We may need to redefine “adventure” to include the intricacies of traveling with a toddler. Seriously, it’s not for the faint of heart!
Over the long Memorial Day weekend, we took our little family to the Outer Banks of North Carolina for some surf and sand. It was our first time camping at Frisco Campground (in Frisco, NC, just North of Hatteras Village). We fell hard for this campground! We’ve always camped at Oregon Inlet, which is nice, and shied away from most other campgrounds in OBX because they are basically large fields of grass/sand without any privacy, shade, or topography of interest. This is not the case at Frisco! This campground was full of dunes (which made biking a fun challenge), some sites are perfect for tenting in a little nook, others have a high vantage point with a beautiful view. We selected one that backed up to some scrub brush that provided a bit of shade and wind protection.
Other than one windy night, the weather was perfect. I mean, 80* and sunny perfect. We kept the SPF 50 slathered on us and the baby and resulted in no serious sunburns. The biggest pest were the mosquitoes, so we broke out the new Thermacell Mosquito Repeller Scout Camp Lantern that we’d snagged on sale. We’re here to report that it actually seemed to work!
We spent our days exploring the Outer Banks and enjoying the sand and surf. Husband tried to go surfing, but came up short on waves most of the weekend. We enjoyed some good beach time though, most at Frisco Pier and Buxton. Someone had recommended that we bring a baby pool for Fiona to use at the beach, it was a HUGE win. She loved it. She also learned to collect seashells and use a pail and shovel to her heart’s content. At some point we need to work on napping at the beach, as that seems to be the last piece to the puzzle.
On our last morning, we took Fiona to the sound side of Hatteras Village. The water was warm and there are no waves. She so enjoyed playing in the water, collected seashells from under the “waves” and swimming in the water. Seriously, she wanted to swim, kicking her little legs and even paddling her arms (while Mama held her afloat). She even got her face in the water a few times without freaking out, so definitely a win.
We took one day to head to Ocracoke Island. Fiona napped on the ferry ride there, we biked around the island, ate some wonderful Thai food (Thai Moon), caught up with some locals we know, got ice cream, and biked back to our car. Fiona napped on the ferry ride back to Hatteras Island. Really couldn’t ask for better timing.
We hit up a few surf shops for clearance deals on board shorts and rash guards, ate more ice cream than I’d like to admit, and overall had a blast. There were a few hard moments, like Fiona’s first bloody nose (she face planted when she tripped over herself walking up a wooden ramp) and I ended up in urgent care for mastitis.
