My wife and I were thinking about getting up early and driving to Hatteras. Both of us are natives of NC, but have never been to the Outer Banks. It was either that, or going down to Wrightsville and just enjoying the beach.
Obviously driving to Hatteras is 2-3 hours more than going down to Wilmington.

How is the drive? Is it scenic once you get to the Outer banks? We would be taking 64 east to the outer banks and then driving south. Is there other stuff to see besides the lighthouse? I just don't want it to be a boring drive all the way there, see the lighthouse, and then drive all the way back.
Thoughts?

7/30/2009 1:26:57 PM

Quote :

"Both of us are natives of NC, but have never been to the Outer Banks."

Does not compute.

But seriously. If you haven't been to the outerbanks... go. You don't necessarily need to do Hatteras. If you're going 64, you'll hit Nags Head much sooner. There's the Bodie lighthouse before Hatteras. You can see the wild horses at Corrolla. If your wife wants to shop, there's a ton of places to do it. Jockey's Ridge in Kill Devil Hills is nice. The Wrights Brothers Memorial is boring, but neat if you've never been. Driving from Nags Head to Hatteras is the house used in "Nights in Rodanthe."

[Edited on July 30, 2009 at 1:35 PM. Reason : ]

7/30/2009 1:33:16 PM

64 is a pretty boring ride, but so are 70 and 40

7/30/2009 1:36:11 PM

Once you hit NC 12 the drive is fairly scenic - particularly through the Pea Island Refuge -, but 64 between Columbia and Manteo is all fucking swamp. Enojy the 5 and a half hour drive.

7/30/2009 1:38:43 PM

Oh, and if you like peanuts, stop at Mackey's Ferry on the way. You can't miss it. It's one of the few larger buildings after Williamston.

7/30/2009 1:39:42 PM

i was 18 before i ever made it to the outer banks

and i grew up in Wilson

7/30/2009 1:53:01 PM

SOBX > NOBX

7/30/2009 1:59:53 PM

yeah, i heard those idiots on the northern outerbanks only eat that nasty western style bbq

7/30/2009 2:01:36 PM

ha they are like NORTHERN BBQ IS BETTER

7/30/2009 2:02:14 PM

they also hate cookout and bojangles

7/30/2009 2:03:16 PM

Yeah, if you've never been you should probably go out there. The drive is pretty boring. I had a project on Roanoke Island that I had to drive out to meetings for, Raleigh and back in one day. blargh.


Make sure you get out of your car at some point and say "Hello." to a local. That way you can find out what it's like to be treated like shit for no reason by a total stranger.

7/30/2009 2:04:12 PM

Hop over to Ocracoke and take the ferry back to Swans Quarter. Better yet, stay the night.

7/30/2009 2:12:17 PM

^^^,^^^^,^^^^^,^^^^^^ Lies! Damned lies!

7/30/2009 3:15:41 PM

Quote :

"Make sure you get out of your car at some point and say "Hello." to a local. That way you can find out what it's like to be treated like shit for no reason by a total stranger."

lol

7/31/2009 1:43:10 AM

we took 64 east to nags head, went to kitty hawk, then back down toward the bodie island lighthouse


it was a daytrip, so no time to go down to hatteras. good trip, nonetheless.

7/31/2009 8:27:29 AM

the ride on 64 and 70 are definitely more interesting than 40. i mean, not by much, but 40 is an interstate and nothing but a wall of trees

7/31/2009 9:07:39 AM

you driven from kinston to new bern lately?

7/31/2009 9:13:26 AM

are you trying to say that's an eventful drive?

7/31/2009 9:23:29 AM

^^Doing that this afternoon. I hear 101 is a blast right now with all the roadwork.

7/31/2009 9:25:17 AM

Once you get past Williamston or somewhere shortly there after it turns into 2 lane road and 55mph. Save the occasional crossroads, shitty small town, or random local gas station, there isn't shit the entire way until Manteo/Nags Head once you hit Williamston. Not that Williamston is anything important, but the speedlimit ceases to be 70 at this point.

7/31/2009 9:30:45 AM

^^^no. i'm saying it's a perfectly straight highway with trees on both sides and it seems like it goes foreveeeeeer. 75 mph feels like 35 on that highway.

^^not sure what you're talking about

7/31/2009 9:38:12 AM

They're doing a lot of roadwork on Highway 101 right now, and also in Beaufort. So if you're heading to anywhere on the other side of Beaufort you have to deal with a bunch of crap, apparently. Imma find out in person in about 6 hours.

7/31/2009 9:40:54 AM

Yeah, the last 2-lane stretch of 64 is 55 MPH speed limit. 64 is still a pretty boring drive, but once you get out to Manteo and onto the outer banks, it's a pretty drive (though you're still like 1.5 hours away from Hatteras at that point)

I certainly wouldn't want to do the round trip in one day. If you don't mind a night in a hotel, you could probably find someplace to stay in Buxton near the light house, or even better, take the ferry across to Ocracoke and spend a night there as Scuba Steve suggested. Then you can see the Ocracoke lighthouse and take in the scenery there.

If you're doing a day trip, you might find it less of a drive to do the Bodie Island lightouse and Nags Head/Kitty Hawk area. Though if you've never seen the Hatteras lighthouse, I can understand wanting to do that (I'd never seen it until last year, and I've lived in NC for all of my nearly 29 years). I still haven't gotten to climb it...

7/31/2009 10:16:34 AM

^^oh, word. i generally don't go that far. i get off after i cross the neuse river bridge at new bern and head to various creeks.

7/31/2009 10:31:24 AM

I would definitely recommend making a night of it somewhere, eventhough this time of year and it being a Friday night it will be on the more expensive side of their lodging rates. If you have 4WD, drive up to Corolla and see the lighthouse up that way too if you're into that kind of thing, and then drive on the beach up to the border and see the horses and the border fence to keep Virginia Beachians out.

7/31/2009 10:35:21 AM

Quote :

"^^^no. i'm saying it's a perfectly straight highway with trees on both sides and it seems like it goes foreveeeeeer. 75 mph feels like 35 on that highway."

that's how i remember that stretch
although i remember corn instead of trees

7/31/2009 11:38:54 AM

64 east is 70 mph all the way to Creswell now, which is about 45 minutes west of Manteo. Takes about 3.5 hours to get to Manteo from Raleigh.

The drive is interesting. Not much to see but farms and swampland on 64, but you'll cross the 5.2 mile Virginia Dare Bridge right before pulling into Manteo. NC 12 South to Hatteras is a great drive if you've never done it. Plenty of coastal scenery and small towns and so forth.

7/31/2009 6:14:48 PM

^that's exactly what we did.

Thanks for the advice guys. We had a great day.

We left Raleigh at 5:30AM. We took 64 east all the way to NC12 and then went down to Hatteras. We stopped and ate breakfast at McDonalds in Plymouth, and got to Cape Hatteras at 10:30. Did the climbing tour and walked around on the beach.
We went back north and ate lunch at Dirty Dick's, stopped at the house from "Nights in Rodanthe", stopped at Bodie Island lighthouse to take pictures, went to Jockey's ridge, went to the Wright Brother's Memorial, wife shopped at Tanger outlets, and then we left.

Got home tonight about 9PM. We had a blast and are exhausted. The drive was really great, traffic was very light and the 70mph stretches are great.

7/31/2009 11:11:10 PM

Quote :

"SOBX > NOBX"

Agreed. NOBX is good if you want civilization; SOBX if you want beach.

7/31/2009 11:53:42 PM

Quote :

"Make sure you get out of your car at some point and say "Hello." to a local. That way you can find out what it's like to be treated like shit for no reason by a total stranger."

hahahaha wat? I've never experienced this out there. Maybe because I'm a girl?

8/2/2009 12:15:19 AM