We have off from school the last week of April. Every year we rent a house in Corolla in August for two weeks that we love. What is the area like in April? Are stores, restaurants open? What is the weather like? I have a 13 year old daughter.

Dear debsnj,

We have house down there, and we used to go in April. Food Lion and Harris Teeter are open year round. Hours in April are shorter than in August. A lot of restaurant and stores should be re-opened for the season. The weather is usually nice, but the ocean is still cold. Just check the weather websites before going down.

Most stuff is open.

You might have good weather and you might have HORRIBLE weather.

I've sat through enough really, really crappy weather down there in May to be pretty sour on it. (Just last year we sat through 3 days of 60 mph wind and a tornado...)

OBX in late April/early May is definitely different than in August. Cooler, less humid and not as crowded. I really like it.

Agree that most stores and restaurants will be open but, as noted, possibly limited hours and days.

I should have mentioned that we used to go 2 weeks in May -- and with that length we'd always hit some great weather. And the lack of crowds IS nice. But 1 week is riskier (especially because we come from pretty far away).

But, sitting (alone) on the beach and getting sand blasted by a cold wind -- not so fun. And the water, well, I can barely get my feet in it in May. LOL.

Haha -- one more thing -- the birds are GREAT then!