quick espresso to fuel us for the rest of the day.

We passed through so many towns on our way to our main destination. The landscape is flat, the road ranges from one or two lanes, there must be building height restrictions since nothing is more than three stories. The national seashore is larger than I had imagined. It makes the stretch on Cape Cod look so tiny.

Finally we reached our eighth stop: the town of Frisco on Hatteras Island. In Frisco we did a two hour ride through the Buxton Woods maritime forest and onto the beach with horses! My horse, Madison, passed gas a lot and was smitten with another horse so she got easily distracted. Miss M is a natural born equestrian and did very well with her horse, Reba. D kept trying to get his twenty year old horse, Amos, to trot faster and NC law said he needed to wear a helmet since he’s under 18 so we had fun with that. Paul’s horse, Birdie, was a follower and just wanted to mimic Amos. We spent 2.5 hours with the horses and enjoyed every minute of it.

Dinner, pool, and margaritas at Lighthouse Sportsbar before driving nearly two hours in pitch black back to Corolla.