Carolinas, Family and the Wright Bros

One terrific benefit of our travels is the opportunity to visit extended family at their home base. This time it was one of Linda's nieces in beautiful South Carolina. Even more beautiful is her family with three little kiddo's. Craig was unable to make the visit due to an unexpected plumbing issue. Just like in our 'normal' house, when it gets to plumbing, our approach is to back away - call a pro! Just like in our 'normal' house, that means you stay put and wait until the professional arrives to deal with your issue...thus, Craig had to miss out on the drive to visit Heather and her family.

The rest of us drove over to their hometown and enjoyed wonderful spring-like weather with a visit to a nearby park.

The photos really don't capture the lovely park with daffodils just ready to pop open among other buds on the trees. We had a really nice visit and Heather and David prepared a delicious dinner - Thanks so much guys! Give those little ones another hug for us!

Here's a couple of shots with the boys fishing while we stayed near Charlotte. While cramped in season, the park was relatively unoccupied and they gusy enjoyed trying to catch something in the ponds. We saw plenty of ducks, but no fish - still a nice way to while away a bit of an afternoon.

This down the road shot shows a lot of the view through the Carolinas - trees...lots and lots of trees.

On to North Carolina, we looked forward to our visit to Kitty Hawk. Unfamiliar with many of the eastern states, we did know about the Wright Brothers infamous first successful flight and our oldest had made a model of their flyer several years ago.

We had a break in the daily showers and made our way to the National Park.

A large boulder behind the boys commemorates the approximate location of the take off spot with several smaller markers showing the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th flights taken on December 17, 1903.

A short walk away is the memorial erected on the Kill Devil Hill where prior efforts of the famous brothers were attempted with gliders. Reading the story of Orville and Wilbur Wright is inspirational in their diligence to pursue a dream through study and determination.

Inside the visitor's center is a scale replica of the successful flyer. No, Cory didn't break rules to touch it!

He was selected as a volunteer from the audience to assist the park ranger in a demonstration of the plane's features.

Here he is receiving the gloves (not kid - but necessary!) that anyone must wear to touch the replica. The park ranger and Cory did a great job explaining how the plane was designed and what transpired on the takeoff day.

Beyond the memorial is a replica overlaid with bronze that the public is allowed to touch. The guys had a great time posing with the life sized model and figures.


Here they're pretending that they helped Wilbur keep the wing steady during the initial take-off.

The RV park that was our home base for exploring was a very roomy one with a large pond. We did see signs of some fish, but again the boys came up empty handed with their angling efforts.

We don't always find parks like this with plenty of space between sites. As I type this, for example, we could reach out our window and touch the camper next to us. We have to balance our priorities in campground selection: adequate size sites for our camper, desired hookups, proximity to the things we want to see, cost of site rental. Some are terrific, some are not terrific and some are downright distasteful. We remember the terrific ones fondly and are grateful for short stays at the downright distasteful!

Out on the Outer Banks of North Carolina

Another highlight of North Carolina is the Outer Banks. While cold, we were glad to visit during off-season to enjoy seeing the sights with no crowds..actually, more accurately, we were usually the only tourists!

We had received information on Roanoke Island, Fort Raleigh and the Lost Colony at the Wright Bro's. Memorial.

This is the only photo of the visit to Fort Raleigh. The visitors center is under reconstruction, the dramatic interpretation for the Lost Colony is seasonal and the 'fort' is reconstructed dirt mounds that we didn't even take a picture of. The story of the first English settlement is intriguing, if sad but we suggest skipping touring this site until things are restored and in season.

Nearby is an Elizabethan Garden built by the Women's Garden Club of North Carolina to commemorate the unfortunate colonists. Fortunately for the boys' sake, Linda decided it wasn't worth the admission or time to see the garden this early in the growing season.

Although the planned activities didn't work out so well, we did enjoy driving through the island and village. The architecture and beauty demonstrate that while the first colonists didn't fare so well, the current residents are doing quite well in this very lovely spot.

Next was to drive down the outer banks and see the light houses. Bodie Island was under a pretty intense remodel.

Pressing on down the islands, we took the ferry over to Ocracoake Island and saw this one.

We also saw a collection of Ocracoake ponies being kept at one of several national parks.

Last on our journey, but not least was Cape Hattaras.

We also ventured out to the beach at Cape Hattaras, but didn't stay long - very cold!

Now we've moved on to Virginia and have a rental site with water access - too bad we don't have a boat! We still like taking walks to the water...and the boys are still looking forward to catching a fish at some point along our travels...