I've been going to obx before it was obx....think my first trip there I was about 8 soon to be 41 (yikes) We traveled alot when I was a kid, but the banks was the one place I have always felt 'akin' to. When I got married I set my husband straight right away and told him sooner or later, I'm gonna live there :-) I am so glad to have found this forum.....even though I lurked for quite a while and just started posting LOL. I hope to make a few buddys here so next year when I come down, I'll have a few people to meet!
Jill

Hi & welcome! I am only a couple of years younger than you are & have also been visiting the OBX since I was a baby.I'm raising my boys to be OBX fanatics. This is a great board with lots of great people(locals & tourists).

Welcome O2bnobx! I just discovered the Outer Banks recently, and only wish I had found it sooner. I imagine it was a much different place when you first started visiting. I do love it, and hope to visit a couple of times a year from now on. I think it would be wonderful to meet some of the people from this site next time I'm in the OBX.

Hello to all of you.....Dang I guess I am an old time visitor to the outer banks well before it was known as OBX. We started out tent camping at Hatteras Sand Camping Resort in 1978. Before they had the JMHO the cheesey looking little colored houses and teepee's. There are not many trees in Hatteras Sands Campground and we would always get the site with a tree for shade near the canal. Of course back then the Hatteras/Ocracoke ferry dock was small (no shops or houses near there back then) and not much of anything in Hatteras Village. The Lee Robinson store was just one little old building we would go and fill our water jugs using their water spigot. That was before bottled water! Heehee

I think there was only one 7-11 back then in Nags head and weliked the Dune Burger. Oh, you know the rip off Hatteras Water Park, back then the only thing they had was the waterslide! Best of all back then was that the development hadn't exploded to what it is today!

We still love coming down there and our son is now 22 but we just don't go in the summer anymore. If I was a local I would hate at what has happened to the area in the last 20 years......and that is JMHO

I, too, started coming in the early 70's. Remembers Wink's? That was about it on the beach road for shopping.
We also camped here for many years before and after we had kids. When we had kids we used to go to a campground that was about a mile west of the village of Manteo. It had a playground and there were geese that would walk through our campsite. Our girls loved it. We went 2-3 times a year from upstate NY. They were very upset when it was sold because the land became too expensive to keep just for a campground. It is now condos.
We lost a tent one night in the Oregon Inlet Campground. Our girls were small and a thunder storm rolled in at night so fast that we could not get into our car before it hit. My husband and I each laid on top of one of the girls as the tent poles bend and whipped into our backs. I was so afraid that the tent would get loose and start rolling. When the storm was over we saw that we were the only people that had part of their tent survive. The tarp cover was gone but the basic tent underneath was okay. Everyone else lost their tents completely. We bought a plastic tarp and managed for the rest of the week even though we looked a sight.
Thanks for getting me to think about the old OB.

We used to stay at the First Flight Inn back in the early 80's. We would stay at the little cottages right up on the dunes. It was amazing to watch thunderstorms from our picture window that looked out over the beach. We could stay the entire week and use only about $300 for everything. Food, lodging and stuff!! That was a deal back then. The "big" place to go was Kitty Hawk Kites, but it only had an "end" unit at that time. They served the best homemade waffle cones and icecream. The shops along that area were non-existent. Change can be good, but sometimes I miss the old times!!!

I too am a recent discoverer of the Outer Banks. I recall going there twice as a young child. Once to Kitty Hawk/ Nags Head to see the Wright Brothers stuff and Jockey's Ridge and then one time to Hatteras with my grandparents to go fishing. I was so young I didnt remember much. In more recent years I learned about OBX from friends and neighbors who vacation there. We had been in the habit of driving to SOuth Carolina (Hilton Head area) for warm ocean water. We finally decided to try OBX last summer and fell in love. Yes the water is much colder but we bough wet-suit shirts (admittedly we are total wimps about water temperature) and managed just fine and loved the fact that there are actually real waves to ride! We loved the beaches, and the people were so genuine and fun. We look forward to many years of returning to the Banks.

I remember coming down in early 1980 with a bunch of friends looking for a house to rent for the summer while we all worked there. We stayed at the Dolphin Motel (registered 2 people, had 6) & had nothing but a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, & a case of beer. Those were the days of real pop-top cans, & we used the pop-tops to spread the peanut butter. Finally rented a tiny house in Kill Devil Hills with no phone, no a/c, no washer/dryer. Best summer ever!