Maryland/Delaware shore rarely gets mentioned but is closer than the OBX and just as nice. Delaware Shores SP in Bethany Beach, Castaways in Ocean City and Assategue SP or NP are all very nice ocean front places. We did the Chesapeake Bay side for a week at Roaring Point in Nanticoke and it was very relaxing. Water view from all sites.
HHI is nice but you have to bike/drive to the best beaches. Also, they have some strange sign ordinance that doesn't allow you to see where the stores are from the street. We did a lot of u-turning there.