It feels like just last week I was writing my April wrap up. I don’t know where the month of May went but now we are shockingly in June. Instead of a May wrap up, I am just going to do a recap of my annual trip to the Outer Banks, NC.
This year was year number 20 of going down to Duck, North Carolina with my family. There were a few rainy, cloudy days in the beginning of the week but that gave us reason to go to Manteo and the Elizabethan Gardens. We did the OBX Book Store tour. I bought my first pair of Birkenstocks, went for a few runs, and saw a lot of wildlife.
Let’s start this post with the books I read and the book store tour. I did the majority of my May reading on this trip. I finished one book and read two more while here. My mom and I bought 10 books while we were here, during the Book Store Tour.
What I read:
Reading Empire of Storms took me almost the entire month of May, due to being unusually busy. I was surprised by this because the book was SO good. I finished this one like half way through our trip. I loved the turn of events in this book, was shocked by a lot of them actually- especially the ending. I couldn’t wait to get through Tower of Dawn and on to the final book.
I started Tower of Dawn and The Rumor simultaneously. Tower of Dawn is on my Nook and The Rumor was one that I bought during the book store tour. I had to read them at the same time because my Nook would keep overheating at the beach or by the pool, so when this happened I just switched to The Rumor.
Tower of Dawn was more exciting than I thought it would be. When I realized it was going to be about Chaol and Nesryn, I was a little disappointed because I just wanted a continuation of Empire of Storms and learn what happens to the rest of the characters. I was surprised by how much I loved this book though. I found my second favorite couple in this story. Now I can’t wait for both groups to reconvene and share everything they learned over their separate journeys.
The Rumor by Elin Hilderbrand was one of the best beach reads I could have chosen during this trip. I was fast paced and drew you into the story for long periods of time. Elin Hilderbrand is one of my favorite authors for these reasons and because each story is just so addicting. I have never read a book by her that I didn’t like.
Now, on to the books we bought during this trip:
The Book Store Tour involved going to 5 out of the 7 independent book stores in the Outer Banks. You would pick up a bookmark (one time) and bring it with you to each store. Once you picked out your book, you would present that and the bookmark to the cashier who would mark it with the date. After 5, you get an OBX tote bag.
The books I bought were: The Rumor, Nick, Beautiful Little Fools, The Plague Court Murders, Between Tides
The books my mom bought: The Summer of 69, The Castaways, The Glass Castle, Two Truths and a Lie, Summer at Firefly Beach
Food and Drinks
We tried one new restaurant this trip and then of course went to all of our old favorites. I did try a lot of new new beers, which was fun.
Kill Devil Grill is a must go when you are in the Outer Banks. When there, you have to get the Backyard Wings. They are literally THE BEST wings you will ever eat in your entire life. We get two or three orders each time we go. Some of my other menu favorites are the Southern Fried Chicken Salad, the Kahuna Burger, and the Cheese steak Spring Rolls.
The Coastal Cantina, on the boardwalk in Duck is a great place to have some quesadillas and watch the sunset. This year I tried one of their pizzadillas (a pizza made with a tortilla crust) for the first time and it was very good. It was topped with duck confit, which I had never tried before. Next year I might try the other one on the menu, as I didn’t really like the duck so I took most of it off.
The Outer Banks Brewing Station is a fun place to go. We sat outside, where they have games like cornhole, to play while waiting for your food. I had their fried chicken sandwich, which is always amazing. I tried their lemon grass beer. I was a lot more hoppy and a lot less lemony than I was anticipated but I still enjoyed it.
A new restaurant we tried was The Lost Colony in Manteo. This is a brewery as well, so I got a flight that featured all eight of their beers. They have a pretty cool menu, featuring a lot of European meals from the original countries coming over to colonize America- Ireland, Scotland, England. I got a British Breakfast Burger. They gave me beans on the sides, which I did not eat (I am very picky about beans), but my burger was really great. There was a fried egg on top, on of my favorite ways to top a burger.
Here are some of my drinks:
Before I get to the final image gallery, I wanted to write a bit about our trip to the Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo. These gardens are located within the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. We have been talking about going here for the last few trips but have never actually made it, as there was always something that came up.
We finally got to make it this year, and it was so cool to see all of the statues and shaped gardens. I would love to have gardens like this one day. They had HUGE Southern Magnolia trees and beautifully shaped boxwoods along walking paths. There was even a variegated hydrangea, which was probably one of the coolest things I saw.
Thank you for reading this far, please enjoy this image gallery:
