The last weekend in March, Matt and I drove down to North Carolina for a little babymoon in the Outer Banks!
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We weren’t sure we’d be able to do a babymoon this time around because of all the logistics, so we were incredibly excited when Matt’s (fully vaccinated) parents offered to come down and stay with Riese while we went away for a quick trip.
We knew we wanted to go somewhere in driving distance and somewhere where we could be outside the whole time and easily follow current safety guidelines re: distancing and masks and such.
We were originally considering doing a trip to the mountains of Virginia, but we weren’t sure how the weather would be in March, and a B&B didn’t seem like the most safe idea right now, nor did we want to do a cabin where we cooked for ourselves because we both wanted a break from kitchen duties. 😉
I threw out the idea of going to the Outer Banks in NC, where we go every July with Matt’s family, and we went with it! We figured it’d be fun to be there in March in the off-season, but crossed fingers that we’d hopefully have decent weather since it’s a bit south. Luckily it worked out!
(In 2017 when I was pregnant with Riese we did a combined babymoon/birthday weekend trip to a lovely hotel in the Shenandoahs – here’s recap part 1 and recap part 2 if you want to take a trip down memory lane with me!)
We booked 3 nights at the Sanderling Resort, which is near the town of Duck where we always rent a house with Matt’s family in the summer. We wanted to be somewhere where we knew our way around, so this worked out well!
We basically had the hotel to ourselves – we had a room on the ground floor that opened right out to the pool area which was perfect so we could avoid being inside the hotel pretty much entirely, and we didn’t see many other people while there (including staff – they weren’t servicing rooms or anything right now).
The only bummer was that the outdoor patio at the restaurant on site was allegedly “under construction” (except it wasn’t yet, so that was annoying…) so we couldn’t eat outside. So anytime we got food at the hotel we just got it as takeout and brought it back to our room or ate outside elsewhere on the property, like in these cozy chairs overlooking the ocean!
This club sandwich + fries hit the spot one day for lunch!
Our main goal on this trip was to RELAX. We drove the whole 6 hours down there in silence – no music, no podcasts – and just chatting a bit on and off, but honestly the silence was so nice. Those of you who also have toddlers understand what I mean. 🙂
Sleeping in was the biggest treat of the whole trip, as was just chilling out during the day and spending undistracted time together. I took a break from social media and work and everything and it was so nice to unplug and just relax.
The first morning of our trip it was a bit gray/cooler out, but we had breakfast at Treehouse Coffee Co. in town:
And then took a nice walk along the boardwalk.
I love being by the water, it’s so calming!
We watched this kite surfer (I think that’s what it’s called?) for quite awhile – it was quite windy out and he was SO good!
The other two mornings we had gorgeous weather, so Matt and I took advantage with a beach walk first thing. Our hotel was right on the beach which was perfect – we just strolled right out!
We picked up some plain yogurt, almond butter, and blueberries so we’d have an easy mini-breakfast to have in the room when we woke up:
And then we’d hit the beach! One morning Matt ran – it was perfect running weather and I was super jealous but glad one of us got to run. 🙂
I walked with some green tea in hand and picked up shells to bring home to Riese, which she was super pumped about!
The second morning we both walked together.
I always love walking on the beach – I love the sound and look of the waves. We dipped our toes in the ocean but WOWWWW was it freezing. The kind of cold where it aches – we definitely didn’t swim in this ocean on this trip! Or in the pool at the hotel, for that matter – the water was quite cold!
We spent both of the two afternoons we had there relaxing, and then headed into the town of Duck for dinner. The first night we arrived we got there late and it was stormy so we got takeout and ate it in our room.
The second night was also stormy, but we got lucky with a break in the torrential downpours and snagged an outdoor table at Aqua Restaurant on the boardwalk.
I had a quinoa and squash dish and added a side of scallops, which was the special. My hunger is a bit weird right now still due to pregnancy and I never know what will hit the spot, but the scallops really did! The rest of the dish was just so-so – it was more sweet vs. savory and I prefer savory. I like my quinoa recipes better. 😉
I was still a bit hungry after so Matt and I shared some truffled mac and cheese for “dessert”. Whatever works! 🙂
Luckily the storms held off while we ate – here was our ominous looking view from the table! Beautiful though, right?
The other night of our trip we got way luckier with the weather – it was gorgeous out! We headed to the boardwalk early to walk around and get ice cream:
Before getting ice cream we put our names in super early for an outdoor table at NC Coast Restaurant, which is right on the boardwalk and has epic sunset views. This turned out to be a smart move because we ended up getting a perfect spot!
The view from our table – insane, right?
I had a salad to start:
And for my entree I had the crab cakes, which were super yummy.
We took a nice stroll back along the boardwalk after dinner and had the most gorgeous views of the end of the sunset!
It was such a nice last night of our trip!
We did our last beach walk when we woke up the next day, then grabbed lunch at NC Coast again (they were the only place open on the boardwalk – a lot of the restaurants were still closed on Mondays and Tuesdays since it was the off-season, which makes sense!).
I had some shrimp tacos with a view – I thought these sounded good but then my fickle pregnant stomach wasn’t super into them, so we got some fries to share too and I ate a lot of Matt’s chicken caesar salad, which I found to be yummier!
It was such a treat to get a change of scenery, and to spend a couple days relaxing and connecting with Matt without distractions. I’m so grateful to Matt’s parents for watching Riese while we were gone so that we could make this trip happen! Apparently they had a blast together. 🙂
I’ll see you friends back here on Friday with some eats/faves/randomness. Until then, I hope you’re having a nice week – it’s a gorgeous one here and Riese and I took advantage with a fun hike yesterday morning!
Also, I’ll share another pregnancy update soon, so stay tuned for that. I’m 33 weeks now! Here are my previous updates from this pregnancy:
