For several years we rented in Corolla with another family for the last two weeks in August. We had some bad weather experiences at that time of the year. MANY no swimming days due to rough surf. I absolutely love the Outer Banks, but since our vacations have to be in late August, we have been going elsewhere.

Hmm good to keep in mind. Has anyone else experienced this in mid September? The upside to having small kids is that we aren't really swimming but more wading and playing in the sand but still...

That is always a risk at the beach. A storm can be way off the coast and provide rough surf even in nice weather.

Re the Sea Spray cottage: I looked at the location. Generally that is a great location. From the map on the VRBO site the cottage appears to be on the beach side of the highway (HWY 158) which is the main road and is a very busy highway. You still have to cross "the beach rd." (hwy 12) which is a two lane rd., to get to the beach, but that is not a big deal, you just have to hold onto the little ones as you cross that rd.

But I can not get any feel for exactly where this cottage is in relation to the beach. I have stayed in small houses at milepost 11 and also at 11.5, in the same neighborhood, and there are several streets there btwn Hwy 158 and the beach. I would ask for an address to the cottage so you can look at maps online and figure out where it is in relation to the beach. It can be a bit of a walk with your stuff from some of those cottages to get to the beach, some cottages are much closer than others to the beach.

You will be across Hwy 12 from Jockey's Ridge, which will be nice, and you will be close to restaurants and shopping, but in a nice quiet neighborhood. FYI, is one of the kids gets sick, there is a very good Urgent Care center on Hwy 11 acros from the Outer Banks Mall, not far from that cottage. I have had to take my kids in there and I got treated myself in there once.

You'll be close to a nice small but cool minigolf place on the beach rd. at milepost 11, called Galaxy Golf. It is Star Wars themed. You'll be very close to the Nags Head pier. The restaurant on the pier is a great place for breakfast or lunch. Lots of fisherman and families hanging out there.

Go to the page below and click on "Bainbridge St." on the right side of the video screen. There is a short video of the Bainbridge St. entrance (access) to the beach. That is close to the Sea Spray Cottages. You will see the "beach rd." that has to be crossed to get to the beach. See how some of the cottages are right on the beach road? That is another reason to fidn out exactly where your cottage is. I would not want to stay in a cottage that is right on that beach rd.
Ask the owners of that cottage what beach access is closest to the cottage.
When in the neighborhood we use the Bonnett St. beach access, as it is more level, doesn't have the high stairs to cross that Bainbridge St. access has.

Here is the video of the Bainbridge access:
http://wn.com/stbeach

And here is a very good map of Nags Head and all of the beach accesses and other good info on this map. Click on it and enlage it several times to get a good map of what is around milepost 11.5 to 11.7

http://www.townofnagshead.net/vertic...8DD8F6F%7D.PDF

Finally, here are some other 1950s cottages called Pelican Cottages that we have looked into renting in that same area, at milepost 12. These cottages have private direct beach access, no crossing any rds to get to the beach, you are on the beach. And there is a private dune top deck. Also one really nice thing they offer is that access to the Nags Head YMCA complex is incluced in the cottage rental. There is a wonderful indoor pool at that YMCA, a real plus for small kids, and a great outdoor pool with all kinds of kids stuff, slides, like a little water park. The rates are similar to the cottage you are looking at for early Sept., and if you go after Sept 11 the rates are much lower. Personally, I would go for one of these cottages. You might want to check these out. Click on "cottages" for pics- you can see, they are on the beach- the beach is on front of the cottages and the bike path is behind them.
http://www.pelicancottages.com/index.html

Here is another site that has pics of the Pelican Cottages. These pics are good as you can see the layout of the 3 cottages in relation to each other. One is on the beach and the other two are right behind it, in a row.

http://www.ncbeaches.com/OuterBanks/...licanCottages/

Rough surf can happen at any time of the year. Regardless of the weather, kids that young should always be closely supervised even when playing in the surf.

>> definately want to go to Okracoke but should we stay there or is it too hard to get everywhere else?<<

With little kids, I wouldn't stay in Ocracoke unless you were planning to spend the huge majority of your time on the southern beaches. It's not hard to get elsewhere, just a long drive which doesn't go over well with the Are We There Yet set.

There are a couple of companies that run eco tours that include wild horse safaris. They normally run for a few weeks after Labor Day. I think they are mostly focused on the northern beaches. Google wild horse tours outer banks and you should get a good look at what's available.

Thanks everyone! The Pelican Cottages do look great and we'd be getting there just in time for the daily rates. It looks like the average temp is around 80 in mid-September. Does this seem right?

Yes. And mid-Sept. is a wonderful time in the OBX.

Please let me know by posting back here if you go with the Pelican cottages. I will be interested in your experience which I hope you will take time to post after you get back.

Just be aware that this is the height of hurricane season. If it were me, I might look for travel insurance that covers the cost of lost occupancy and evacuation.

While I normally agree with the rec to get travel insurance for a stay in the OBX, I'd check ahead to see if it's worth the cost for only a few nights. Some policies require you to be evacuated for 24-48 hours before they kick in with coverage. It is worth thinking about though.

Right. And some policies require mandatory evacuations. But it's hurricane season on the Banks. I'd get it anyway.

Good tip. I've never bought travel insurance in the past but this seems like a good time to start...