Our Outer Banks honeymoon: Hatteras

Our Wednesday adventures took us south on NC 12. We headed out early (who sleeps in on vacation?) to beat the crowds. Our first stop was the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Piece of advice: 90% of the touristy sites on the Outer Banks are open from 9 am to 5 pm. If you want to do something very popular, go early. Families with children tend to not be out en masse at 9 am.

We arrived around 9:30, paid $7 each for tickets, and were climbing by 9:45. According to the National Park Service, we were ensconced in about 87% humidity for almost 300 stairs. I had to stop near the top because I was so out of breath. But we made it nonetheless and took in the spectacular view. From our vantage point, we could easily see the original lighthouse site (it was moved in 1999) down to the Diamond Shoals (the corner of the Outer Banks). After a few pics, back down we went. I don’t know about y’all, but I get seriously dizzy walking down spiral stairs.

Then it was off to the museum and gift shop. Mac and I decided that we wanted some art depicting at least the three lighthouses we visited on our honeymoon. The Cape Hatteras gift shop was by far the largest and had the best selection. We came across these beautiful prints from North Carolina artist Cotton Ketchie. While they were reasonably priced, we weren’t sure if we wanted to commit so much wall space for multiple prints. So our search continued.

We headed out to our next destination: the Graveyard of the Atlantic museum. I was super excited to check this out. On the way, we grabbed lunch at the Harbor Deli in the town of Hatteras (Hatteras Village is not the town of Hatteras).

To the museum! Up front was the original Fresnel lens from the first Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. In honor of the Civil War sesquicentennial, the museum had a large exhibit on the Civil War in the Outer Banks. Seeing as how I learned  the majority of my Civil War history, I never really realized how much fighting took place in coastal North Carolina. The information was rather extensive and very informative. 

We found this pirate photo gem (we might have a love of these), a display on TITANIC, and a very cool exhibit about pirates. Now, I saw this book at my local library on election day (since I vote at said liberry) and have a new found interest in actual pirates (sadly, not Captain Jack Sparrow). The book correlated very strongly to the displays. Interestingly enough, the only shipwrecks featured in the Graveyard of the Atlantic museum were ones that inspired names of Hatteras streets. Overall, the Graveyard of the Atlantic display in the museum was underwhelming.

We headed into the gift shop and snagged what we had been looking for: the lighthouse prints of Cotton Ketchie in gift card format. We’re going to have them mounted and framed in one large piece. Since we parked at a beach access lot instead of at the museum, we trekked down the boardwalk to the dunes. It was downright windy, so we stopped to admire the view. A kindly ECU fan offered to take a picture of us.

After a busy day, we drove the 1.5 hour or so trip back to Kill Devil Hills. Our Restaurant.com gift certificate selection took us to Pamlico Jack’s where we ATE DINNER ON A PIRATE SHIP. I kid you not. It was worth sweating to death and sitting in the blazing sun. Overall, very delicious and reasonably priced. We took a few more pictures (again, because it was a pirate ship) then left.

Continuing with our mini golf escapades, we played a round at Professor Hacker’s Lost Golf Adventures which features a golf hole ON A PIRATE SHIP. Sadly, we were assigned to the other course but still had an enjoyable time.

As if we didn’t do enough, I convinced Mac to head out to the beach for a quick walk. Luckily, a gorgeous sunset was shaping up, and we caught it from the Avalon Pier across NC 12 from our house. We stopped for a nightcap at Awful Arthur’s (the same restaurant as the now-closed location in Blacksburg) and caught the last few innings of the Braves game.

Eventually, we made it back to bed.