North Carolina's Outer Banks - OBX is Paradise in Hurricane Alley

If you're yearning for rest and relaxation during your summer vacation, instead of battling amusement-park crowds and water parks, consider the barrier islands that make up the Outer Banks of North Carolina. There, you'll find 130 miles of white sandy beaches, plenty of come-as-you-are restaurants, bicycling, golfing, boating, history and sightseeing.

If you're driving, OBX (shorthand for Outer Banks) is located about 500 miles south of New York City, 260 miles south of Washington, D.C., and 430 miles northeast of Charleston, S.C. You can also fly into the Norfolk (Va.) International Airport , and drive about two hours southeast to OBX.

The Outer Banks consist of a string of communities that include Corolla, Duck, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, Roanoke Island, and Hatteras Island. They sit on a slim peninsula bordered on the east by the Atlantic and at least partly on the west by the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds. So even if you're ot completely surrounded by water, you feel as if you are. Knowing the communities is important when you consider where to rent a house or book a hotel room. The northernmost communities of Corolla and Duck feature huge homes that sit directly on the beach or slightly inland. The activity in these two towns is a bit quieter than in the centrally located communities of Nags Head, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills, but if you want a quiet vacation with lots of bicycle riding and walking, Corolla or Duck might be your best bet.

The central towns are busier, and are intersected by a busy roadway , NC 158, that locals refer to as the Bypass. At the height of the summer season, trafffic can build up on the Bypass, particularly on Saturdays and Sundays, when renters arrive (the happy people) and depart (the depressed and the damned). But if you're looking for some action, particularly in the evenings or on cloudy days, these communities will serve you best. Nags Head, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills include homes on the ocean, inland homes, golfing communities and homes that front the Sound. On the Sound, you'll find the rents are slightly better and you will still have a view of water, boats and plenty of water activities, including waveriding, parasailing, and more. The central portion of the Outer Banks also offers supermarkets, gift and tourism shops, clothing stores, art galleries and even a Tanger Outlet mall in Nags Head. On nearly every corner, you and the kids can play a round of mini-golf and get an ice cream cone on those late summer nights.

Travel for another hour or so south, and you'll reach Hatteras, the last stop in the Outer Banks and home to the beautiful , black-and-white striped Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Along the way, you'll drive through one of the most breathtaking sights you'll ever see -- the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, a preservation area that is dotted with protected seabirds and vistas of the ocean that stretch for miles in every direction. You can also take a ferry from Hatteras to Ocracoke Island, a charming island known for its natural beauty and its ties to Blackbeard the Pirate.

The Outer Banks is a region that is proud of its heritage, which dates back to the 16th century, when Sir Walter Raleigh brought English settlers to the New World, was called back to England, and returned to find that his settlement and its 116 men, women and children had disappeared. That event is still depicted every night during the summer at The Lost Colony , a re-enactment performed in a huge outdoor theater on Roanoke Island. If you visit the Outer Banks, don't miss this show or the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, which includes a historic museum,

In Kill Devil Hills, visitors flock to the Wright Brothers National Memorial, where Wilbur and Orville Wright took to the air in man's first powered flight in 1903. This year, the Wright Brothers site will mark the 104th First Flight Celebration.

And just down NC 158 from the striking Wright Brothers monument is Jockey's Ridge, the largest sand dune in North America. Every summer evening at dusk, hundreds of visitors make the 10-minute trek to the top of the Ridge, watch the sunset, fly multi-colored kites and even run down the steep sides of the Ridge, barefoot, sandy and screaming with delight. Across the street from Jockey's Ridge is Kitty Hawk Kites, one of the most popular gathering places in the Outer Banks. It includes the mother story, Kittty Hawk Kites, a huge establishment that sells toys, kites, outdoor clothing, bathing suits, jewelry, and plenty of OBX sitckers for your car that will remind you of the bliss you found here. The story also has a popular climbing wall, where kids of all ages learn to climb under the watchful eye of employees. Many visitors also take advantage of Kitty Hawk Sports here, where you can rent watercraft, sign up for hanggliding, ,kayaking, and parasailing lessons, and even reserve a kayak tour of many of the region's interesting waterways.

Restaurants in the Outer Banks range from the exclusive to the mainstream, from the Left Bank at The Sanderling Inn in Duck, which serves French-inspired cuisine at the Inn, to pizza places and plenty of raw bars. In addition to the Left Bank, don't miss Tortuga's Lie in Nags Head, a neighborhood restaurant where the Coco Loco Chicken is to die for, and Owen's Restaurant in Nags Head, where the food rivals anything you'd find in the Hamptons, and half the price. Breakfast is prized in the Outer Banks, and among the best places to grab a hearty breakfast are Sam 'N Omies in Nags Head, Stack 'Em High, a pancake house with locations in Kill Devil Hills and Kitty Hawk. As with all restaurants in the Outer Banks, get there early or get there late. Otherwise, you will be waiting for anywhere from 10 to 60 minutes for a table.

The beaches are the best reason to visit the Outer Banks. You could walk for 130 miles along the coastline, if you wanted to. And the water is relatively warm, the waves perfect for body surfing and boogy boarding. Just know that if red flags are up along the beaches, stay out of the water. Those red flags signal the presence of rip currents, dangerous currents that can pull even the best swimmer out to sea.

Much has been made of the threat of hurricanes in the Outer Banks, and in fact, hurricanes have done substantial damage to the region in the past. My family and I were evacuated from the region in the second week of our first vacation there, and we ended up spending our last few vacation days riding roller coasters in a sweltering Hershey, Pa., wishing we were back in OBX. Since then, however, we have enjoyed seven hurricane-less August vacations there, under nearly perfect, sunny skies each time.

Staying in OBX can include hotel stays and rental homes. Hotels dot the shoreline, but don't choke it. You can find all the major chains, including a Best Western, Holiday Inns, older hotels and exclusive spa resorts like the Sanderling Inn. We have rented every year from Village Realty, which offers relatively new homes both in the Nags Head/Kitty Hawk area and in Corolla. We like the fact that these homes are well-maintained and include use of the Village Realty clubhouse, tennis courts, pool and beach access. Some homes include golf privileges at 18-hole golf courses as well, and many of the homes we've rented have included hot tubs on the decks. But you can also find plenty of other rental homes in the region, ranging in size from two bedrooms to 8 and 10 bedrooms. Huge waterfront homes are often rented by extended families of 14 to 20 people, and many of those include private pools.