OBX is still a good place to go. Not free of tourists, but way better than Myrtle. I recommend:
- If you are equipped to fry or broil fish and shellfish, take a cooler and some ice (or "blue ice") and buy your seafood inland instead of on the beach. Columbia and Manteo are good spots to look for open fish markets. If the house has an oven, broiling the seafood is easy, fast, and a highly concentrated protein source
- Take protein with you to supplement so you don't buy all your protein there
- NEVER buy alcohol there, it's crazy priced
- Seek out and use "Food Lion" for your food and sundries, don't buy from convenience stores
- Avoid buffets in OBX, they are never a winner unless you do a breakfast/early lunch buffet and don't eat the rest of the day
- Gas purchases are gonna suck, bad. Use "Gas Buddy" on your smartphone to find the best price. If you are coming in on I-95, tank up at the time you exit the interstate, even if you aren't empty. If you can make it there and back out on a tank of gas, you will be glad.
- Don't take bottled water with you, but buy it at Food Lion. About 89 cents/gallon.
- Buy your sunscreen before you leave home, that's one of the "gougey" priced products
- Take a wide-brimmed hat. I have a tweed gardner's hat. I am anti-fashion with it but much happier when my ears aren't burned.
- NC Aquariums are good, and the one up at Manteo, near you, is not very old. $8 max admission
- NC Lighthouses are good places to see. Hatteras will be to your south.
- If you or your SO have any interest in flight, Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills aren't far from you. $5 and you can make a day of it IF you take your own water and snacks. Visiting the Wright Brothers' monument is very moving when you realize what they accomplished out there in the middle of nowhere in December. Orville and Wilbur certainly must have been our Mustachian fathers!
I love the beach and I love OBX, but it's anti-mustachian in the on-season. You have my condolences, but go and support your family and seize opportunities to save money when you can but don't let that be anything people remember.