I'm heading down to the Outer Banks for a vacation soon, specifically in Corolla, NC. All I know about the area is it's sorta near Kitty Hawk, and that I have no plan other than to go there and relax. Anticipating eventual boredom, is there anything cool/fun to do in the area? I dig history, car stuff (obviously), video games, and finding cool record stores. Suggestions are welcome!
Go see where we first flew.
Drive an hour and see monster trucks:
https://monstertruck.fandom.com/wiki/Digger%27s_Dungeon
Well, the neat thing about Corolla is that it's very non-commercial, consisting mainly of private beach houses. No ocean-front hotels, not much noise. It's highly regarded as the perfect family beach get-away. Things to do are beach things--sunbathing, seashell hunting, surf fishing, kite flying, swimming, hunting sand crabs at night (a real kid-pleaser, for sure!). A little ways north of Corolla on NC12 and the road ends. If you have a 4-wheel drive, you may proceed up the beach, or at least you could the last time I was there, which has been a minute or three. Rumor has it, if you go far enough north, you'll find yourself in Virginia. We had great fun with a Suzuki Quad-runner back in the day. I discovered that it would keep up with a pickup running 60 mph, but sand in the face at that speed is no fun.
As Route 12 is literally the only road into Corolla, traffic at busy times of day and busy times of year truly sucks. Expect delays.
As noted, Wright Brothers museum, Jockey's Ridge for the cool sand dunes, no shortage of decent restaurants.
No trip to the outer banks is complete without taking a fishing charter out of Oregon Inlet. Book ahead of time.
northern outer banks isn't as much fun as middle and southern outer banks, definitely spend a day on Hatteras island, make the trip early, get an apple ugly for breakfast once in Buxton. If the wind is laying down, rent a skiff at Charlie's up in Waves (north end of Hatteras island) and fish around the jug handle pilings or run to the south and hit the flats.
slefain said:Drive an hour and see monster trucks:
https://monstertruck.fandom.com/wiki/Digger%27s_Dungeon
Wait a minute... a Grave Digger Museum? Yeah, sign me up for that!!!
In reply to 1988RedT2 :
You can get to the border with Virginia but there is a fence across the beach.
If you are able to get up onto the 4wd beach, there are wild horses that occupy the area, which are worth a look at.
Take a surf lesson from the Corolla surf shop if you've never tried it.
Further south in Manteo they have an aquarium. I've haven't been there since I was a lad, but I remember really enjoying it.
Here's a gratuitous shot of my Jeep up on the beach north of Corolla, because why not.
Stayed in Waves with the kids last week. Kitty hawk kites has some interesting looking lessons and stuff available. Including a Write glider experience, where you get to fly a museum quality replica of one of their gliders...
Kite surfing would massively appeal to me if I didn't have a back injury.
Would LOVE to rent a small sailboat for a day around there.
1988RedT2 mentioned it already, but Jockeys Ridge State park has sand dunes. On those sand dunes you can take foot launch hang gliding lessons. I got my Hang 1 cert there many years back! It was a good week!
P.S. you want a good workout...try carrying a 75 pound student hang glider up sand dunes!!!
The tomato patch has excellent pizza!
Mike and Diane's, great place to eat. Not sure where you are staying but most of the beaches are empty as it's just folks that rent the houses that go down to them. We stay there every year to avoid the big crowds, kids love it.
The Outer Banks are just kind of fun to wander around on. Driving down towards Hatteras on Route 12, you can see how close the dunes are to the road, and sand constantly blows over the pavement. Birds are everywhere. Look for shells, go fishing, eat food, etc.
Specific points of Interest
Jockey Ridge
Jennette's Pier (I think if you pay to fish from here, you don't need a state license, but check on that for sure)
Bodie Island Lighthouse (You may be able to walk up to the top)
Hatteras Lighthouse (closed for renovations, at least an hour drive from Corolla. Walk out to Cape Point if you're feeling it, see the WWII British Sailor Cemetery- quite a few boats were sunk off of the Outer Banks during the war)
Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum (small, but interesting)
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site
Roanoake Island Aquarium (advance tickets required)
Oregon Inlet Live Saving Station (Abandoned, but cool to walk around the area)
I believe there are several piers along the outer banks in that area, though Jeannette's is probably the best known. I'm all but certain that if you pay the management of a pier to fish off their pier, you do NOT need a license to fish. The pier has a license that allows you to fish. They're also happy to sell you bait and tackle if you didn't bring your own.
Wright Brothers for sure. Still blows my mind that a little over a century ago flying 120ft was considered miraculous. 66 years later man was walking on the moon.
Anyway we did a hang gliding thing on the dunes years ago. that was cool.
I will echo what Brett said. Just get in the car and wander around. So much cool stuff to do and see that comes out of nowhere. As others have said, Wright Brothers stuff is a must.
In 2013 before my oldest was born (we were living in Raleigh), my wife and I took a babymoon the weekend before Christmas and stayed on Roanoke Island. We drove to the end of the road in Corolla. I honesty thought the world had ended. There was one restaurant (a Subway) open and we saw exactly zero people before we walked into that restaurant. It was surreal.
Stop at Morris Farms on the way down. Look for the row of old tractors on Rte. 168 just south of Coinjock Get some relish. And a pie. On the way home get yourself some fried chicken at Southland in Moyock (/mo-yok/) right before the VA border. Best fried chicken in the entire world, and I don't say that lightly.
The Christmas shop on Roanoke Island (or is it manteo) is kinda cool to wander around.
Get Duck donuts.
When we visited the area we took a tour in a old Suburban that was converted into a convertible. They know were the wild horses are. Riding in a topless truck drifting in the dunes was a blast.
Great suggestions so far, thanks everyone! We're down here now, and gotta say, I dig it. Wish I had a lifted Jeep or Bronco to do some exploring, but I'll manage. 
Added some suggestions from here to our "stuff to do" list, so thank you!
In reply to Tony Sestito :
There used to be a Jeep rental place in Corolla, not sure if it's still there, but you could rent by the day.
Well, I'm back. Thanks for all the suggestions! We did a bunch of the things suggested here, including checking out the Corolla and Bodie lighthouses, doing a wild horse tour in a converted Hummer H1, visiting Digger's Dungeon, checking out the Wright Brothers national monument, and more. I really enjoyed the area, and glad we went a little off-season before it was packed. We lucked out with beautiful weather every single day we were there. We will definitely go back!
Some pics:
This was the view from the 3rd floor deck at the house we stayed at, not bad. It was weird to me that pretty much the entire area was rentals, but it was cool. Our house was one street away from the beach, and had a heated pool, multiple hot tubs, and was close to the shops. Beats staying at a hotel if you can get enough people to go with you to reduce the cost.
The beaches were pristine! No trash and well kept.
Morning coffee on the beach did not get old.
Speaking of beaches (again), we took a wild horse tour in a 14-passenger Hummer H1 that was really fun, even though they had to fix it after we were strapped in to get it running. Not exactly sure what failed, but the tour company has a mechanic on the payroll that got it going in about 5 minutes after dumping an entire can of ether down the yap and swapping a sensor. Tour guide was great and it was tons of fun.
Despite what the sign says, the wild horses can't read so they pretty much do whatever they want. This little guy was the "baby" and was especially defiant.
This one knew I was shooting, so it posed for me. Such beautiful animals.
We saw two lighthouses: this one in Corolla...
And the Bodie Lighthouse a bit further south. I'm no stranger to lighthouses having grown up near Boston, but these were still cool to see.
The Wright Brothers National Monument was great. Hard not to feel emotion at that place; really makes you think how far our technology has come in the past 120 years.
The replica of the flyer was cool to see as well!
Speaking of flying, the airspace over the house was VERY active! No commercial planes, but regular flyovers by Navy F18's and Coast Guard patrols every day.
I choose my ice cream purveyors based on their affinity for cool cars. These guys had a variety of shirts with El Caminos on them, so they got our business.
And speaking of food... THE FOOD!!!! Every single place we went was incredible. This BBQ sampler was from a small "deli". It was better than almost every place I've been to in New England.
Digger's Dungeon was awesome. Even though only the museum was open, that was enough for me to bring out my inner 8 year old and go nuts.
And a quick shoutout to our 2023 Mazda CX-50 Turbo: This thing was a GREAT road tripper. Comfortable, convenient, and spacious for all our crap. We got a max 32mpg out of it staying out of boost. It's only supposed to get 29 highway. That was impressive.
Biggest takeaway from the trip: I need to go on vacation more often. I had not been on a vacation since 2009 before this!
In reply to Tony Sestito :
Glad y'all liked it here. If the weather isn't perfect, folks can get some interesting shots at Bodie.
I grew up on the Hyde County mainland, which meant we were on the banks every chance we had. Even skipped school once the weather got warm. Stoked that you had such a good time. I still recall my uncle's first visit to the Wright Memorial. He was a mechanical engineer. Did you notice that the first three flights were so close to the rail, but the fourth is waaaay down there? My uncle looked, paused for a moment and said, "That was the one where they knew it really worked."
Next time, head on down to Ocracoke! Charming little village, another beautiful almost empty beach. Also the location of the wreck of Blackbeard's flagship. Don't know if they'll let you dive on it, though. Also the shortest lighthouse on the Banks. Its nighttime beacon is constant on. Never have seen another one like it.
Bumping this up, because I'm going back to the Outer Banks at the end of April! We had a great time last year, but even with two weeks of time spent there, we couldn't do everything. Still looking to check out some of the stuff people suggested, but if anyone has other suggestions of things to do and see, let me know!
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