Oftentimes people ask me how come I travel so much ... But I don’t feel that I do ... Not in the large, very expensive sense. Sure, we do cross the continent or The Pond at least once a year, those are big trips, but most of the time, we just come up for a breath of (a different) air, and just get out of town for not more than 24 hours ...
This was the case with a recent trip to Manteo and The Outer Banks, right here in North Carolina.
We decided to go somewhere just for one night pretty much the Monday before Martin Luther King Jr’s Day weekend. We didn’t want to engage our cat sitter (we do if we spend 2 or more days away) in the whole affair; we just wanted to run out, get out of the routine and come back recharged, if possible.
I was nervous to head that direction because I don’t know why, but North Carolina beaches really do close for the off season ... We have done this before, and we were nervous that we might find nothing to do, or nowhere to eat.
Hotels are open on the NC beaches, and some have restaurants, but most stand-alone restaurants seem to be either altogether closed or open for limited days and hours. Not even a long weekend on the calendar changed that ...
But we didn’t starve. Quite the opposite.
What to do with 24 hours at the beach, especially since the second day has a forecast of non-stop freezing rain and even potentially flurries?
Well, on the first day, we anchored ourselves to Roanoke Island - the island where the city of Manteo lives. I have loved this historic, intimate water town for as long as I have known it (about 26-27 years, I would guess). It reminds me of Savannah or Charleston, but without the crowds and without the noise. Without the Spanish moss, either. But with all the history, the delicious seafood, and the historic vibe. If you’re quiet enough and pay attention, there are pirates boots hitting the sidewalks and the tight alleys.
The Our State magazine is of great help to us to pick our next roadtrip destination and this trip was more or less started by an article I saw there: they had a story about The Mother Vine, a 400+ year old scuppernong grape vine. It is famed to be the oldest known vine in America and it dates back to Sir Walter Raleigh’s expedition in 1584 (look it up!). It is currently on private property, but the owners are gracious and allow visitors to walk the grounds and take pictures of it. Of course, in January, there is not much to look at other than a mess of knotted dry wood, but even so ... for someone who loves wine and especially this North Carolina delicacy called “scuppernong” (the fruit and the wine), it was a must see.
The Mother Vine - Manteo, NC
Afterwards, we walked in Manteo’s waterside shopping district, and wandered the many a boutiques nested in old homes, where floors creak and things smell like old tobacco or seaweed ...
The Tranquil Inn in the waterside shopping district - Manteo, NC
We went to a wine tasting in the storefront of Vineyards on the Scuppernong, a winery that makes their wines in Columbia, NC, just a few miles inland.
Vineyards on the Scuppernong's tasting room in Downtown Manteo, NC
We visited a couple of antique stores for window shopping and decoration ideas.
We tasted oils and balsamic vinegars at The Gourmet Olive where we actually bought some nice garlic-infused olive oil. The store keeper was one of the friendliest people you’ll meet. Really, everyone is nice in this area, but this lady offered to ship us more oil when we’re done with this one, just call and tell her, she said. We thanked her for being open. She admitted she is not open but three days a week, but in the summer, she is so busy, she is known to make “close to a million dollars in a weekend” ... That is some sale of oils and vinegars I suspect ...
We said goodbye to the shopping district by stopping in at Outer Banks Distilling - a local rum distillery. We had stopped in at the Laughing Lollipop, a candy and ice cream store on the waterside to get some rum balls, and another friendly store keeper there practically begged us to go visit the Distillery for their rum-infused pecans and their pecan-infused rum.
The Outer Banks Distilling. The place of heavenly roasted pecans
My husband tasted the rum and both of us tasted the pecans. These people know what they’re doing! They soak pecans in the rum until the rum turns the color of the nuts. Then, they roast the nuts and candy them in sugar. They taste like Jamaica and The South all wrapped up in a bite. You eat till you’re stupid, I tell you what. Those pecans are so good that I can see myself driving to Manteo just for the day to buy some more and probably be drunk by the time I get home, just from the rum taste. Ridiculous!
Their on-site bar area, The Wheel House Lounge, looked like a ton of fun, mixing up pecan rum cocktails and what not. The place was packed, however, not a place to sit, and we were slightly late for dinner if we would have stopped in. So, we moved along.
Dinner was in an interesting place. The Salt & Cypress Kitchen & Cocktails was located inside a condotel, one of those motel-looking condo buildings you see in any beach town. The building was on the Shallowbag Bay, right on the water, and a beautiful sunset was drowning us in tender light.
The Salt & Cypress in Manteo, NC
Our cocktails and view at Salt & Cypress
From the outside, it looks like a tourist trap, a t-shirt store with a bar, but it is anything but ... The place was almost empty (not many crowds in the winter, I tell ya), so we had our pick for where we sat. We chose the second floor to be above the marina and have an unobstructed view of the bay.
The tuna special (crusted in sesame seeds) and the spicy shrimp pasta were to die for. And they made me a custom-ordered cocktail that was not on the menu - all I wanted was that local pecan-infused rum with some pineapple juice and that’s what they did. I didn’t think I was ever going to leave that place! It tasted like a day at the beach when everyone stayed home and you’re alone with the ocean, the sun, and your thoughts ...
We headed to Kitty Hawk, on the Outer Banks for the night, where we could sleep right on the beach. Well, in the hotel. In a bed, but with the ocean and the Kitty Hawk Pier right in front of our window.
Kitty Hawk Pier, from our hotel balcony
After a nightcap at our hotel's bar, properly named, given our location, The Aviator, we collapsed in bed, with a smile on our faces, bellies and hearts full.
If our first day there was bright, sunny and crisp, the second day we woke up to a complete downpour ... Just gusty winds blowing the coldest rain around every which way. We wanted something more interesting for breakfast than a basic hotel buffet, so we drove around, up and down the Outer Banks and back to Manteo and back again to The Banks and every place the maps were steering us towards was “closed for the season”. It was maddening ... But then, just like that, driving around, my husband spotted this completely redone dinner, the Noosa Beach Grill, and we got there right at noon, so we could order breakfast (him) or lunch (me) with no trouble. Again, the people were welcoming and the service was very good.
Noosa Beach Grill - quiet, cozy, and trust me - yummy, too
We headed back home, after a mandatory stop at a beach store, just to see if they had any cute summer dresses on sale - as they do, this time of the year ...
I just wrote close to three pages about an adventure that lasted less than 24 hours ...
Every time we go away like this I wonder: is it worth it? Is it worth the time? The money? The driving break-neck speed, to and fro?! And every time, I come up with the same answer: absolutely worth it!
The world is a shaky place. Nothing is guaranteed - the money we have now, the health that we have now, the time that we have now, the (relative) peace we have now - none of them are guaranteed ... The memories your brain remembers, the tastes, the flavors you discover, the conversations you have with kind strangers or each other, they are all now a page of your life’s album, just waiting patiently to catch patina and dust ...
Get out there, if you can, and explore ... Even if it’s a place around the corner from your house that you have never visited before. Go find out what moves it. Time waits for no one ...
