We ended up staying nine nights at Oregon Inlet Campground. Mostly
through luck, we had one of the best sites; we could walk to the beach
from our backyard. The showers were solar-warm. The bathrooms had
flush toilets and running water.
Cons: the mosquitoes were terrible when the wind dropped.
Fortunately, the wind blows hard nearly all of the time. The sites are
tight. Generators are allowed in the areas where there is no
electricity. Because all of the electric sites fill up first, this
results in some strange situations where big Class A motor homes are
running generators right next to tents in the non-electric zone.
Unlike the Texas gulf coast, we were unable to find any free public camping in the Outer Banks
Food and Drink
During our last days, we got in final tastes from the area. Barbeque
from Pigman’s in Kill Devil HIlls, shrimp and grits at Blue Moon Grill,
and beer from Lost Colony Brewery.
The bbq was very good; the shrimp and grits were wonderful, and the
beer was possibly the worst I’ve ever had at a brewpub. The brown ale
(to the right) was very thin and overly hopped for the style. I like
brown ales. Just one man’s opinion. I tasted Julia’s IPA (to the left),
and it wasn’t as bad. That’s all I’ll say about that.
Kayaking
On one afternoon, I dropped Julia off to do some kayaking (her race
is coming up in about two weeks). She had a nice paddle and saw some
some glamped-up fishing shacks which have been remodeled on the inside
and even feature electricity.
The Lost Colony
We also took some time to learn about the Lost Colony at Roanoke,
established by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1585 and eventually led by John
White. White’s grand-daughter, Virginia Dare, was the first “English”
child born in America. White left the colonists to resupply in
England. When he returned in 1590, all of traces of the colony,
including Virginia Dare, were gone. Attempts to discover what happened
were unsuccessful.
There was some speculation that the local native population killed
everyone off. That would not be shocking, as the colonists (fearing the
locals might kill them) attacked the tribe without provocation, killing
the chief and others. However, there was no evidence of such a
massacre by the tribe against the colonists.
Heading East
We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in the Outer Banks. This area has been on our bucket list for a long time.
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