April 11th - April 18th, 2023 - TRIP TO THE OUTER BANKS

 Before I begin this blog: 

You will notice that the layout of the blog has changed. I have been playing with it for several days trying to make changes. Blogger is very complicated to use in my opinion. There are so many options for how to set up the page that it becomes very confusing. I have saved dozens of changes and will stay with this one for now. I may end up moving away from Blogger to something easier to use. I even bought a "Google Blogger for Dummies" book, which hasn't helped.

TRIP TO THE OUTER BANKS:

Kelly's youngest sister. Alexa, who lives in Durham, North Carolina, celebrated her 60th birthday by renting a house for a week on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and inviting all of her siblings and spouses to come and enjoy. The week started on Tuesday April 11th and ended on Monday April 17th. Three couples from Missouri drove out, one couple flew in from Indiana, one couple flew in from San Antonio, and one couple couldn't make it.

We were one of the couples who drove from Missouri. It was a little over 1,000 miles from Perryville to the rented house. I had never been to the Outer Banks so I was looking forward to it. Kelly loaded the car with lots of groceries and spices to cook a couple of meals for everyone. She also packed a box of games for all to enjoy.  After adding two suitcases, my CPAP, Kelly's pillow, a swim bag, a small cooler, and an overnight bag for the motel stops, the car was full. It was a two-day road trip with our first stop in Sevierville, Tennessee, for the night. The trip out was fine, good driving weather, but long. We got to the house about 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday the 12th. 

The couples who drove out all arrived on Tuesday. The couple who flew in from San Antonio arrived on Thursday, and the couple who flew in from Indiana arrived in Norfolk at midnight on Friday. Due to work commitments they couldn't come any earlier in the week. They opted to stay in a motel in Norfolk Friday night before making the three-hour car trip to the Outer Banks on Saturday.

I must admit I was a little disappointed that from the house we could barely see the ocean over the sand dune. Here is a picture of the view from the upper deck.

It was about an eighth of a mile walk out to the beach but once there it was quite nice. Here I am stretched out all by myself enjoying the view one day. The rollers were constant.

Here is a picture of the rented house from atop the dune. It is the gray one in the middle. It has four levels, seven bedrooms, and six bathrooms. All of these houses are rentals. Four levels meant LOTS of steps. The bedrooms were on the second floor, the kitchen and living area on the third floor, and a master suite on the fourth floor.

On Wednesday we made a day trip to Kitty Hawk to see the Wright Brothers Museum and Monument. It was well worth the trip. Here is picture of a reproduction of the first airplane to fly.

It is a reproduction because on the day they flew they made four flights. After the fourth flight they were in their cabin warming up and relaxing when a wind came up and rolled the plane across the dunes damaging it beyond repair.  This is a picture with stone markers showing the end of each flight. The marker way to the right, where the people are gathered, was the longest at 813 feet.

Kitty Hawk was picked as a launch location because it was one of the six windiest places in the U.S., it had large dunes to help with takeoff, and there were the least number of people around. The Wright brothers did not have a runway, so they made "takeoff gear" out of rollers on the plane that rolled on a rail made out of 2 x 4s with a metal band on top. To balance the plane as it took off there was a person on each side who held up the wing. Here is a section of the rail.

This is a picture looking up at the takeoff point high on the dune. There is a large monument to the Wright Brothers at the top now. The path where the people are walking is the path the plane took.

This is a photo from the top where the takeoff began. Those holding the wing up while careening down this hill in the cold December weather had to be dedicated and agile.

We were all very glad we made this day trip. It was informative and memorable. Of course, the area has totally built up since then. Here are a couple of pictures of the surrounding area taken from the monument plateau.

The next day we just hung out around the house. I bought a couple of long sleeve "tourist" shirts because the weather was cooler than I expected when I packed. Kelly thought she would get in the pool, but it was unheated and way too cold to get in this time of the year. We just laid around and enjoyed the sun.

There was a hot tub on the deck which many of the group enjoyed several times throughout the week.

On Saturday we drove to catch the ferry to Ocracoke Island. The ferry was busy and we had to wait our turn to take the one-hour ferry ride to the island. The ferry system is run by the State of North Carolina. It is very well run and free.

Kelly and I were a little disappointed with the island. The Visitor Center and many other places were not yet open for the season. The place is now basically a tourist trap. After driving around, we stopped for lunch at SmacNally's Waterfront Bar & Grill.

There was a 45-minute wait so we walked around the area to kill time. I took these pictures. The first is of the docks between boats. They went from three feet wide at one end down to eight inches wide at the other. I had never seen this before. I guess it is to accommodate wider boats.

This is a picture of the inlet looking out to sea. Very calm and picturesque.

With a forty-five-minute wait in the off season we wondered what the wait time would be during the season.

The claim to fame of Ocracoke Island is the "Lost Colony of Ocracoke". The colony consisted of about one hundred people and soldiers. It was an established colony. At one point a ship went back to England for supplies. Due to a war with the Spanish, they were not able to obtain a boat to go back to the colony with supplies for three years. Upon returning they found the settlement gone. The settlers had no boat, the houses were gone, the people were gone, and there was no evidence of violence by the Indians. The only thing left were a few sections of the fort palisades. To this day they have no idea what happened to the people. The theory I liked was that they moved inland and assimilated into the various Indian tribes. 

At the Fort Raleigh Visitor Center we listened to a wonderful talk by a docent. 

Here are pictures of the re-created dugout fort. I couldn't believe how small it was in height and width for the number of people it had to accommodate. I assume there were originally palisades on top.

We stopped at the island lighthouse. It is the oldest lighthouse still standing in North Carolina and the second oldest in the U.S. standing at 75 feet. Unfortunately, you cannot go up in it. 

After that stop we made the obligatory stop at a souvenir shop and then headed back to the ferry. When we arrived at the ferry there was a long line of cars. We doubted we would make this ferry, which runs every hour. Luckily, we were the last three cars to get on. 

On the drive back to the house we stopped at a beautiful beach. Most walked the beach looking for shells.

I didn't stray far and got this picture of everyone walking back. A motley crew of old beachcombers!

Arriving back at the house, Kelly cooked a wonderful meal of Crab Imperial for all to enjoy. It was a meal requested by the birthday girl. An ice cream cake had been purchased earlier, along with candles to be blown out.

Here is a picture of the group enjoying one of several great meals prepared during the week-long visit.

Monday morning was hectic. Those flying home had a three-hour drive to the Norfolk airport, which meant they had to leave early. We had to be out of the house by 10 a.m. Those of us driving left about 8:00 a.m. for the two-day drive back to Missouri.

The weather was wonderful on the drive home. We arrived in Knoxville during rush hour, so we got a motel room there rather than trudging on. The next day there were no traffic issues except for a major slowdown getting through Nashville. After that it was clear sailing. We got home about 3:00 p.m. Tuesday, which was much earlier than I anticipated. It left me time after unpacking to cut the grass, which had grown quite a bit in a week.

A beautiful sunrise one morning as seen from the deck.

 

All in all, it was a very nice trip and a great opportunity to see all of Kelly's siblings and their spouses, who are scattered around the country.