Outer Banks and MORE!

Currituck Beach Lighthouse

Carova Beach 

The only access to these homes is this sandy beach road.

Controlling the dunes with these fences!

We drove this beach for about 7 miles; literally a sand road on the beach.  Why?  We were in search of the wild horses of Corolla.  Unfortunately we didn't find any...

This is a photo of the wild Colonial Spanish mustangs that roam the northernmost Outer Banks.

Bodie Island Lighthouse

Cape Hatteras KOA

Our trailer was right on the beach, protected by a sand dune.  The wooden fence to the left is a boardwalk to the beach.

Hurricane Irene wiped out this KOA in 2011 so everything has been replaced; sign shows the high water line.

Rent a "cabin" at the KOA right on the beach.

View of the beach from our trailer doorway during a 40 mile per hour windstorm.

The road the day after the windstorm - plowing sand just like we plow snow!

Cape Hatteras Lighthouse

Fishermen on the Outer Banks transport their poles and coolers on their front bumper!

Beach Houses

Look at the garages!  Even the garage is on stilts!

Most houses are like this one with parking underneath the house.

Many of the houses have decks like this so there's an ocean view.

Whoa... who lives in this house?

Pea Island

Every day we would drive past the ponds and inlets on Pea Island.  We saw so many different kinds of birds - we could identify some of them; Great Blue Heron, Great Egret, Snowy Egret, American Avocet, Sandpipers (at the KOA too!), Snow Geese, Canada Geese, and the Black Duck.  This picture is mostly Tundra Swans.

Brown Pelican, we also saw the American White Pelican.

Nutria

Rowan, I saw a real Nutria, a mother with 3 babies!  I know it's hard to see them in the pictures because they're hiding from us in the grasses.  We first saw them sunning on a little beach but they didn't stay there long enough to get a picture. 

Roanoke Island

I thought this was interesting as we're driving down the highway.  The Lost Colony was founded on Roanoke Island and the first British child, Virginia Dare, was born here in 1587.  How do we know this?  Her grandfather went back to England for fresh supplies and when he returned 3 years later, Virginia and the other colonists were gone.  

But my favorite North Carolina sign was in the middle of nowhere, it read: COON HUNT with an arrow pointing the way!  North Carolina has something for everyone!

North Carolina Cotton Fields

Sculpture at riverside park in Kinston, North Carolina.

Skylight Inn

Jane and Michael Stern wrote Skylight Inn has the best Carolina barbecue!  A reporter once wrote it was the best in the nation, so the owners added a Capitol dome to the top of the building. We tried it and liked it but Carolina BBQ is very vinegary so it's an acquired taste; it comes with coleslaw and cornbread.

Wood pile out back for roasting the whole pig!

We 've seen several farmers selling collard greens from the back of their pick-ups but this was the first Collard Shack.  Collards are a Thanksgiving staple in the South.

North Carolina Birdhouse

We saw another state license plate today - #49!  Hawaii!  We only have one left to find... Alabama.

Kitty Hawk

Wright Brother's Flying Machine

Wind, sand, and a dream of flight brought the Wright Brothers to Kitty Hawk.  For four years they devoted themselves to their goal of human flight.  This is a $1 million dollar exact replica of the first flying machine built by the Wright Brothers in 1903 and flown for the first time on December 17,1903.  The original is in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

Wright Brother's Glider

This picture gives you an idea of where the pilot sat during flight, notice there is no engine.  In Wilbur's words, "It is possible to fly without motors, but not without knowledge and skill."  The Wright Brothers took over 1,000 glides from the top of Kill Devil Hill and became masters of the air - true pilots.

First Flight Boulder

This boulder marks where the first flight left the ground; notice the four flight markers in the distance.  Wilbur and Orville flipped a coin to see who would go first!  Wilbur won but crash landed 3 days before so on this famous day, Orville takes flight - for the first time, a manned, heavier than air machine left the ground by its own power!

The flying machine traveled along this rail before leaving the ground.

Flight Markers

1903 Hanger & Workshop

Replica of 1903 Hangar and Quarters.

Inside view of the Wright Brother's Hangar.

Inside their living area and workshop.  The brothers shared their living quarters with the glider.  They climbed the ladder and slept in burlap slings from the rafters.

Wright Brothers Monument

The Wright Brothers Monument sits atop Kill Devil Hill.  The 60-foot monument honors the Wright brothers and marks the site of the hundreds of glider flights that preceded the first powered flight.  Grass now stabilizes the 90-foot sand dune.

December 17, 1903 Sculpture 

Wilbur has just released the wing on that first flight.  Scott is watching in the distance.

Orville at the controls.

John Daniels, who was employed by the Kill Devil Hills Lifesaving Station was asked to take the now famous photo of the first flight.  He had never operated a camera before the morning of the flight.

Actual December 17, 1903 photograph.