OBX vacation...

Ahhh... can I (Amy) just live permanently on vacation? Is there some kind of career path for that?? (seriously??)

After such an emotionally rough year, Marc and I decided awhile back that we needed a vacation. And a true vacation at that. We're the type that almost always take "trips"-- you know, where you travel someplace cool and then sight-see to your hearts' content. Always on the GO. But we knew we didn't need a trip this time. We needed a VACATION. Somewhere to rest and stop. Somewhere to just BE. And our 12th anniversary & my birthday seemed to be a good week to do it.

So here we are in the Outer Banks (OBX) of North Carolina, and I don't ever want to go home!! Marc and I just enjoyed 5 WONDERFUL days of being here alone together while Caroline got lots of fun time at Nanny & Papa's house in South Carolina, and yesterday they drove up here to join us for the last few days of vacation.

I had forgotten what it is like before kids!! Marc and I were like giddy children upon arriving here-- we don't have to go to bed!! We can take a walk on the beach at 10:30pm just because we CAN!! We can eat dinner at 9pm and go to bed whenever we want!! What do you want to do, honey? Walk on the beach? Soak in the hot tub? Read a book by the ocean? Oh my goodness- it's been glorious... I love, love, LOVE being a mommy, but sometimes I don't think singles, young married couples, & empty nesters realize how much freedom they have sometimes!

So Marc and I couldn't TOTALLY sit around for 5 days, could we? (afterall, we're used to taking "trips") So we drove down to Cape Hatteras and decided to climb the lighthouse. (the tallest lighthouse in the country, mind you...)

So OFF we went, making the climb of approximately a 12 story building with no air conditioning. And let's just say that my neurotic fear of heights/claustrophobia combined with my vertigo issues on a circular staircase don't exactly make for a good mix... (this picture was taken on the first five steps before I knew there'd be any problem) So it was quite the accomplishment for me to finally get to the top.

And the view was totally worth it!

From Hatteras, it's a short drive to catch a free ferry to Okracoke Island, which ended up being our favorite part of the "trip."

The ferries run every 30 minutes and it's about a 45 minute ride.

We LOVED walking on the remote beaches of Okracoke...

and it was the best seashell hunting we'd ever seen. Many of the shells were nearly 3x as big as normal! (not in this picture)

If you head up north on the Outer Banks islands, you'll eventually get to the end of the main road, and then the only way to continue is with a 4-wheel drive. You can continue driving down the beach and eventually see the wild horses of Corolla. Our little Saturn wasn't exactly up for the job, so I snapped a quick pic of the end of the road before we had to turn around.

By the end of our child-free portion of vacation, you'd better believe Marc and I were super excited to reunite with our little gal again! It was a sweet, sweet reunion with the BEST hugs ever. (Thank you, Nanny & Papa, for giving Marc and I this time together and for showing Caroline a wonderful time!)