minnierocks- Hi! Hopefully we can learn together! Have you been to myrtle beach before? i live about 3 hours away, so i grew up going there, and i must admit, I'm NOT really a fan of it( Overgrown, touristy, commercial, kinda yucky- i can tolerate it in the offseason now, but HATE it in the summer
You are SO going to love your vacation Quietgirl!!! It's exactly what you are looking for. Check out the Gray House in Buxton. It's fun, quirky and perfect for two adults just kicking around. You are correct about way more activity north but IS it the kind of activity folks are looking for? Myrtle would be a 'no' in my book. I used to vacation on the beach at Murrels Inlet as a young adult-in the 70's. It was wonderful even back then but Myrtle was awful-40 years ago. And-
Avon-just like the cosmetic company!
We head to Ocracoke early(9am ish) ,so we can beach, then lunch, then shop and maybe have a couple beers. It's coolish all over in April so you might want to limit your beach time. Remember, our schedule is for summer tourist season and part of the reason we go early is to avoid waiting an hour for the ferry. Our wait in the ferry line to get back to Hatteras is as much fun as any of it, lol, we take some leftover crackers/cheese nips or 'its' and feed the sea gulls. This is much to the dismay of the other cars in line. Electric windows are a must because the gulls try to get in your car-hover all around your car and other crazy things. All seagulls are unique so we name them every year and well...it's our idiot tourist activity for the week. Stop and see the ponies on the way in or out of town-the corral is across from a good beach access. It's likely to be very windy-hoodies(dare I suggest hoodies?) and windbreakers, socks, maybe even a light pair of gloves, jeans could be your outfit of choice for much of the week. My husband said to tell you to take a small load of firewood for a beach fire.(read the rules on that one).
Speaking of rules: the NPS(National Park Service) has lots of new beach access rules due to turtle and bird nesting on the dunes. The birds are plovers and you will see lots of hand made signs from locals disparaging plovers and the NPS/Audubon society. It's a HUGE political firestorm; you will see and hear a lot about it. Follow the posted rules; the NPS is determined.
Last- in Hatteras Village, there's an old restored weather station(a home) and there you can tour a bit BUT the best thing there is the brochure mapping and describing all the historic homes and buildings in the village. We discovered this just last summer and we loved the nearly two hours we spent finding the homes and reading about them. On this adventure, we found a box of good sized conch shells at the end of a lane with a sign saying "Honor System. $1 per shell" the shells were really good ones. We bought a half dozen or so and a boy about 10years old came out to meet us while we were there. He and his brother find the shells and have this little business. It was our favorite buy of the week.
More later-maybe. I have to go research my own vacation now.
Maybe have a meal at The Inn at Pamlico Sound. These generous folks kept their inn open and free to stranded and homeless locals after Hurrican Irene for nearly a month. We're renting two houses from there this summer and I'm going to spend some serious money there because I patronize businesses that give back to their community. I hope you find it as lovely as I do. We never stay there because we're always travelling with wild boys who need room to stretch out. Say-maybe you'd like the Inn!? www.innonpamlicosound.com
They both said that Tybee Island has been their favorite beach so far. We are taking my parents and teens so we need enough activity that we can do something if we want, but also a nice beach to sit and relax. 
