Photo Credit: Our editor-in-chief Hanna Perry’s boyfriend Ian Peters took this photo of her while they were visiting the Elizabethan Gardens in Manteo, North Carolina.

One of the best parts about a relationship is having someone to go on vacations with. In April, my boyfriend Ian and I took a trip to North Carolina to visit the Outer Banks for the first time. As neither of us had been there before, it felt like a great place to take a vacation.

Wanchese Inn Bed & Breakfast

First, we loved the bed and breakfast where we stayed. Wanchese Inn Bed & Breakfast is located in Wanchese, North Carolina. It’s run by a lovely older couple named Lynn and Bill, who showed us incredible hospitality during our stay at the inn. We spent two nights there, and Lynn prepared a delicious breakfast each morning.

Beyond the tasty breakfast, one of the most remarkable aspects of the inn is its location in a quaint small town, which my boyfriend and I adore because it always feels like home. The rates vary depending on the time of year, but it’s a very affordable place to stay, and affordability is key, especially when traveling.

Photo Credit: Wanchese Inn Bed & Breakfast

Mama Kwan’s Tiki Bar & Grill

While researching restaurants around the Outer Banks, I came across Mama Kwan’s Tiki Bar & Restaurant, which is located in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. Whenever I go to the beach on vacation, I always make sure to order seafood while I’m there. Coconut shrimp has always been one of my favorite things to order at any seafood restaurant, and the ones at Mama Kwan’s were really good.

The coconut shrimp came with butter rum rice, an Asian cucumber salad, and a grilled pineapple. The restaurant had a pleasant atmosphere, great food, and great service. But when we went there at around 5:30 P.M., the place was getting pretty busy. So, if you decide to go there, you might want to get there a bit earlier to avoid the dinner crowds.

Old Towne Creamery

Ian and I always have to end our night with dessert, and our favorite dessert after dinner is always ice cream. So, when we were in North Carolina, we knew we wanted to find somewhere to have ice cream. While returning to the bed and breakfast we were staying at, we stumbled upon Olde Towne Creamery, located in Manteo, North Carolina. The first night, we ordered a Moose Tracks milkshake, and the second night we went, we ordered the Kennywood Parfait, which just so happens to be named after the same Kennywood in West Mifflin, Pennsylvania, that has always been my favorite amusement park ever since I was a kid. The Moose Tracks milkshake was very chocolatey and tasted delicious. But my favorite thing was the Kennywood Parfait.

The Kennywood Parfait consisted of peanuts, vanilla ice cream, chocolate ice cream, whipped cream, and a cherry, and it reminded me of an ice cream cone that they serve at Kennywood that I got a lot at the park while I was growing up, so eating the parfait unlocked a childhood memory for me. I wish I had taken a picture of it, but I was so excited to eat the ice cream that I forgot to. If Ian and I ever return to North Carolina, we will revisit Olde Towne Creamery for some excellent ice cream.

Photo Credit: Yelp

North Carolina Aquarium On Roanoke Island

One of the best parts of our entire trip was visiting the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island, which is located in Manteo, North Carolina. It was probably the nicest aquarium my boyfriend and I have ever been to because there was a lot to see while we were there. Before our trip to North Carolina, I knew I wanted to visit an aquarium since the cost of admission was only $12.95. I have always loved all marine animals, but I especially love sea turtles because they’re my favorite animals. So many different sea creatures lived at the aquarium, like jellyfish, sharks, stingrays, and tropical fish. My favorite sea creatures on display were the sea turtles. The sea turtles were displayed at the aquarium in what the aquarium calls the Sea Turtle Assistance and Rehabilitation (STAR) Center.

What I loved most about it was that you could walk into the STAR Center and take close-up pictures of the sea turtles, and I took several of them while I was there. One of my other favorite things on display was the white alligator because it was huge. The aquarium also has a great gift shop filled with many t-shirts, stickers, jewelry, stuffed animals, and other items that would be the perfect souvenirs to take home. I found a t-shirt that I loved there, and Ian did too. The aquarium is one that my boyfriend and I would visit all the time if we lived in North Carolina, because we both agreed that it was the best part of our entire trip.

Elizabethan Gardens

Since it’s spring, while Ian and I were on our trip, we visited the Elizabethan Gardens to see some flowers in North Carolina. The Elizabethan Gardens are located in Manteo, North Carolina, with ten acres of flowers for you to stroll through. The gardens are whimsical, colorful, and fun, and walking through them will make you feel like you’re Alice from Lewis Carroll’s famous novel Alice in Wonderland. Like many women, I love seeing flowers during the springtime, so visiting the gardens on a beautiful spring day was one of the many highlights of Ian and I’s trip to North Carolina.

The Hungry Pelican

After going to the aquarium and the garden, Ian and I were hungry for lunch, so we stopped at a deli called The Hungry Pelican. The Hungry Pelican is located in downtown Manteo, North Carolina. Instead of getting two lunches, my boyfriend and I shared a sandwich. We ordered the turkey cheddar club, a sandwich served on ciabatta bread with turkey, cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and applewood smoked bacon served with potato chips. We also ordered a cup of the Italian pasta salad to share, and it was delicious. Even though it was a small lunch, it filled us both up for a while. Since we shared lunch, it only cost about twenty-one dollars. We agreed that our favorite restaurant on our trip was The Hungry Pelican.

Mulligan’s Grille

On the last night of our vacation in North Carolina, we ate dinner at Mulligan’s Grille in Nags Head, North Carolina. I ordered Southern Cali Fish Tacos, which consisted of fried rockfish on three flour tortillas topped with pico de gallo, cilantro-lime slaw, and a Cajun tartar sauce and Ian ordered Coastal Carolina Shrimp & Grits which consisted of shrimp, and andouille sausage in a creole cream sauce over stone ground grits served with a side salad, a Parmesan breadstick, and both of our meals were savory, delicious, and very filling.

Our visit to Mulligan’s Grille was our first experience with a restaurant that allowed dogs, so that was an interesting aspect to see. Most of the dogs were pretty well behaved at the restaurant, but before we left, there was someone’s dog that started barking very loudly. Still, other than that minor issue, we didn’t have many issues while eating at Mulligan’s Grille, and it was cool that we got a view of the ocean while we were eating since we were sitting outside across from the bar.

Jenette’s Pier

Jennette’s Pier is located in Nags Head, North Carolina. Most tourism websites for the Outer Banks will tell you that Jennette’s Pier is a must-visit while you’re visiting the area, and they’re right because it offers amazing ocean views. Even though Ian and I didn’t see a sunset while we were visiting Jennette’s Pier, it was still an interesting place to take in an ocean view, and it offered an excellent opportunity for us to take a picture, too.

North Carolina Is A Great Weekend Getaway

The Outer Banks, North Carolina, is about a six-hour drive from Delaware, where my boyfriend and I live, but it was a fun vacation for us. The best parts were the aquarium, the food, the ice cream, and the beach. If we ever revisit North Carolina, we mutually agreed to visit the aquarium because we loved it so much.

Taking a vacation to North Carolina is a fun trip if you’re looking for somewhere to go, and hopefully, if you visit there, you’ll love something there, too. But suppose you’re considering visiting North Carolina for a trip to the Outer Banks. In that case, I recommend that you see the places I mentioned in my article because hopefully, you’ll end up loving them just as much as I did.

Photo Credit: This photo was taken by Hanna Perry’s boyfriend Ian Peters.

This was written by our editor-in-chief and co-founder, Hanna Perry.