Nights (and Days) in Rodanthe

We're back from our end-of-summer trip to the Outer Banks! We rented a house on the beach with six adults and four kids and had one of the best times of our lives -- so much so that we are already planning on making this an annual thing. Our house was in Rodanthe, at the northern end of Hatteras Island, and made famous(ish) by the Nicholas Sparks movie that was filmed there. In fact, our house was right next to the house featured in the movie (which none of us had actually seen), which we realized only after a few days of wondering at people posing for photos in front of it.




Rodanthe has kind of a laid back vibe -- it's like Duck or Corolla but without the super-upscale feel, like Nags Head used to be when I visited it as a kid. Lots of houses and little shops, not too built up (yet?) The built up thing is a double-edged sword at times, though -- the nearest grocery store was almost 20 miles away and so it was a pain every time we realized we'd forgotten something (um, DIAPERS?)

Rain was called for every day of the trip, but we ended up having a good amount of beach time, nonetheless. The rain also gave us the excuse to explore a little bit more than we might have otherwise. We hit the lighthouse and a museum. The girls did a little bit of thrifting and antiquing, the guys took the kayaks out and fished. And in between the showers we did find time to check off a New Year's Resolution or two.



1. Coordinating four kids' bedtimes ain't no joke. Some nights looked like this, we let them run until they dropped.



2. Be sure to catch a bonafide Hatteras sunset or two, on the days it isn't raining. (This was the view from our kitchen window -- it made doing dishes a lot more palatable).






3. Speaking of rainy days, don't put too much stock in what the weatherman says. These pics were taken on a day with a predicted 100% chance of rain.