A Temporary Honeymoon With 10 Friends

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One Week in the Outer Banks, NC

October 1st - 9th

Lee and I had planned to go to the Outer Banks with a group of friends the first week of October. Being that it was three weeks after our wedding we joked that it was our temporary honeymoon. And boy was it the best temporary honeymoon ever!

The Outer Banks can be quite an expensive place to vacation. On the other hand, if you play it right and rent off season and go with a large group of people to split the cost of the rental it can be quite affordable. This is exactly what we had planned. We searched for a house with 7 bedrooms, a pool, hot tub, and of course requested that the house be beachfront. At peak season the highest cost to rent the house we stayed in, called Island Princess, it costs $6,800 per week!!! Like I said though, we went off season so the total cost was $2,000 per week and we split it 12 ways because there were 12 of us going. So, essentially Lee and I went on vacation for a week in a beachfront property staying in a suite with a jacuzzi in our private bathroom for only $330 for the both of us!! Pretty sweet deal huh?

We met at our friends house and left from there four cars strong with a total of 8 out of the 12 of us that would be vacationing in our 7 bedroom mansion on the beach. Two of the other couples were meeting us down there the next day. We left around 7:30PM on October 1st and drove through the night.

Usually the drive from PA to NC would take approximately 7 hours. However, hurricane Irene had reaked havoc two weeks prior to our arrival taking out the bridge that we needed to cross to get to Hatteras Island. Because the bridge was out it was necessary to take one ferry to one island and then another ferry from that island to Hatteras Island. It was quite an annoyance because we drove the seven hours and then had to drive an extra two hours to get to where the first ferry was located, wait for the ferry for four hours, spend three hours on the ferry, get off and drive to the next ferry, wait an hour to board that ferry, and then spend an hour on the ferry only to then get off and have to drive to our vacation house, which thank God was only fifteen minutes. Phew. It was quite an exhausting trip. We left at 7:30PM on Oct 1 and arrived Oct 2 at 11AM!! Naturally we were all a little woozy and stopped at the bar for drinks and some grub.

I am usually not the kind of person who enjoys doing nothing, especially while visiting a new place. However, there really is not a long list of things to do on Hatteras Island and we went with the intention of not straying far from the house for our entire stay. The house has a huge kitchen and so we stocked up with food and perpared all of our meals eating as one big happy family. We shared responsibilities with each couple choosing a night to cook dinner for the entire household. Only one night Lee and I went out to dinner to get some seafood at a restaurant a mile up the road. All week long we ate, drank, played board games, laid on the beach, and swam in the ocean. Of course we brought skimboards, surfboards, and windsurfing boards for a little on the water fun. It was PERFECT! We had no stress. Plus we were in very good company.

We also played a lot of LADDER BALL!! Evidently this game has been around for a while, but it was Lee and I's first time ever playing it. We were hooked right away!! It is such a fun game to play on the beach with friends while enjoying a nice cold beverage 😊. For those of you who do not know what latter ball is, it is a game played with two teams, with either one or two players on each side. Each team has a short ladder with three rungs on it. The opposing team throws two balls attached by a nylon rope and attempts to have the string lock itself onto one of the three rungs. Each rung is worth a different amount of points. The top one is worth 3, the middle 2, and the bottom is worth 1. The point of the game is simple... try to get as many points as possible but having your strings lock onto the rungs. The first team who makes it to 21 wins. At the end of each round of throwing you tally up the points. A round consists of one member for team 1 throwing all of their strings towards the opposing teams ladder, and then one member from the other team doing the same. If in one round say I got 1 string on the first rung, 1 on the middle and 1 on the bottom, I would have 6 points, but if the opposing player took their turn and got 2 strings on the first run that also would also give them 6 points and therefore the points get canceled out for the round and neither team would get points added to their score. It is really simple and tons of fun!

During our entire stay there was only one small "Ut Oh" that occured the whole week. Lee, under the influence of about four beers, went for an extended swim in the ocean wearing his glasses because he cannot see without them. A wave hit him and he came out of the ocean with no glasses. This was very bad because he had forgotten to pack his extra pair and didn't bring any contacts with him 😞 We had to have my mother overnight his extra pair of glasses and some contacts. In the meantime he wore my glasses which are too strong for him but got the job done.

Overall, it was such a perfect week. Lee and I really needed an entire week of no stress after nine months of crazy wedding planning. I have been to the Outer Banks three times before and every single time was amazing. This was Lee's first time and he is already super excited to go back next year.

Sometimes it's just so nice to get to do absolutely nothing with your friends 😊




**Normally I take a crazy amount of pictures... however, I really got into the whole "doing nothing" routine and only managed to snap a few. I didn't like having the camera on the beach for too long so half of the pictures I took were just with my iPhone.





Money Matters

Total cost the trip was approx $800!!

As I mentioned before, we paid $330 for the house! The gas money to drive there came out to around $75 round trip. We brought about $100 worth of alcohol, beer and mixers with us. While we were there we ate out once which was quite expensive with the bill being around $100. We bought food from the grocery store to prepare meals and in all probably cost around $200.

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Photos

Our little getaway
Sunglass twins

On the dock
Before eating some awesome seafood on the dock

Sunrise
Sunset on the dock after dinner

On the beach
Playing Ladder Ball

Skimboarding
Sammy having fun

Group Photo
Group picture on the deck

Ladder Ball Champ
Lee figuring out a new throwing technique

Hitting the Bar at 11am
First stop after a really long drive... the bar!

On the Ferry
Out walking around on the three hour ferry ride

Drink of choice
10AM Bloody Mary