Hey friends! I’m back for my final Outer Banks beach vacation recap.
If you missed my first two beach updates, they are here: Making Waves + 4th of July in Duck, OBX.
Vacation with a toddler wasn’t exactly relaxing like vacation used to be, but it was definitely a lot of fun. 🙂
We got back to DC on Sunday and are now dreaming of last week, when we were busy enjoying beach happy hours…
(Riese ate legit ALL of the grapes (cut in half) in the following photo…)
And taking in the sights by foot!
I got in a short run one morning (I think I made it about 3 miles, but walked about half of it… sooooo hot out!) while Riese was out taking a walk with her grandparents – my favorite place to run in Duck is the boardwalk. Such beautiful views!
I also made it out to a couple yoga classes with my sister-in-law Morgana – we love Village Yoga in Duck and go every year.
We also had lots of beach time – great sunny weather all week so we made it there at least once a day.
We came back to the house for lunch and nap time every day; Matt and I would usually hang out at the pool (at our house) while Riese slept.
As for eats from the rest of the week, we had some good ones!
On Wednesday night, we had our annual “kid’s night” – the grandparents watch the grandkids and the “kids” – meaning us – all go out for dinner and drinks. 😉
This year’s dinner was at Red Sky Cafe in the town of Duck. I don’t think I’d been there before – maybe once for lunch many years ago?
We had a drink out at the tiki bar while waiting for our table – here’s our huge group!
Dinner was really good – I shared a couple appetizers with Matt and others, starting with the buffalo tuna bites – basically the flavors of hot wings but it was tuna! Yum.
Plus the burrata salad – also really good.
For my entree, I had the mixed grill with a grilled fish, crab cake, and shrimp combo. I had to get my fill of seafood while so close to the ocean!
We also ate lots of salmon last week – my father-in-law did a tasty cedar plank grilled salmon with a maple mustard glaze one night that was delicious.
Enjoyed with tomato pie (bought locally – a beach specialty), a farro and fruit salad, zucchini and squash with parmesan, and a pickled cucumber and onion salad. So fresh and satisfying.
Post-dinner sunset enjoying from our deck once Riese was in bed:
I made good use of the leftover salmon, farro fruit salad, and other odds and ends in the fridge for a couple lunches later in the week.
The final food hurrah of the week was dinner out on our very last night in Duck! We went to dinner at the Lifesaving Station at the Sanderling Hotel. We started nice and early (5 pm) which was great for the kid situation!
Matt and I shared two salads to start – the caesar and the mixed greens – as well as a crab cake. Plus some Prosecco!
And for my entree, I decided to go rogue (aka not get seafood) and have the lamb! Everything was great.
We were really sad to say goodbye to everyone! We headed out early on Sunday morning to try to beat some of the traffic, and made it out of the beach area quickly but did hit some traffic later in the drive towards DC.
Riese did pretty well – she was a mess on the drive down to the beach and refused to fall asleep (until like 10 p.m., oof) and Matt and I thought it was probably because one of us was sitting back there with her so she wanted to keep hanging out vs. sleep. So this time one of us was back there with her for most of the drive, but when it was naptime after lunch, we both sat up front and sure enough, she fell right to sleep. Whew! Live and learn.
Have a great day, friends, and I’ll see you back here on Friday!
Are you going to the beach this summer (or have you already been)? Which beach?
