We had a wonderful family vacation in "Outer Banks" (or OBX) North Carolina despite the twelve-hour drive with a broken air conditioner!
We had a great time visiting the Wright Brothers National Memorial and Century of Flight Monument in Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills (named after foul tasting rum "that would kill the devil" which washed ashore after shipwrecks). Other fun sites we visited close by were Jockey's Ridge State Park, a 426-acre park, and site of the largest natural living sand dune on the East Coast, located in Nags Head (tying lantern to a horses head or nag, and luring ships to shore for plundering).
We visited three lighthouses and museums which included Bodie Island, Cape Hatteras, and Ocracoke Island lighthouses. This is the view from the top of Cape Hatteras lighthouse, the single person on the ground in green is my mother, who joined us on the trip.
This is Bodie Island lighthouse in Buxton, located close to our beach-house in Avon, which was apart of Cape Hatteras National Seashore Recreational Area, and one of the best places to look for seashells. 
Everyone had fun "body surfing" and "boogie boarding" in the big waves. This beautiful, natural, mostly secluded beach, with the finest white sand, was 1,000 feet from the beach house we rented for ten days. A little over 1,000 feet in the other direction from our house was the "sound" side of the island with huge waves which brought wind-surfers and kite-borders from all over the world.
Other highlights of the trip were visits to fabulous museums, Ocracoke Ferry and Island, national wildlife refuges, island marshes, boating/fishing piers, and sea-life art galleries. Cherished moments included relaxing in the hot tub, reading on the deck's hammock, collecting seashells, watching the Sandpipers (cute little birds) play "chicken" with the waves, walking the beaches at night and viewing the lighthous' spotlights, and watching the sunset on the ocean's horizon.
