This fall break, we had a four-day weekend to go wherever we wanted! A group of girlfriends and I (you may have seen them on T&P Thursday’s over on my Instagram stories) took the five-hour trip to the Outerbanks of North Carolina.
None of us had ever been before and we were so excited to go the beach and relax.
Wednesday night we arrived at Sunrise Over Salvo, our Airbnb in Salvo, North Carolina in the Outerbanks. Our hosts were lovely. They lived on the 3rd and 4th floors of the house and the Airbnb rooms were on the 1st and 2nd floors. It was like a real ma and pa bed and breakfast.
Thursday morning, we slept in really late and woke to 15mph winds and rain. But that did not stop us from taking the 3-minute walk to the beach. We walked a mile on the beach in the wind and rain before heading back to our Airbnb to enjoy the hot tub. It was the perfect hot tubbing weather.
There was no kitchen that we were able to use, but we did bring our own groceries and there was a grill we could use. We grilled out Thursday night with burgers, salsa, grilled veggies and guacamole.
We played cards, did some homework and watched the season premiere of Riverdale before heading to bed.
Friday morning, we went back to the beach. We wanted to go to the light house, but the road was flooded, trapping us in Salvo. We did not mind. That’s the thing about a barrier island, there is one way on and one way off. The Outerbanks are also 30 miles out at sea so the nor’easter was controlling the rough seas and the strong winds.
We spent the day at the beach in our sweatshirts, did some more homework and then headed to dinner at Watermen's Bar and Grill. This seafood spot was hopping with kite surfers and sunset chasers. It was a windy spot on the bay side of the barrier island. We saw dozens of kite surfers over our shrimp tacos. We had the most beautiful sunset.
The power went out Saturday morning. Our Airbnb host did tell us that the roads were still blocked but that they were supposed to be cleared by the afternoon.
Saturday was the prettiest beach day. Only 70 degrees but no wind which was ideal for getting some color, or some sunburn. Oops! It was so warm Saturday we were able to comfortably walk around the beach sweatshirt free and bikinis on.
Now this is where the exciting part of the story starts.
We packed up at the beach around 3pm destined to go to the lighthouse and have dinner in Avon. All day we had been in constant communication with our Airbnb host about the road conditions. When we returned from the beach, we told him our plans to head to the lighthouse and he told us no chance. He said the roads going each way were still flooded from the storm and that we were stuck in Salvo. He also told us that the roads probably would not be open again until Monday evening because the storm mixed with the full moon and high tides from Friday night still were not cleared. The town was also predicting that the road would flood again Saturday evening at high tide. So, we went to dinner in Salvo at Good Winds before figuring out our game plan.
Our Airbnb host told us we could stay as long as we needed until we could get leave the island. He was not hopeful we could get off the island until Monday night. But he did think that they might open the roads before the high tides Saturday night. So, we went for it.
We ran home from dinner, packed our bags, threw our stuff in the car. We sat in two miles of cars for an hour before the road opened at 6:15pm. I sat outside of the car on the road. I was dancing in the street and running to catch our car every time the car moved up a bit. We really started moving at 7pm after the National Guard truck rolled through and told everyone that the road was open for a limited amount of time. Now it was a race against the full moon to get off the barrier island before the road flooded again.
The road was in bad shape when we finally made it to the previously closed spot. The water was very high, and we could see where the 15-foot-high sand dunes had fallen in and let the ocean cover the road. It was a bit treacherous, but we made it out.
We started our very fun 5-hour drive home at 7pm. We jammed out and we live-streamed the Wake football game, which we sadly lost.
We made it safely home after being trapped on a barrier island for 3 days.
It was a great weekend! I loved being back on the water and back at the beach. I felt like I was home. I was surrounded by wonderfully sweet and kind friends. We laughed our adventurous weekend away. We sadly returned to Wake Forest late Saturday night, a day earlier than planned but a bit more relaxed and a bit less sleep deprived. We arrived home ready to finish out the rest of the fall semester.
beach,
college,
fall break,
friends,
north carolina,
outerbanks,
sorority,
student,
travel,
vacation,
wake forest
