Summer Vacation in the Outer Banks

Here's a subject I could talk about all day: vacations! I've been going to the same resort property in the Outer Banks since 1996 and thought that I'd share my expertise with anyone online who happens to find me via google searches or whatever. The property we go to is called BARRIER ISLAND STATION - DUCK in Duck, NC. There is also a "sister property" called BARRIER ISLAND STATION - KITTY HAWK in, yep, Kitty Hawk, NC. Both are timeshare properties but many rental opportunities are available from private owners and broker/realty companies. We first started vacationing there with friends of ours whose parents owned the timeshare we used. After several years of that, we ended up buying into a timeshare at the Kitty Hawk property. This got us membership into RCI, the timeshare vacation network. The timeshare we bought was for ODD YEARS only for the last week of August. As RCI members, we were able to "bank" the points that our unit at Kitty Hawk was valued at, and we were able to reserve a week's vacation at the Duck property during various mid-summer weeks. My favorite time is mid-or late-July. We've stayed in various kinds of units at BARRIER ISLAND STATION - DUCK... 2 bedroom units, 2 bedroom lockout units, 3 bedroom units, 1 bedroom side A unit and one unfortunate time in a side B unit. (Side B units are 1 bedroom units with a mini kitchen: no stove, just a 2-burner electric hotplate, and only a small dorm refrigerator) We also stayed at BARRIER ISLAND STATION - KITTY HAWK once, in a 3 bedroom unit. The property is not beachfront, but accommodations are nice and there's a private parking lot that's beside the beach, a few miles from the property. It's very woodsy, not beachy. We liked it but prefer the Duck property. This is the first of several Outer Banks posts. Here is the resort map. The best locations are poolside but we've stayed in the 500s, 300s, 700s and 800s. The accommodations at BARRIER ISLAND STATION - DUCK are not great, but the beachside location and nice outdoor pool make up for the dated and worn, uh, everything else...