A Day on the Outer Banks

Hiking in Jockey’s Ridge State Park | Visiting the Wright Brothers National Memorial | Visiting Fort Raleigh National Historic Site | Boondocking in Washington, NC | May 2025

We awoke at the rest stop this morning and hurried through our morning chores so we could get started with today’s adventure. Two years ago, we had planned an itinerary for an Outer Banks road trip and never ended up going because it was just too hot in the summer. The temps today were much cooler than the day before thanks to some storms that went through, and there was a nice breeze to keep us comfortable. We wouldn’t be able to do the entire drive and see all we had planned to before, but we were excited to go and see some of the historic sites today.

We drove 30 minutes from the rest area to Kitty Hawk, where we planned to start our morning at the Wright Brothers Memorial, but we were a little too early and the gates were still closed so we drove a little further South to Jockey’s Ridge State Park to go for a walk until it opened. I had saved Jockey’s Ridge two years ago and honestly didn’t remember all the facts about it, just that it was free and would probably keep us busy for at least a half hour.

As it turns out, I had forgotten how cool this place was and really undersold the park to Curtis, which left us both pleasantly surprised by scenery. I knew it was sand dunes, but failed to mention that it’s the largest sand dune on the East coast, and not at all what you’d expect to see on a tiny sliver of land on the ocean. We walked out onto the dunes, making our own path, and when Charlotte found the perfect spot to lie down, Curtis and I took turns walking up to the highest point. I think visiting early in the morning was a good idea, because the sand was the perfect cool temperature, and I imagine it can get hot in the heat of the sun. We ended up staying here for over an hour, and highly recommend it if you’re ever visiting the area!

When we were finished with our walk, we made our way back to the Wright Brothers National Memorial and began our walking tour. Curtis went to the visitor center to stamp in while Charlotte and I made our way to the flight path and memorial plaque. I took my time reading the signs, and Charlotte took advantage of that time to solicit pets from other visitors and eventually took a little cat nap right next to the flight path. Curtis caught up with us, and we made our way back to the visitor center where we arrived just in time to listen to a ranger talk. Next, we drove over to the monument on the hill and had a picnic lunch at a table in the shade. We took turns climbing up the hill, then continued on our way. We decided it might be worth going to see the sites in Dayton, OH as well someday.

We made our way South, then took US-64 West to Roanoke Island and our next historic site of the day: Fort Raleigh. We arrived at the site just in time for another ranger talk, which was very informative and interesting and focused on the Civil War history – particularly the emancipation of slaves and the free-mans settlement that grew on the island because of it. After that, we went for a short walk on the interpretive trail to see the site of the fort.

And honestly, there isn’t a whole lot to see here. The original ‘Fort’ from Sir Walter Raleigh’s expeditions is only a reconstruction, and there isn’t much else in terms of physical archaeology. The National Park abuts to the ‘Lost Colony Playhouse’ and the Elizabethan Gardens, but neither were open for us today.

Finally, it was time to leave the Outer Banks, so we made our way back to the mainland. We tried to be as efficient as we could in county grabbing, but we will have to return to the Outer Banks someday to get one more county. We made our way West and then South to the little town of Washington, NC – the first town in the US to be named after Washington, as we learned from our time here. We chose this town because they allow free overnight parking right along the waterfront, which seemed like our best option tonight. When we arrived, it was pretty busy with people and cars everywhere, but we found a spot to park and set off on a little walk along the waterfront. I made dinner in the van, which we enjoyed at a picnic table, then we went on a walk through the town to find ice cream. They were letting us park for free, after all, the least we could do was support a local business and satisfy our sweet tooth!

Just as we were finishing our walk, another storm rolled in which sent us into the van for the rest of the night. I can’t say it was the quietest night, and the street lamps over the van were rather bright, but we were thankful to have found this spot and will likely come back someday if we keep traveling to Wilmington. The next morning, we enjoyed breakfast at a picnic table before finishing our drive South to Wilmington, going a little out of our way for more counties. There we settled in for the next week and a half.