Goodbye to the Outer Banks

Rather than sit in traffic as the weekend changeover means everyone is trying to leave and get onto the island by the only 2 routes available, we went to see where the Wright brothers made the first powered flight. Something they do very well here is the national park service. Any park we have been to you can go to talk given by a ranger and they are always entertaining. Ranger Chelsea was even more entertaining than most. To say she was passionate about the Wright bros would be an understatement. The brothers were from Dayton Ohio, and went to the town of Kittyhawk because they had been told there was wind, sand on which to land and privacy as the place was not very populated in the 1900s. They eventually managed 4 powered flights . 

The first flight took 10 seconds and went from where I was standing to the first stone, the second attempt to the second and the third...well you guessed it. The fourth attempt by Wilbur went much further, to the tree line. When the brothers were there, there were no trees, it was all sand. What blew my mind was the fact that just 66 years after that first flight, a man walked on the moon, and Neil Armstrong had a small piece of the Kittyhawk in his pocket as he walked on the moon. 

The Kittyhawk ( replica ) 

On the way up to Williamsburg we went a half mile off the beaten track and had lunch in a waterfront cafe which was just what you imagine a southern eatery to be, a friendly waitress , good food and both types of music, country and western. It was wonderful.