redlightrubi wrote:I'm heading down there the end of this month for a week on the beach. Any things to see, advice on the beaches etc... you want to pass on?
Where will you be staying? Beach rules vary by town, basically your can't drive on the beaches from May 1 - Oct 1 in the towns - Kitty Hawk, Nags Head, Kill Devil Hills, etc. Once you get south of Nags Head it's all federal wildlife preserve, the rules are posted at access points to the beach. Heading north from the bridge, you have to stay off the beaches in Southern Shores, Duck, and most of Corolla. The paved road ends at the northern part of Corolla, again there's rules posted and watch out for the idiots who think their mini-vans are offroaders. Once you leave the paved road, you can drive as far north as the Virginia line - it must by 50 or so miles.
Things to see - don't miss the Wright Brothers memorial. Take the time to hear the ranger's lecture, walk out to the actual take-off and landing points, and walk down the path that they flew. Then walk up the hill to the monument. It's pretty cool. Most of the times that I've been there, something cool has happened. Last week a couple of WWII vintage Army fighters ran touch-and-gos at the airstrip that runs parallel to the original flight path. Another time a Marine Osprey dropped in and hovered for a while.
The lighthouse at Cape Hatteras is cool. It's the tallest lighthouse in North America. I remember climbing it on our honeymoon 32 years ago, thought that was pretty cool. The next time we came back, the lighthouse wasn't there - they moved it. You can see where they build a track, tunnelled under it and moved a platform under it, then jacked the platform horizontally along the track - amazing.
There's a couple of other lighthouses to see - Currituck light in Corolla you can still climb, Bodie Island light you can't climb but there's some history there, too. Down past the Hatteras light, and all the way to the south end of Hatteras island, there's the Graveyard of the Atlantic museum. All along the way, there's historical markers for stuff that happened either before or during the civil war.
2 roads run north and south thru the tourist area - Rte 158 (the Bypass, speed limit 50 lots of traffic lights) and SC Rte 12 (The Beach Road, speed limit 35 very few traffic lights).
You'll find plenty to do, plenty of places to eat, too. We like the Dunes, on the Bypass at the Southern end of Nags Head, mile marker 16 or so, the Port of Call on the Beach Road, and for breakfast try Stack-em-High (Great Eggs and Ham, a play on Dr Seuss) on the Bypass around mile marker 9. The Dunkin Donuts are on the Bypass at MP 10.5 and 5.5
