Our last day in North Carolina took the whole family (except for Josh) on a day trip to the Outer Banks. We got up super early and were on the road by 6:30 a.m. to be the weekend traffic out there. I watched the sun come up as most people were still fast asleep at North River Campground.
Many people come from Virginia and North Carolina to spend the weekends there camping and fishing so we wanted to get to Cape Hatteras National Seashore before everyone else was up. Good thing because there was heavily traffic in both directions.
The first place we went was to stamp off Cape Hatteras on my National Park Passport Book at the Visitor Center.
This was the farthest place in the Outer Banks so we went there and made our way back up toward home. We went to the Visitor Center bought tickets to climb the lighthouse and then set out to accomplish our goal...the tallest lighthouse in the US. It was nearly 9 stories of climbing and I think 248 steps!
Once you got to the top, the view were AMAZING!!
Then, we had to climb down...I'm not sure which one was worse...
Once we finished, we went to the museum so the kids could work on their Junior Ranger booklets and met a new four-legged friend in the process. After Cierra shook the rangers hand, she had a giggle meltdown...funny girl!
And, then we did a few photo ops before leaving including Cierra's infamous handstand pics!
The next location we went to was Bodie Lighthouse about 5 miles down the road. This is another lighthouse your can climb up. It's not as tall but the experience is similar. The Visitor Center also has a bookstore.
The next stop of our trip was to Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. Now, I thought this place was mysterious indeed. It's the site of the "Lost Colony" of Roanoke, Virginia. This sit protects and preserved known sections of England's first New World settlements from 1584-1590 in America! How cool is that!
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| There is also the Elizabethan Garden - a replica of Queen Elizabeth's garden. |
The story goes like this: In July 1587 Sir Walter Raleigh recruited 117 men, women and children to come to America and settle a new land. John White, his pregnant daughter, Eleanor Dare with her husband Ananias Dare and the Indian chief Manteo (who was an English alley on Raleigh previous visit to America) were part of this company. They unloaded supplies and repaired an old fort from Raleigh's last visit. On Aug. 18, 1587, Eleanor Dare had a daughter named Virginia (the first English child born on American soil). When supplies got low, John White left two weeks later promising to return but he never was able to return until three years later when he returned to Roanoke Island on his granddaughter's third birthday only to find the settlement deserted, plundered and surrounded by overgrown brush. On one of palisades, he found the word "Croatoan" and the letters "Cro" carved into a nearby tree. White took the carving as a sign that the colonists had moved inland to Croatoan, the home of Chief Manteo's people on the Outer Banks in present-day Hatteras Island. Before he could do any further exploration a huge hurricane came, damaging his ship and forcing him back to England. After that, he never could raise the funds to go back to the settlement and he died on one of Raleigh's estates not knowing the fate of his daughter and her family. These 117 settlers vanished and no one has been able to figure out what happened to them.
The Visitor Center also had a info desk, exhibit that you see above and bookstore.
From here, we went a few miles up the road to the Wright Brothers National Memorial. This was fun to see how far Wilbur and Orville made their first four flight attempts on Dec. 17, 1903. There are currently renovating the Visitor Center so we went into the make-shift trailers for information and the bookstore.
Then, we walked around the buildings and saw the flight paths.
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These two building were the hanger (farthest) and their home (closest).
But, the hanger was too small, so they switch the buildings. |
Here are markers from the lengths of their first flight. I'd suggest you Google Wright Brothers flights for all sorts of great black and white photos of the event.
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| You can see flight 1, 2 and 3 and if you look closely the 4th stone is way in the distance. |
It was starting to get pretty hot, so we conserved as much energy as we could and we drove over to the monument but stopped at the bronze replicas first.
It was a steep hike to the top of the mound. In 1903, this was the sand dune area where Wilbur and Orville started to launch their gliders. Just below this hill is where their first engine flights occurred.
The view are amazing from Kill Devil Hill. I can see why the Wright Brothers chose this to launch from.
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| Looking down on the flight path (left) |
After the Wright Brothers, we had frozon yogurt at a place called Sweet Frog in Kitty Hawk. It's a serve yourself premium yogurt place where you add toppings and it's costs big bucks. I did like their name and motto. FROG is an acronym for Fully Rely On God.
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| Step 1 - Pick your container |
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| Step 2 - Get your yogurt |
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| Step 3 - Add your toppings |
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| Step 4 - Enjoy! |
And, lastly we promised Hunter we'd go to the ocean so we drove across the street and dipped out toes in the water. It took a few streets to find a place with parking. And, while Lisa told the kids to stay dry, it didn't take long for Hunter get wet up to this butt. Lisa and Josh are always concerned about the riptide currents at the Outer Banks so you have to be fully aware of your surroundings. I found it interesting plants grow right there in the sand!
It was a super fun day...hot, but fun, and we were so glad to have a nice visit the Lisa's family. We won't be back until next April or May and then we'll see their new house completed and find out how much taller the kids will be next year.
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