Virginia Beach to Duck

This was the last leg of our road trip - or, perhaps, the second-to-last - arriving in Duck, a place where we have stayed for 18 years in April and which we dearly love.  It is not a long drive at all from Virginia Beach to the Outer Banks.  We stopped briefly to see the famous Virginia Beach Boardwalk, nearly deserted on this Sunday morning.

Then we drove farther south, past those small, sandy little farms typical of Eastern North Carolina, and eventually we found ourselves on familiar ground, driving on Route 158 - the Caratoke Highway - which we have traveled many times on previous trips to the OBX.  Our first stop was The Cotton Gin.  I don't think we have ever driven this road and not stopped at this place, described on its Facebook page as "a true Outer Banks shopping experience!  Room after Room of unique gifts, apparel, gourmet, bath and body and home furnishings!"  Very true, despite the exclamations.

 
Across the highway is a small produce stand, where we stopped for fresh asparagus and strawberries (also a tradition).  And then we stopped at the Weeping Radish Farm Brewery back down the highway a little bit.

I once told my Mom (who dearly loved Reuben sandwiches) that I knew where you could get the best Reuben sandwiches in the world; unfortunately, it was 500 miles away, in Jarvisburg, NC.  The Weeping Radish was also recently recognized as the oldest microbrewery in North Carolina.  Owner Uli Bennewitz came here in the early-1980s and decided to open a microbrewery similar to the ones he had left behind in Bavaria. "The only problem was that it was illegal in North Carolina for a brewery to sell beer directly to the consumer," its website says.  "Working with State politicians Uli changed the law in North Carolina allowing microbreweries to sell their beer on site. A movement was created.  North Carolina is now one of the leading microbrewery States with over 120 open and many more under construction."  They also have very good Reuben sandwiches.  

And they have received another honor as well:  they have been discovered by Guy Fieri, of Cooking Channel fame, who pronounced the food (and drink) an especially good "Diner, Drive-in, and Dive."  I'm not sure which of these three categories he placed the Weeping Radish in, but I am glad he found it and put it on the map.

We kept driving south and eventually crossed the Wright Memorial Bridge, which marks the beginning of the Outer Banks.  I always seem to relax several degrees when I cross this bridge.  We have so many powerful memories of this particular area of the Outer Banks; we drove past the starting line of the OBX marathon across from the school (which we have both completed), past the place where we once went kayaking in the Kitty Hawk Woods, and onward through Southern Shores, and then up two-lane Highway 12 to Duck.

The people at Twiddy, our rental company, cannot be nicer; we have rented houses from them for several years now.  "We've driven 3500 miles to get here," we told the woman at the check-in desk.  "Where did you come from?' she asked incredulously.  "Oh, Western North Carolina.  We just took a long way around to get here."  We told her where we had driven.  "Well," she smiled.  "It sounds like you're ready to drop anchor for awhile."

 And we were.  Time for a little shore leave at the end of a long and exciting April Road Trip.