Dining Out in Kitty Hawk, NC

On our way back from spending the week in Corolla, we decided to have one meal at a restaurant before we returned.  After enjoying a beautiful sunny day at the beach, we slowly made our way south to Kitty Hawk.  There, we decided to stop at the Black Pelican.  We became aware of the restaurant by watching the Food Network before we left the beach house.

One of the best features of the restaurant is its location. It is as close to the ocean as you can get in this part of Kitty Hawk, with the water only slightly covered by the sand dunes.  With Darwin in tow, we were seated in a covered, outdoor patio area (which was awesome except for the one guy smoking for part of our visit!).

Our patio seats had an amazing view

The food was pretty good.  We had been eating so much all week that we weren't in the mood for a big meal, so we opted to share a bowl of clam chowder, a salmon "popeye" salad, and a chocolate cheesecake dessert.  The soup was merely ok, not meeting my high chowder expectations. It was a bit watery and should have been filled with potatoes and clams.  

The salad was very tasty with the warm mushroom bacon vinaigrette giving it a lot of flavor.  The fish was also nicely cooked.

The highlight was the dessert. The rich chocolate top layer met Colin's preference and the soft moist cake layer met my preference. The layer of cheesecake in the middle and the peanut butter chunks were very complimentary and provided some delicious flavor.

I would definitely stop here again for dessert, and maybe to try an actual entree in the future.

Do you have a favorite restaurant in or near Kitty Hawk?

The Outer Banks aka OBX

Those of you that know me know that I love travel deals.  When travelzoo (www.travelzoo.com) listed a deal on the Outer Banks through Endless Vacation Rentals (http://www.endless-vacation-rentals.com/) I jumped right on it.  The deal was actually pretty awesome - $250 for a 1 bedroom vacation rental for the week or $275 for a 2 bedroom rental.  The pictures looked decent and the property was within walking distance to the beach.

There were options for weeks in March, April, and May.  I knew April and May would be much warmer, but my big 30th birthday was in March, so I decided to book that week.  I did debate reserving a second week in May, but Colin kept me in check.  Since he did start a job here in North Carolina back in January, he doesn't have much vacation time built up yet.

Luckily, my mom was on board to come down and visit and spend the week at the beach with me.  Colin joined us for each of the weekends.  I tried invited people I know who were off of work and were relatively close, but no one else could join us.

The beach rental was called Barrier Island Station and was located in Kitty Hawk.  Because we were without a car for the week, we didn't explore much of the area until the weekend.  We did however, do a lot of exercise.  The rental property was actually a timeshare resort and had an indoor pool, fitness center, steam room, and walking trails.  I usually ran in the mornings before lunch and walked to the beach with mom after lunch.  I logged my miles on daily mile (www.dailymile.com) and the weeks total came out to 38 miles of walking and running.  That's the entire length of the state of Rhode Island!!  My mom probably logged pretty close to 20 miles herself.  There was an outdoor pool, but we did not dare attempt to swim in it.

I will admit that I did take water aerobics and my mom was the second youngest person in the class with me!

The weather was a mix of good and bad.  When we arrived, it was beautiful and sunny with temperatures in the 60-70's.  Unfortunately, the weather changed to low 40's on Monday.  That was the day we kept to the pool and indoor gym.  Each day got progressively warmer and we were able to walk to the beach each of the subsequent days.

Wednesday was my birthday and the day was in the 50's and cloudy.  We kept to our normal routine, having a good breakfast, going to exercise, having a nice lunch, and walking to the beach.  We did manage to take a few photos for the occasion.

On the way back, my mom insisted on getting birthday cake to go along with the delicious fish dinner she had planned for me.

Thursday and Friday were gorgeous days.  On Thursday, I ran 11 miles (training for a half marathon) and we went for a nice long walk on the beach.

Friday, we spent the whole day basking in the 70-80 degree sun.  The only downside of the day was trying to find a bathroom near the beach!!

Once Colin joined us and brought the car, we were able to explore more of the area.  I'll save the details for the next post.