After an exceptionally busy spring, we were ready to slow the pace for the summer. At least that was the goal, and we started by experimenting with the calendar. No, we did not invent a time machine. Instead, we tried to find out whether…
Third Time’s the Charm in the Outer Banks
Since moving to North Carolina we’ve explored several different coastal areas to find a spot for Ken to get his regular beach fix, and the Outer Banks has emerged as our favorite. However, during our first visit in October 2024 the weather was a bit too chilly for beach enjoyment, and during our second visit in September 2025 the temperature was perfect but offshore tropical storms kept the surf so high that beaches were closed for swimming. [Side rant: Prohibiting swimming in the face of violent 6-foot waves makes sense to us. We never understood why Gulf of Mexico beaches at our prior home seemed to earn double red flags any time the “waves” exceeded 1 foot.]
This time we targeted early summer, choosing to visit Tuesday through Sunday of the week of Memorial Day, a perhaps-too-clever ploy to avoid crowds, and we returned to the charming AirBnb we visited last year. We once again loved the location and amenities of our cute rental, and revisited several old favorites. We savored fish steak and fish tacos at Food Dudes Kitchen, and on our return visit to Kill Devil Grill we both enjoyed what Ken believes (with good reason) are the best crabcakes on the Eastern Seaboard.
With all that repetition, what was new? This year we drove the National Seashore all the way to Cape Hatteras, where we saw the lighthouse under renovation and an interesting display on moving the structure inland to avoid the ravages of coastal erosion. We also ghoulishly checked out some streets with houses falling into the ocean in nearby Buxton. Back in Kill Devil Hills, we took some short breaks from sun and sand to visit a few natural areas. The small but well-done Outer Banks Arboretum and Teaching Garden is a testament to the hard work of the master gardeners of Dare County. Our hike at The Nature Conservancy’s Nag’s Head Wood Preserve provided an interesting look at a coastal hardwood forest with welcome tree canopy over the entire trail until it pops out on the bay side of the barrier island. To keep up our energy throughout our visit, we enjoyed an excellent flight of beer at the wind-powered Outer Banks Brewing Station, fantastic New York-style pizza at Sal’s Pizza, outstanding sandwiches at the Stop & Shop gas station / deli / beach market (highly recommended by our host), and delicious fresh local shrimp and fish dip from Greentails Market (highly recommended by a friend here). The other big new activity: actually going in the ocean.
Our weather was marvelous, the crowds were surprisingly sparse, and we had exactly the relaxing visit that we needed. As a bonus, I think we finally discovered the sweet spot for the Outer Banks in terms of timing.
Moving Mom
Fresh off our trip to the beach, I drove down to Florida to help my mother with the last preparations for her move and to bring her to North Carolina. Despite all the miles we have covered on the highways and byways of America, I had my very first Buc-cee’s experience on the drive down. It was sufficiently memorable that we stopped there again on the way north. Mom had done yeoman’s work getting all her belongings sorted and packed before I arrived, and once the movers picked everything up we barely had time to say goodbye to the palm trees before heading north.
Knowing that Mom would be moving into our condo, back in May we started the process of having the deep tub/shower in the main bathroom converted to a walk-in shower. The process was a roller coaster, to say the least. Re-Bath has a nice showroom in Greensboro, and it was easy for us to select options we liked during a simple design consultation (yay). However, we would need to wait 6 weeks or so until installation could be scheduled (boo). We got the call while we were at the beach, and our installation was scheduled for the Monday after we returned so work would theoretically be complete before I headed to Florida (yay). Our installer got started on demo, only to discover that the individual unit water shut-off that was supposed to be in our utility closet did not exist (boo). This meant we needed to coordinate a water shut-off for our entire building (BOO). Management was surprisingly easy to work with on this (yay). Our installer couldn’t be scheduled to return for a few weeks (boo). Shutting off the building water went off without a hitch and all the plumbing work was completed easily (yay). While our installer was installing the acrylic walls, the elevator in our building died, requiring him to carry the walls up three flights of stairs after he cut them downstairs (boo). The elevator situation extended his installation time by an extra day (boo). Our installer had a positive attitude about everything, and the shower came out great in the end (YAY).
While waiting for her furniture to arrive, Mom survived a few weeks in our guest room sleeping on an air mattress (look, it’s a very nice air mattress) and she is now pretty well moved in to the condo. It is somewhat ironic that we did more construction this year on the place we moved out of than we did on the new place we moved into. However, we still had some loose ends to wrap up at our new home, and over the summer we completed several of those: hiring a painter to paint the very tall, narrow stairwell, upgrading our finished basement with new lighting, and successfully implementing container gardening on our deck.
Our Regular Dose of Sports
Frequent readers know that sports are a fixture in our household, and we attended several fun live sporting events in May and June. In mid-May we headed out to nearby Bermuda Run to watch the regional tournament for NCAA men’s golf. The Wake Forest men were among 14 teams and a half-dozen individual competing, and we timed our arrival to coincide with our team members teeing off. With smaller crowds comes a much more intimate experience. Over the course of the day we chatted with several other fans, including the parents of a Wake Forest senior golfer who traveled all the way from Sweden to watch their son play golf instead of walking in his commencement ceremony (taking place the same morning). When we crossed paths with Coach Jerry Haas he took one look at our WF T-shirts and thanked us for coming out to support the team. Yes, I am a fan-girl of moderately successful professional golfers and squealed a little inside when he noticed us (while I acted totally cool, of course).
Our other live sporting experience resulted from the German Men’s National Soccer team choosing Winston-Salem (specifically the Graylyn Estate and the Wake Forest soccer facilities) as their home base for the 2026 World Cup. The team held one evening practice that was open to the community, and the 300+ (free) tickets were claimed within 4 minutes. We were some of the lucky claimants; our years of practice reserving camping spots within one second of availability definitely prepared us for this situation. Presumably to avoid sharing any strategy or other important information in a public forum, the team’s activities at the community event were limited to stretching — looooots of stretching — along with some ball-handling drills and a chaotic 20-on-20 scrimmage on a half-field. We loved it, and naturally we rooted for Team Deutschland during the World Cup until they were eliminated.
Summer Repeats
Along with a return to the Outer Banks, our summer has featured repeats of several local activities that are well on their way to becoming traditions for us. In late June we once again visited a nearby blueberry patch to pick our own blueberries. We learned last year that one bucket is way too many blueberries. This year we learned that 3/4 of bucket is still way too many blueberries. Mom joined us on this excursion and collected her own fruit, and she informs me that half a bucket only works if you’re willing to freeze some. Maybe the third time will also be the charm for us for blueberry picking.
For 4th of July, we once again took our folding chairs to Salem Square (reportedly the site of the country’s first Independence Day celebration in 1783) to listen to a concert of patriotic music by the Salem Band (est. 1771). The feels-like temperatures of 100+ degrees made for a steamy environment but luckily none of the hard-working musicians keeled over with heat stroke.
Next: we are gearing up for a fairly long trip overseas – in August we head to Europe!
Congratulations on making your third visit to the National Seashore a success! I must say that Sal’s Pizza should consider changing their name if they feel the need to pre-emptively rebuke folks about said name. I mean, really, they’re just asking for it! Hooray for getting Mom all moved up, and she’s right about freezing the blueberries. Hooray also for the (eventual!) success with the walk-in shower. The decision to have no tub in our house is one we have never regretted for a moment. Hope the rest of the summer and your European adventures are also a huge success!
My reaction to Sal’s name problem is that it should be a job requirement for the chief pizza-maker to answer to the name “Sal” regardless of their actual name. In fact, everyone on staff could adopt stereotypical New York Italian names for use at work and mainly play characters while on the clock. How’s that for improving work/life separation?
We totally agree about there being no need for a tub – our new place has just a shower in the main bath, and it was one of the many appealing things about the place. Had we stayed in the condo we would have done a similar reno for our own use; I was just hoping to avoid it by moving. 🙂 But the best laid plans and all that …
Stay tuned for much more travel content in August!