| Outer Banks Vacation Trip Reports: MIRAMAR -
Whalehead, Corolla 8/13/2011
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Summer 2011 Whalehead Vacation - MIRAMAR - Posted By: Jill Dwyer
Once again, we had the Tahoe packed to capacity (and beyond) and were leaving home early Saturday morning (8/13/2011) for our
long-awaited vacation to North Carolina's Outer Banks! Whalehead in Corolla, to be specific. The trip from Richmond, VA
turned out to be five hours with the typical Saturday traffic. When we finally arrived at Twiddy's
Corolla office, everyone was in a great mood and ready to see Miramar,
our vacation house for the next two weeks. We were greeted by none other than Bailey (of YouTube fame),
who had our keys waiting for us. We were off to a great start!
We always vacation in late August, so we know we are taking our chances with the weather. However, the weather was so fantastic
that we never had a rainy day in the entire two week vacation. We lived on the beach, thoroughly enjoying the surf, sand and sun
and found it difficult to pull ourselves away for trivial tasks like trips to the store for more food, beer and wine. We did
make a few excursions, albeit short ones, as we had serious demands on our time with the beach calling us back. Holes were dug,
sand castles were built, creatures were found in the sand, many, many waves were ridden on the boogie boards and lots of time
was spent reading in the chairs under our umbrella. Will and I both found great books on the shelves of our vacation home and
when we weren't on the beach, we were sitting out on the deck of the house ejoying the breeze and the view while getting lost
in our books.
My family joined us the first week of our vacation and, as usual, drove up with a ton of food and wine (think boat size cooler full
of casseroles and a turkey). My brother couldn't stay a full week so he flew into Norfolk and then caught a charter flight down
into Kill Devil Hills. The charter flight pilot flew low over the Outer Banks pointing out many of the unique features of the area.
It was my brother's first trip here, so the aerial tour was an excellent crash course on the barrier islands.
The House - MIRAMAR
The home we stayed in, Miramar, was a only a block
from the beach, with easy access just around the corner. The great surprise was the amazing views from our vacation home, like
being able to see the ocean without having to get out of bed kind of views! The third floor had a deck that wrapped around the
back of the house providing ocean and Currituck Beach Lighthouse views. The
second level had a full wrap around deck with a hot tub, easily accessible from two of the suites (great design). The home has five bedrooms
and sleeps ten very spaciously. It has a great outdoor shower, big, open, well-stocked kitchen, comfortable living area and my favorite -
lots of pegs and hooks to hang towels, bathing suits, etc. in every bedroom, the outside shower, deck by the hot tub, and under the house on clothes lines.
Things We Did On Vacation
After more than a week of working diligently at holding down the beach, we decided to finally venture out and made our way down to
the new Jenettes's Pier in Nag's Head. It is beautiful. We didn't fish,
but enjoyed looking into the water from the far end of the pier. The wind turbines are really neat to watch as well. The OBX
Connection bought a plank, so look for more information on that once we know its up and its location on the pier.
I got a chance to escape twice to play tennis. Once with my mom and another time I joined a class at the Corolla Light Sports
Center. I thoroughly enjoyed both outings. I also went for a few runs in the neighborhood and on the beach. Tip - trash day is
Wednesday so don't go for a neighborhood run on Wednesday mornings before trash pick-up. We all have our dumb tourist moments
and this was mine. Who would have guessed that people on vacation at the beach eat lots of fish and shrimp and then put the
remains in the trash cans sitting in the sun? I am a little slow to catch on sometimes!
We've stayed all over the northern beaches of the Outer Banks, and have enjoyed learning about the different neighborhoods from
Whalehead to Ocean Sands, Ocean Hill to Corolla Light and a few places in Duck and Kitty Hawk. For this trip, we had a great time in
the Whalehead neighborhood of Corolla and really enjoyed the fantastic views (ocean and lighthouse) from our Twiddy vacation home
and the beautiful wide beach. On a side note, we got a lot of entertainment this year from the many different ice cream trucks riding up
and down the grid pattern of the Whalehead neighborhood. We made a game of listening and then guessing which truck might be headed our way.
Was it the truck painted like a cow? The black one with the flames on the side? The one with the tiki hut roof? Or, could it be the big one with the
generator on the front, the one with three ice cream cones painted on the side,etc. I've never seen this before, bizarre, yet
funny. Development over the years may have changed
some things, but the OBX still has its own funky serene beach scene going on, which continues to lure visitors from all over the
east coast and beyond!
Hurricane Irene - We Were Going Home Anyway!
Near the beginning of our second week, it became clear that hurricane Irene was going to pay a visit to the Outer Banks before the end of our trip.
I remember thinking Wednesday morning (8/24) that you would never know a hurricane was on the way! It was a beautiful beach day with gentle ocean breezes
and calm seas. Even so, we got the word Thursday that Currituck County was calling for a mandatory evacuation of non-residents. The weather was so beautiful,
that it seemed surreal. However, we packed up all of our stuff and did our part to secure the house before leaving Thursday afternoon. It was sort of sad to
leave two days early, but we had a wonderful vacation that we will never forget! Many thanks to the great people at Twiddy
for paying attention to all of the little details and making our vacation wonderful. We'll see you next summer!
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