The Outer Banks: An Experience

There are vacations and then there are experiences. Visiting the Outer Banks is an experience. While my trip last week was for a friend's wedding, and I didn't even really do that many tourism-type things, the visit was an experience.

If you've never had a chance to visit the Outer Banks, it's a must-see. If you live on the East Coast, it's reasonably easy to get to. And if you want to do a family trip that's affordable, the Outer Banks is the place to go. It's been 16 years since I visited that area, so I appreciated this trip this time around. Our group stayed in the northern section in Southern Shores, which is about four or five miles north of the Wright Brothers Museum. My trip consisted of a visit to the museum, a ride-by of the dunes and trip to Currituck Beach Lighthouse. Two days or so of my time was geared toward wedding-related stuff, which included rehearsal dinner in the awesome little town of Duck. My next trip there -- which I hope isn't in another 16 years -- I vow to be more of a tourist.

Workout wise, things didn't really go as planned, although I never really had a definite plan. I did have a couple of things going against me -- the heat was oppressive early in the week and then the North Carolina wildfire smoke settled in for three evenings and the last morning. I did rent a bike, so my friends, my wife and I got some decent rides in. It certainly was much easier to get out and ride in the heat rather than run in it. All told, I biked about 20 miles last week. Also going against me last week was having a blast with my friend and drinking too much, and meeting lots of new people and drinking with them. It's not easy staying up until 2 or 3 a.m. and then trying to get up and run. I was so tired yesterday that I just took the day off to catch up on my sleep. The important thing is I had a ton of fun on this trip and I can't wait to go back.


Workouts since last post
June 9: Walk - 0.4; Run - 3.2 (plus a visit to the Wright Bros. Museum)
June 10: Bike - 6
June 11: Run - 1.1; Bike - 6.4
June 12: Bike - 7
June 13: Walk - 0.2; Run - 3.1 (Intervals: 0.25 - 1:44; 0.5 - 3:53; 0.25 - 2:00; 0.25 - 1:54) (plus a visit to the Currituck Beach Lighthouse)
June 16: Walk - 1.1; Run - 3.5
- Of note is Saturday, June 14. I had planned to get up for a bike ride, but it was smoky from the wildfire.

(Photos: Above is a picture on the beach that my wife took; the inset photo is at Currituck Beach Lighthouse; and below is the gorgeous house we got to stay in.)