| Outer Banks Vacation Trip Reports: TERABITHIA -
COROLLA 8/10/2013
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Summer 2013 Corolla Vacation - TERABITHIA - Posted By: Jill Dwyer
Are We There Yet?
It’s Saturday morning and Will woke us at 6:30 am, which felt like 4 am to this group of non-early
risers. The only reason we all made it out of bed was our desire to get to the Outer Banks and get there quickly. We
left our driveway at 7:20 and hit the road. The Interstate was clear until we hit Williamsburg and there was a slight
delay due to an accident. Onward through the bridge tunnel and our favorite exit 291B, amazingly, with NO DELAYS! There
were some back-ups at the lights on 158, but nothing too unreasonable. We didn’t come to a complete standstill until we
approached the Wright Memorial Bridge. Slow going, but still moving through Southern Shores, we hit the Twiddy Duck
check-in office in slightly more than 4 hours. Not too bad for a Saturday check-in. Everyone was still enamored with
our trip plans and no complaints were heard. A great drive for a summer visit.
The House
We did so well on our drive that our house, Terabithia, wasn’t ready (it was only 11:30), but we were given keys and
entrusted not to go to the house before 2:00, our early check-in time. On our honor, we headed up to Corolla, had a
relaxing lunch and did a little preliminary shopping in Timbuk II. We drove back south a few miles to Ocean Sands
section E, directly across from the Harris Teeter. No guessing which turn it is, there’s a traffic light, making it
really easy to find and super convenient to make that elusive, safe left turn.
Terbithia turned out to
be a much larger home than we expected and was very clean and super comfortable for our group of eight that came for our
first week. I didn’t think we were going to have an ocean view since we were a little distance back from the ocean with
a handful of houses between the beach and us, but we could easily see the water from the top floor of our home where the
family room, game table nook, dining room, kitchen, half-bath and one of the master bedrooms was located. Between the
ocean shot and a newer flat screen TV, I was thrilled.
Even more fun was the hot tub and hammock swing on the second floor! This came in handy the second part of our first week
when the most amazing weather you can have at the beach turned cold, windy, overcast and rainy. The second floor had
another master, a room with double bunks, a room with two twins and another room that served as a den with French doors
and a sleeper sofa. There was also a full bath and a closet with the washer and dryer. We had more than enough space to
spread out, separate the kids and everyone could do their own thing in the evenings and on rainy days.
The ground floor had a great storage room filled with buckets, shovels, basketballs, boogie boards and lots of comfortable
beach chairs. There was a nice sized outdoor shower and big area to hose off everyone’s feet and flip-flops. But, I know
we all appreciated that there was covered parking for two vehicles. No jockeying for the coveted shaded parking spot
this year. I knew I had heard the name Terabithia before, but I couldn’t recall why I knew the name. On the coffee table
in the living room was the book Terabithia. I read it as well as my middle child and I can’t believe I hadn’t read it
before. Apparently a movie was made too, but I enjoyed learning what Terabithia was and think the house name is perfect.
The book was a nice touch.
Week One Of Our Vacation
The first few days of our Corolla trip were beach days. The weather was gorgeous and the water was stunning. We camped
out on the beach under our umbrella and spent a lot of time in the water, on boogie boards, checking out the fish and
shells with masks and goggles (yes, it was that clear for a few days). Ocean Sands also has tennis courts and a
community pool, so I played tennis one morning , picked up fresh seafood for dinner and then went back to the beach taking
advantage of the weather. The last day of good weather on week one, we hit the beach for a few hours in the morning, came
back, cleaned up, had lunch and then headed to the Wright Brothers Memorial. From there we made quick stops at a few of
our favorite shops. Then headed back up to Corolla to our house. After dinner, a game of Scrabble ensued where every tile
was played. Quite the feat and it was a close match
Days 5, 6, and 7 were perfect for shopping, lounging around and enjoying the hot tub. The weather was not cooperative,
with high winds, rain and low temps. We don’t always get a hot tub and I really enjoyed having one with the bad weather.
I am starting to wonder if the times we have a house with a hot tub insures we will have bad weather??? The funky weather
did bring a series of amazing sunsets lighting up the entire sky each night.
Week Two Of Our Vacation
On the eighth day, the skies cleared, not entirely, but enough to enjoy time on the beach without high
winds and rain. My family left on Sunday morning, our 7th day, and Will’s brother and friend came to stay
with us on Sunday evening. We now had the use of Will’s brother’s surfboard, a giant foam, learning style
board, perfect for the kids to gain confidence and work on their balance. They had a ball and we were able
to get some great pictures and video over the next few days as good beach weather returned again replacing
the gorgeous sunsets with stunning moonrises.
After several days in the sun, we were ready to take a mini-break and get out to see some sights. We
travelled south down 12 with minimal traffic as it was another amazing day and our first stop was the
Avalon Pier. Will has great memories coming
to the pier as a kid, fishing and playing the arcade games
and the pier hasn’t changed a bit. The kids had a blast. On the way back to Corolla we stopped at the
boardwalk in Duck. The scenery in duck was stunning as usual, but it was HOT and it was time to hit the
beach. We got back for more runs on the surfboard and the boogie boards, came in, washed up and back in
the car again for dinner out. We spent the rest of the evening on the beach for some night fishing. We
caught two fish, saw a giant moon rise and then finally made a last trip to the house to end the day.
Time To Go
Our last morning, we woke up and began packing up the car and left the house just before 10 AM on our way to
the beach access for a few last picks. The beach told us we had our fun and it was time to go by greeting us
with high winds and rough seas. We didn’t take long to get our final looks in for this trip. Leaving the windy
shore we drove north to the Currituck Lighthouse. We all climbed and enjoyed the view then walked the entire
grounds of the Whalehead club taking lots of photos and enjoying the beautiful day as it was much nicer on the
sound side with temps in the mid 70s. We left around noon and stopped for lunch and gas at Timbuk II. The drive
home was a cakewalk, even though it was hard to see all the cars lined up heading in the opposite direction to their
beach vacation. We wished we were them sitting in traffic waiting for our trip to begin.
Many thanks to the awesome people at Twiddy & Company
for paying attention to all of the little details and making our vacation wonderful. We'll see you next summer!
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