Growing up on the East Coast I had my pick of summer coastal getaways, and while memories from my pre-parenting days are hazy I can tell you that sun, surf, and seafood were important elements in all of those trips. Memories run together of one town’s attractions and another’s shops and restaurants and certainly all of these destinations teemed with parents and their loud children.

On a recent family reunion trip to the Outer Banks, we visited Jockey’s Ridge State Park in Nags Head, North Carolina. This state park is home to the……