Outerbanks: Day 1-2

As always, because I take way too many pictures, our trip to the Outerbanks will be split into 2 posts.

 

Last Saturday, we made the 11 hour drive (which actually ended up being 15.5 hours with stops and traffic) to Nags Head, NC to the Outerbanks area with Todd's family.  While we were only able to spend a few days there, we were really excited for a trip to the beach (my favorite type of vacation) and for Lucy to spend time with her grandparents, cousins, aunt, and uncle.  I was dreading the drive there though because 1.) I don't like being in the car for more than 3 hours and I've seemed to develop motion sickness as I've gotten older and 2.) I knew Lucy would go crazy being in her car seat literally all day long.  Let's just say by the time we got to our house in Nags Head on Saturday evening (we left at 6:00 AM and didn't get there until 9:30 PM!), I was contemplating somehow flying back to Columbus instead of having to make that awful drive again.

 

Like I said, we left around 6:00 AM and Lucy was in a weird mood right from the start.  Not sure if it was because we had to wake her up or if she was hungry but the first couple hours were rough and I didn't know if we'd actually make it to Nags Head in one piece.  We made a breakfast stop in Charleston, WV and Lucy was 100x better after that.  Although, I think part of it was because I ended up sitting in the back with her the rest of the drive.  We made several stops throughout the day to stretch our legs, eat, and let Lucy run around.  Of course, no road trip for the Rodricks is complete without a stop at a National Park for a stamp in the passport book and we lucked out and found the New River Gorge National Park in West Virginia that was only a mile off the highway.  After a long day of driving, we got stuck in traffic due to a power line being in the middle of the road just outside of Outerbanks which delayed us close to an hour.  Around 9:30 PM, we were finally arriving to our beach house and started our mini vacation.

 

Our random stop in a parking lot in Charleston for breakfast

Hanging out in the backseat with Lucy

Sandstone Visitor Center along the New River Gorge National River

 

Todd & Lucy outside the visitor center

 

Getting stamps in their passport books

 

Lucy checking out the scenery

The visitor center was actually pretty neat and we walked around for about 15-20 minutes

Thank god for iPads!

Lucy pulled out her hair tie before she fell asleep which is why she has crazy hair (she always plays/twirls her hair when she's tired and typically pulls out her hair tie because it gets in the way)

Quick stop at a rest area in Virginia

Eating snacks and watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on the DVD player

We slept in a bit on Sunday morning (sleeping in for us at least!) and Todd & I were able to go on a 4 mile run along the bike path outside our house while Lucy hung back with the rest of the family.  It was the first time we'd run just the 2 of us since before Lucy was born!  The sun was out all day on Sunday but it was pretty windy which made the air a bit chilly especially if you were in the shade but that didn't stop us from enjoying our first full day at the beach and pool.

The view of the ocean from the deck on our house; the walkway from the deck led right to the beach

My father-in-law taking Lucy & Andrew out to beach in their pjs

View of our house (on the left) from the beach

Picture perfect

Lucy spent most of the morning playing in the sand with her cousin, Audrey

Part of the family hanging out

Todd trying to teach our nephew, Andrew, how to use the boogie board

I love watching Lucy play now because you can tell she actually has an imagination and is pretending to do things

Lucy taking a walk down the beach with PaPa

More playing in the sand

Quick break for a snack

MaMa with her 2 granddaughters

Enjoying some sangria while soaking up the sun

And Lucy is still playing in the sand

Me & my girl

After lunch at the house, we headed over to the pool for a little bit

It was much easier to have her in this float/raft instead of the Puddle Jumper (although she didn't mind having it on)

Another view from our deck during Lucy's nap time (not a cloud in the sky)

We went to dinner at Sam & Omie's and Todd had a soft shell crab sandwich that I had to take a picture of because it looks just like a crab!

Because it was so windy, it was chilly once the sun went down but we wanted to go check out the beach & ocean in the evening

 

Todd & Lucy on their way back to the house

 

I'll post the rest of our trip next week but it looks like more of the same...lots of time at the beach & pool as well as another visit to a National Park.