Outer Banks Vacation Finale

Hi friends! I’m back in DC after a wonderful week in the Outer Banks on vacation. Here’s a recap of the last of our adventures at the beach! If you missed the first two recaps, check those out first: Outer Banks Vacation Part 1, Outer Banks Vacation Part 2.

Despite the cloudy photo above and the rainy/stormy weather forecast, we actually ended up having a BEAUTIFUL week! The last few days were especially nice – lower humidity and nice and sunny. Sidenote – how cute is my nephew Nate?

We spent the end of the week much as the spent the first part – splitting time between the beach and the pool at our house, and enjoying some really good food too. Rough life, I know. Vacation is the best.

I got in some reading on the beach, but mostly enjoyed either a) playing in the waves, or b) watching other people play in the waves while lying around on a towel. There’s just something about the waves/water that is so mesmerizing and calming to watch.

On Thursday afternoon, I broke away from my beach/pool pattern and my dad and I went sailing! We took out this nice catamaran.

It was SUPER windy so we got some serious speed up – so fun! A lot of the other boats near us actually capsized at some point due to the wind/choppy water, but we kept it together and only had one close call.

Another big highlight: reviving the beach happy hour. This is one of my most favorite things – nothing better than the beach in the evening when everyone else clears out and the heat breaks. Freshly shucked oysters (and wine) make it even more awesome.

On the fitness friend, my future sister-in-law Morgana and I hit up a second yoga class at Duck Village Yoga on Saturday morning. This one was a power flow class – my tight hips and I really enjoyed it!

Speaking of Morgana, she teaches barre classes so she led a big group of us in one out on the deck at our place another morning. Oh, the burn!

Morgana actually teaches TRX workout classes as well – for those of you living in NYC, her class is on ClassPass and you should all go take it! She teaches at 7 and 8 a.m. every weekday at the PE Club (Upper East Side location – it’s closed for renovations til the 26th, FYI). Tell her I sent you.

And because all good workouts should end with an even better brunch, we had this feast waiting for us when we finished.

Delish!

On the dinner front, we had two great grilled fish meals at home – first up was cedar plank salmon, which I absolutely love. Matt’s dad marinated it in a really good ginger/garlic/soy mixture!

It’s topped with these cool maple vinegar pearls that I got on my press trip to Canada with my maple syrup friends! It went perfectly with the salmon.

I whipped up a Mediterranean-inspired quinoa salad to go with the salmon: quinoa + peppers + tomato + cucumber + feta + a vinaigrette. Always a winner!

We also had some grilled veggies and a delicious tomato pie that Matt’s mom picked up in town.

I went back for seconds.

The second grilled dinner was our final night at the beach – a tasty mahi mahi with pineapple salsa, sweet potatoes, a grilled corn salad, and broccolini.

On Friday night, I went out to dinner with my parents for my mom’s birthday to a lovely spot called Kimball’s Kitchen. We ate here last year, too, and couldn’t wait to return! Great seafood.

Seafood tower? Don’t mind if we do.

I also had the beet and arugula salad to start.

For my entrée, continuing with my mission to eat all the seafood in North Carolina, I had the seared tuna. It came with a quinoa and edamame salad and we got some grilled asparagus and sautéed swiss chard on the side, too. All of it was amazing!