Bucket List For a Rainy Day in the Outer Banks NC

Written By: Gail Clifford | Published By: Weekend Notes| June 04, 2022

https://www.weekendnotes.com/bucket-list-for-a-rainy-day-in-the-outer-banks-nc/

Having traveled to the Outer Banks recently, during the shoulder season, we landed during a nor’easter and had blustery weather most of the trip. We knew this was possible even probable and worked our patience into our schedule. With 15 towns and villages, there are plenty of new places to try.

The first thing to remember? When it’s suddenly sunny …. Get outside!

1. Visit the Wright Brother’s National Memorial
When it’s raining, you can spend your time indoors exploring the exhibits and learning about the brothers’ early life, their creative mother, and their older brothers. You’ll follow the story of their inventions and find the glider cum plane they used within the displays.

When the sun peaks out, run past the barns that held their equipment each summer, and take the walk along the pathway that marks the distance of each of the four flights, each one longer than the last.

Take the car to drive around to Kill Devil Hill and park on the sculpture garden side. Run up the stairs and explore the enormous gray granite monument to the brothers, in the shape of a wing.

Then get photographs at the sculpture garden, up close and personal with Orville or over the shoulder of the cameraman or reporters there to record the momentous occasion.

The indoor/outdoor possibilities make it a great place to stop.

2. Visit wonderful restaurants
While we visited, we ate at seven different restaurants and had a great meal each time. If you have a beach view, you can watch the tumultuous waves challenge the shore then retreat. If you’re interested in specifics, let me know and I’ll tell you more about the ones we visited and the ones I’m looking forward to visiting upon my return.

3. Go shelling
Don’t let the inclement weather stop you. Dress appropriately and take a long walk along the beach. You can collect shells, freshly dropped along the shore, and work off some of those calories from all those wonderful restaurant meals.

4. Sample local Kill Devil Rum
For those 21 and over, stop in Manteo at the Kill Devil Rum Outer Banks Distillery. We had the opportunity to meet one of the owner-founders and enjoyed the tour. There’s a shop and a bar as well as the ability to watch the still in action. The staff is wonderful and the drinkers in the group tell me their Pecan blend is the best they’ve ever had.

5. Visit the Aquarium
Located on Roanoke Island, this indoor event is a wonderful exhibit for all ages. Children will enjoy seeing the fish and creatures, there’s even a petting tank for small stingrays and horseshoe crab and jellyfish and a movie, and a ginormous tank where scuba divers swim with the sharks. Perhaps you’ll most enjoy the sea turtle rescue area, where you can view the current visitors recuperating in individual tanks or proceed to the interactive experience in the next room where you can adopt a turtle (stuffed, not live) and take it through the diagnostic process until it’s healed and safe to release to return to the wild.

If the sun breaks out, dash out to the pier or along the grounds. It’s a beautiful view of Black Hall Bay.