Friday, May 23rd, we decided was a great day to explore the North Carolina Outer Banks. We left about 8am and did not get back to our home until nearly 8pm. It was about an hour drive to reach the outer banks.
The first place we stopped was the Wright Brothers Memorial. It was very interesting.
This is a picture of their last glider before they added power.
This a replica of the plane they flew 4 times on Dec 17, 1903. Each time they flew a little farther. Wilbur and Orville moved to the outer banks of NC because they wanted a sandy windy location.
This is the spot where the aircraft first took off.
This was a sand dune that is now grass covered. The top of the dune is where they launched their gliders.
This is the monument as we walked up the hill.
This is the front of the monument.
This is looking down the hill from the top of the sand dune. See the wooden buildings in the distance? The one on the right was their living quarters and workshop. The one on the left was the hanger. They had to put the aircraft in sideways.
This was a park on the back side of the monument with a metal replica of the 1903 aircraft.
Anyone could climb all over the metal replica.
In the middle of the plane is a statue of Orville. They flew the plane from a prone position.
Next we went to the Body/Bodie lighthouse. The spelling originally was Body then later got changed to Bodie. It is pronounced like body. Each lighthouse has a different pattern painted on the outside (day designation) AND a different flash (night designation). Each lighthouse had a lighthouse operator and at least one assistant. The operator and assistants and their families all lived in housing very close to the lighthouse.
We climbed all 214 steps.
This is the view from the top. We are looking at the house that the operator and his assistant and their families shared. It was a duplex.
This is the view looking towards the ocean. Even though this lighthouse is inland a little, its beam can be seen 19 miles off shore.
This is the light at the top.
This is from the end of a walkway that led out to the marshy waters. We had our picnic lunch here before we headed on.
Next we headed to the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. It was an hour drive farther south. On our drive we crossed from one island to the next over this bridge.
This is coming down the other side of the bridge.
We made it.
This lighthouse is 50' taller than the Bodie lighthouse and a total of 276 steps (if I remember correctly). We climbed to the top of this one also.
View of the operator's and his 2 assistants' homes from the top. The operator lived in the house on the right and the 2 assistants lived in the duplex on the left.
This is the view from the top out towards the ocean. Even though this lighthouse is 20 miles inland, since it is taller, its beacon can be seen 24 miles out.
Another direction from the top of Cape Hatteras lighthouse shows the coast guard station. See their tall radio antenna?
Next we went to the seashore here at Cape Hatteras.
The tide was going out. You can see the steep drop off. It was a cool day, probably only mid 70's. With the breeze it really felt cool.
There were several people shore fishing. Most of the surfers had wet suits on.
We headed back north from Cape Hatteras. As you can see the dunes were so high that we could not see the ocean.
Here we are going back north across the bridge to the other island.
There is Body Island we are headed to.
Tic was impressed with the massiveness of the ocean and how small it make this coast guard boat look. Tic zoomed in on it.
I wonder how many rental units are in this one building. There were lots of large rental units. Tic's aunt told us they had started limiting them to no more than 16 bedrooms per house.
The 3 pictures above are some of the housing as we drove north. It was amazing how many rental units and houses line Hwy 12. We were headed to Pea Island Reserve Visitor Center, but found out it closed at 4:30. It turns out most visitor centers closed at 4 or 4:30. How do they expect us to see everything and be done so early in the day? It was already 5 pm.
This is Jeanette's pier and it goes 1000' out. It was the only thing we could find still open. There was a wedding set up to the left on the beach. Guests had just started arriving. We did not get any pictures. See the wind generators?
On the way out the pier, we got someone to take our picture.
The beaches are so clean. The tide was coming back in now. You can see the shore dropped off steeply.
From the pier we can see a few kids crazy enough to play in the cold water. Reports say the water is still around 70 degrees.
Tic laid on a bench on the pier and looked up and took this picture of one of the wind turbines.
We headed home after this.
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