Vacation destination is the topic of this week’s Romance Writers Weekly blog hop.  Member Kathryn Renard asks us to describe  a vacation destination we’ve been to and would recommend to readers.  I’m all over this as Seaside Heat Romance is my brand.  Beach baby beach baby there in the sand!

The Outer Banks of North Carolina is a heavenly sandbar on which I  basically grew up. If those lotto numbers ever hit, I’ll be moving a bit more south.

OBX, as it is affectionate called, is comprised of several small towns. There isn’t a boardwalk but a two-lane beach road known at Route 12. Along the one hundred mile strip that runs from Corolla to Hatteras, you’ll get  variety. Beaches vary from wild and untamed like the most northern beach in Carova and most southern in Hatteras, to the more commercial areas around Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills. Then there’s the towns of Duck and Nags Head which have a mix of commercialism and small town atmosphere.

Every year, my family rents a house in south Nags Head. After Jeannette’s Pier there’s nothing but beach houses until Oregon Inlet.  However in a couple of miles, we can be at the pier, on the road to Manteo or on the bypass heading for some shopping at the outlet mall.  We love being away, from the  hustle and bustle yet having putt putt, go carts and restaurants galore within a five to ten minute drive.

Surfing is good, fishing is fun, plus there’s a lot history on the Outer Banks.  Virginia Dare was the first English born in the new world. Each summer at Fort Raleigh there’s a reenactment of the first English settlement. The Lost Colony is performed outside at Fort Raleigh to the backdrop of the of the ? Sound.  Pirates such a John Teach, aka Blackbeard, set up bases along the narrow strip of barrier islands. More recently, Orville and Wilbur Wright took first flight in Kitty Hawk.

The Outer Banks is more than a beach resort, it’s a way of life.  So much so that I wrote a novel to to convey my feelings of home for “The Banx.” In Hot as Blazes, Jo is a small town surfer who had a shot at the big time only to be framed by a lover.  Homesick, she returns to OBX and finds the love.

Here’s a link to more of my OBX pics. Hope you’ve already visited Brenda Margriet and now on to Jenna Da Sie who’s next on the blog hop.  I can’t wait to find out everyone’s vacation destination!