My first trip down was very memorable. Fall of 1995. I must be getting old because I swore it was 94'.
I was 23, and the trip consisted of myself, my ex-husband, our first (and only at that time) child, my brother and sister in-law, and my mother. We stayed OF in Ocean Sands, Sec Q. The house was "St. Tropez" through Carolina Designs. The house is still there and still with Carolina Designs, but now the name is "Michael-Anne" (if memory serves) but the house has certainly changed! At the time it was pretty new and "fancy". It was 4 bedroom then with parking under the house, and it had one of those strange indoor triangular jacuzzi's in an open loft, you know the kind..in the middle of a carpeted room, lol. It was decorated Florida style, AKA "Golden Girl's". Today it is a 6 bedroom, the parking area has been enclosed. There is now a pool, and the freaky jacuzzi is gone..but crazily enough the last time I checked it out it still had the same 80"s/90's glass and chrome dining table!
Lots of memories, even 24 years ago the area was much less populated and developed. The wild horses of course played a huge part of our trip. They were everywhere and there was no difficulty trying to "find" one. A group of 4 spent the entire day in the neighborhood. It started off awesome, but I have to admit by mid-week it became annoying. ( Beautiful beyond measure, but annoying. ) They dumped and spread trash every single day. Poop. Lots of poop in the road and on the beach. We saw one walk under the house to the right of us and frankly, made a double mess on and inside the back of a little convertible LeBaron. Not beside. ON. At that time there was also one mare who was known for walking right into the Food Lion. Never mistook the Out door for the In door either! Clever girl!
I enjoyed seeing the "Horse Crossing" signs on 12, like we see for deer here in Ohio. Seeing dolphins for the first time. The lighthouse had only been open to visitors for a few years and the Whalehead Club was off limits. My brother and I loved the guard shack on 12 in (or near) Duck. I remember we laughed and wondered if it could tilt back and reveal a secret tunnel, like on "Hogans Hero's".
But the real reason I will never forget this trip is OJ Simpson. Like most of America we were hooked on the trial. Most of the people near us on the beach were as well, and lots of us had radios on the beach, or would run back to the house often for updates. Oct 5th was verdict day. No one thought the verdict would come in so quickly! Four hours! Next thing I knew, a man ran to the end of the public access and yelled "The verdict is in! The verdict is in" Granted this was fall in Corolla, not peak season, but since we were one house from the public access our area had quite a few people. Everyone, and I mean everyone jumped, left everything where it sat and headed for their houses.
I remember wandering back to the beach in a daze...
And thats how I got started on the 'banks. My brother hated it so they never came back. My mother believes in seeing someplace new instead of repeating destinations every year, but she has returned one or twice with her new husband since. I kept coming back, and over the years added 3 more children and subtracted one husband.
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