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!

The First Shot

With all these tours of Civil War battlefields and monuments, we certainly couldn't pass up visiting Ft. Sumter. Charleston, SC is certainly worth visiting as well with it's own charm and beauty. There are hundreds of majestic old homes bundled close together for block after block from the harbor. The streets were dandy for horses and carriages (..and we saw quite a few), but they were a challenge for the 1 ton truck to slalom along between the parked cars.

The only way to visit Fort Sumter is to book a boat trip for access. We took the concessionaire affiliated with the national park service, but apparently there are other water taxis or you could take your own boat.

The small visitor's center was definitely a good stop before and we easily spent an hour with the various exhibits that framed the beginning of the war and the story of events transpiring in Charleston during the Civil War.

The boat ride took about a 1/2 hour each way and we enjoyed viewing Charleston from the water - it's really a beautiful port city!

It's hard to imagine how the fort appeared prior to it's being reduced to rubble for the last 20 months of the Civil War. With 50 foot high walls 4 foot thick on the exterior, there were at least two floors of solid brick structures all around - this photo shows the remains of the officer's quarters and gun powder magazine.

Several massive cannons are on display, as well as much more recently constructed battery that was built during WWI and in use throughout WWII as part of the early 20th century shore defense system.

Cory and Will pose next to a huge gun that the northern troops brought into Charleston to use to re-take the fort. These were some of the first "rifled" barrel cannon and fired a 100 pound projectile.

Taking a last look from inside the fort, we could see the tour boat as it prepared to take us back across the bay to the city. We all enjoyed the rich history of this monument and better understand this internal struggle that has shaped our national character.