Tag Archives: travel

We just got back from a love­ly week in the Out­er Banks. It was our fourth week-long stay. It’s like heav­en on Earth. Mostly.

I’ll offer three quick ways to improve the experience:

• Cable TV. I don’t know what it is, but every­one seems to skimp on their cable pack­age. I know it’s pricey, but it’s impor­tant to peo­ple who are spend­ing any amount of time in a house. Maybe you don’t spring for HBO, but if you have an HDTV in the house, have an HD plan.
• Shop­ping. Is there any zon­ing in the Out­er Banks? How many beach-relat­ed out­lets does one munic­i­pal­i­ty need? Would­n’t it be bet­ter to have a bet­ter mix of shops? Helen point­ed out how all the shop­ping seems to be in a race to the bot­tom right now. She’s not wrong.
• Food. It’s abysmal. There’s a rea­son every­one cooks at home. I’ve had the most over­cooked fish in my life in OBX. Want to know what’s worse? BBQ. You’d think some­one would have a well-regard­ed, fam­i­ly-run spot that peo­ple line up to eat. No such thing. Sooey’s and Pig­man’s are decent, but I don’t spend the rest of the year look­ing for­ward to eat­ing at those places. Could some­one step up and fill the void?

Like I said, I always have a great time, but that’s most­ly because I unplug from every­thing and just spend time with friends and fam­i­ly. It does­n’t mean that I have to treat the beach house like a her­mitage. Give me a rea­son to go out and spend mon­ey, OBX!