Atlantic Coast Anniversary

Last year for our anniversary, we spent a week on the Pacific Coast. Our Memorial Day weekend this year was spent in Rodanthe, NC on the Atlantic Coast enjoying the simple beach life. We departed Richmond on Thursday around 6:30pm and made two stops in Suffolk-one for a gift from Scott and Amy and one for the RV, our home for the next four days. The gift from Scott & Amy was SO thoughtful. They surprised us with a gift bag with oyster crackers, trail mix, a salami, two glasses, some bubbly and a candle. THANKS GUYS! We used all of it!

We continued on to the Outer Banks and arrived in Rodanthe sometime around 11pm. As we drove into town, we made a stop at the Hot Tuna Pub & Grub with the hopes that they were still serving some sort of food. Our excitement about getting to our destination caused us to neglect to stop for dinner. We were out of luck so a beer did the trick and then we hit the road again expecting our drive to be at least twenty minutes longer. Imagine our surprise when a few minutes down the road, we spotted our campground on the right.

Our original reservation had us arriving on Friday night but we pulled in to see if we could check in early. Fortunately, they have a late check-in process where you pick a site from what is still available and pay in the morning. So we grabbed our envelope and proceeded to pull into our spot and hook everything up.

On Friday morning, we woke up bright and early and began our vacation. We took Ginger down to the beach for a swim and then rode our bikes (our only mode of transport) down Route 12 to breakfast at Atlantic Coast Cafe. After breakfast we rode back to the beach and spent the morning relaxing in the sunshine. Rodanthe is quite the popular spot for surfers and Jeff was ready to join the lineup.

Jeff has been surfing for many more years than I have so I opted to observe from the warm sand and see how the waves were before paddling out myself. After some additional time on the beach and a post-surfing snooze for Jeff, we headed out onto Route 12 in search of some groceries.

Island Convenience was conveniently located directly next to the Pub & Grub from the night before so we knew exactly where to go. We stocked up on lunch and breakfast food, the necessary beer, limes, milk and water (basically all we could fit in my bike basket and on Jeff's left arm) and pedaled back to our site for a bite to eat. The most exciting discovery at Island Convenience was Imperial-a Costa Rican beer we enjoyed during our Honeymoon! Naturally, we snatched up an ice cold six pack for dinner that night.

Friday afternoon brought us back to the beach and we both enjoyed an afternoon surf. Thank goodness for our wetsuits because the water was chilly!! In the evening we headed back to the campsite for the evening, got showered and prepared for a delicious dinner at our picnic table with a gorgeous view of the sound.

Night View

Dinner on Friday night was an exact replica of the dinner we had a year ago at Lisa and Andy's house in San Diego. We had so much fun that night and the food was so delicious so we did it again. Trader Joes pollo asada, Trader Joses, and bean dip. All that was missing was Lisa, Andy, Norton and their adorable back patio!!

We settled in after dinner to watch the rest of the glorious sunset, listen to music and enjoy each other's company.

On Saturday morning we began what became our usual routine. Breakfast outside, take ginger for a swim, gather up our beach supplies and relax ocean side ALL day. Before the trip Jeff spent his evenings building a contraption for my bike that held my surfboard so I could ride my bike with board in tow. Each day, I loaded up the board and pedaled over to the beach. It worked like a dream. Thanks babe!

On Saturday evening, we hit up Austin's fish store and purchased two large pieces of red snapper, some corn and some other veggies for dinner that night. We had originally thought we wanted to go out to dinner but our waterfront table at our campsite beat any restaurant view and so did our cooking skills. We quickly nixed that concept and ate all meals at Fleming's Table.

All you need is fresh fish, citrus juice, and a little butter.

After dinner we enjoyed some time sound side and then took a passegiatta on the ocean side of the campground. Unfortunately some fireworks scared the begeezus out of our pup so we returned to the quieter side of things.

Sunday morning we woke up and realized we had gotten A LOT of sun in the past two days and so decided to spend the day out of the sun (for the most part). We took Ginger for her morning swim and then got on our bikes and headed down Route 12 to explore Salvo and Waves. We stopped in several surf shops and picked up two pounds of shrimp on special. Our last stop of the morning was at Kitty Hawk Kites and something quite interesting happened to us there.

We parked our bikes to the side of the walk way and proceeded to climb the stairs and walk into the store. We took one step into the store and a gentleman stopped us and asked if he could talk to us for a moment. (We were thinking he was going to ask us to kindly move our bikes off the walkway) Imagine our surprise when he asked us if we were interested in being 'models' in a promotional video for the store. What?! He said all we have to do is take a free paddle boarding lesson out on the sound. Paddle boarding is something I have wanted to try for ages so we quickly said yes, disrobed and headed out into the water, paddle boards in tow.

This is paddle boarding. Ms. Jennifer Aniston is a fan.

Our lesson lasted close to 45 minutes with the camera man taking far away shots and VERY close up shots. Here's hoping we look cool in this video. We are supposed to receive a link to it by the end of this week. The video will be shown in all Kitty Hawk Kite stores.

I just couldn't stand to be away from the ocean so after Kitty Hawk Kites, we bought an umbrella and made our way back to the beach and spent the rest of the afternoon reading/sleeping the shade.

That evening, we spent a great deal of time sound side letting Ginger swim in the sound and enjoying the sunset with our fellow campers. Everyone at the campsite was super friendly and we enjoyed getting to know our 'neighbors.' For dinner Sunday night we had more grilled corn, grilled shrimp, bubbly from Scott and Amy, and leftover veggies from Saturday's dinner. Dessert was grilled s'mores. Yum!

On Monday morning, we had to be out by 10am, so we woke up bright and early, unplugged and got on the road. Not wanting our vacation to end, we drove up to Jeff's parents beach house in Corolla and spent the day relaxing with the fam and on the beach. We left around 3pm and got on the road back to Richmond with a quick stop at the famous Virginia Diner for dinner.


I cannot say enough good things about the time we spent in Rodanthe. Camping at the beach is amazing, relaxing, soothing, fun, laid back, etc. We spent all of our time outside except when we were sleeping or showering and I would not have had it any other way. We are thinking about going back in the fall perhaps with a group of friends. Interested?

Thanks to my husband and my dog, I had the BEST, most relaxing 4 day anniversary!