Outer Banks Articles & Shorts - Issue 14: Summer 2017

Funny, as I sat down to write this Publisher’s Letter, a cool blast just flew in through my open window, feeling a lot more like the coming of fall than the winds of summer. But, we all know these winds change all the time here on the Outer Banks. And we all know that the high temps and humidity that accompany our Earth’s current position in the solar sling will be steadily upon us any day now. By the time you’re reading this, you’ve probably already had your first reddened skin of the summer (we all know we shouldn’t do this, but I wonder how many of us do it anyway on the first bathing suit day of the year? Sorry, Dr. Jackson!). You might be sitting on the beach or on a pier right now as you read this. It might be so dang hot that you’re already wishing for those portents of autumn.

But, for now, Let’s not think about any other season. 
Let’s sit still under the hot orb and think summer thoughts and watch the surfers and the beach walkers. Let’s use our best summer manners when visitors are figuring out the middle turn lane on the bypass or drivers are going achingly slow in the left-hand lane. Let’s be laid back, as this time of year invites us to be, about lines in grocery stores or waits at our favorite restaurants.

Let’s be one with ...
the spirit of the Outer Banks, the ever-shifting, ever-rearranging, ever-willing to change, ever-beautiful place we live in and visit.

Let’s leave our angsts at home. Let’s practice radical kindness. Let us understand that many trillions of grains of sand, all absolutely individual in their magnification, make up the beach. Let’s be carefree summer people.

I think letting our worries go might help bring on more of what we want … and isn’t it something to ponder that every single person reading this will have their very own interpretation of what that letting go is made up of? When we put our attention to what we want and love, maybe more of that stuff happens in the world of our own beings.
Let’s go do some Outer Banks things ... 
we’ve never done before or have a divine meal at a new restaurant or go out on a charter fishing trip or visit an art gallery. Let’s drink great coffee and read good books. Let’s go to festivals and water parks. Let’s visit every single town that makes up this necklace of islands and find something we love about every one of them.
Let’s do it and be it.

Happy Summer!

VIEW A DIGITAL VERSION OF THIS ISSUE

 

From the Ashes, A New Beginning

By Heather Frese
We all know the mythology of the phoenix, that combustible bird known for bursting into flame and subsequently regenerating in a glorious, full-feathered return. It’s rare when Greek mythology can be applied to everyday life along the Outer Banks, but for Doug Brindley of Brindley Beach Vacations and Sales, ancient... Read More

The Cotton Gin: Nothing Else Like It

By Jennifer Armstrong
To become acquainted with The Cotton Gin, one must begin with the cotton gin itself, the preserved metal machine with scales that still resides in the front building of the Wright family’s modern-day general store. As Tommy Wright, one of the owners of the business, eloquently puts it, “The cotton gin is the story.”... Read More

A Family Tradition

By Dave Holton
My dad always stressed the importance of working for the community,” says Steve Kiousis, owner of Stack ’em High in Kitty Hawk.  In 1968, when Perry and Kiki Kiousis brought their two boys, Steve and Nick, to vacation in Kill Devil Hills, Perry saw something in the quiet, empty beach town that many others might have... Read More

Splash into H2OBX This Summer

By Katrina Mae Leuzinger
In a sleepy little beach area where a new stop sign is newsworthy, a brand-new, cutting-edge waterpark is practically unheard of. Yet that’s just what we’re getting this summer as H2OBX sets up shop in southern Currituck, just on the other side of the Wright Memorial Bridge. And what it promises to be is much more... Read More