The Outer Banks NC:
Filled with Memories, and maybe, Career Starts

The Outer Banks NC is long known for its great family vacations and lifetime memories. For one of our respondents, however, perhaps it was a little more ... perhaps maybe even the start of something bigger?

Jenny B is a published author and frequent contributor to high profile publications.

© Jamie Abbott

I couldn’t believe that such a job existed, let alone that I could land it. In the summer of 1995, I was hired as a dancer for the country’s oldest and longest running outdoor drama – The Lost Colony on Manteo Island. I was thrilled. I packed my Jeep and hit the road from Richmond to the Outer Banks.

I was twenty-five-years-old then and in love with the place from the moment I arrived. We did more than 80 shows that summer and we took advantage of everything the area had to offer, sunning ourselves on the beach, hang-gliding over the dunes, visiting the wild ponies. It was an incredible few months and I made lifelong friends.

That summer went way to fast, but it was the beginning of what would quickly become a family tradition. For many summers after that, my husband and I would rent a house in Old Nags Head, pack up the kid and sometimes a friend or two as well, and head down to the ocean for a week.

Before we’d even get to the house we would stop at Sam and Omie’s for a shrimp burger and then we’d settle into our rented digs. I love the old houses, high on stilts and filled with mismatched furniture and miles of memories. We’d spend the week walking on the beach, swinging in the hammock, eating fresh seafood, and reconnecting as a family.

Sadly, I moved to Texas five years ago and haven’t been back to the Outer Banks. But I long to return, and I know it won’t be long before I do. There are some places that simply become a part of you. For me, the Outer Banks is one of those places.

Well, Jenny, sounds like it's time to make a trip back the Outer Banks NC! The great thing is, many of these places are still there for you to enjoy all over again.

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