Outer Banks Trip Day 2

After getting some good rest (we slept till 845) we started the day with a great breakfast at IHOP located "steps" away from the Hotel. The girls had wanted to go to the breakfast bar downstairs but we informed them that most often that if you dont go down when it opens it is either A) crowded or B) picked through. In our case it was sort of well stocked but completely crowded in fact there would have been no place to sit. So IHOP it was, the girls are dedicated to get up at the annointed time (did we tell them its 630 on Weekdays?) and try it out.

We are headed back tomorrow and stopping along the way to collect photos from the Aunt of a friend of Chucks she lives a few miles off the freeway on the way back, so its great. We are doing a DVD for a party and the aunt has her hands on all the photos of the Friend before college. After she started college we are doing fine (provided pictures come in at a similar pace that they have been). Anyhoo, off to the Aquarium we went, we found it fine today and it wasnt crowded at all, very small but well priced and there were alligators and such, and things on Hurricanes that had hit the local Area (Isabel, Floyd). Julie finally got an otter softy, and Cilly finally got the Dolphin softy. Reasonably priced at the gift shop, marked down even! so signs of the recession are everywhere. After leaving we went to a 7/11 and got slurpees, and decided--literally doing a U-turn to go to Cape Hatteras. Its about 60 miles away from where we needed to turn, but the outer banks seemed deserted to us so we decided to give it a try.

We drove through ROndanthe (some famous place) and Waves and Avon, stopped for Lunch and drove the last 20 miles, but guess what? it was only 50 miles to the lighthouse, not 60. And so we parked. THe girls were scared to go up, Tina was reading to them how high it was and such, and finally when we told them we were going to walk up inside, they said yes, they had thought we were going to "climb" up ropes on the outside of it. It was fun, their thighs and calfs were burning but we made it to the top, and the view was great, you could see the position on the beach (now almost underwater) where they had moved it from 10 years ago. The original position of the first lighthouse in 1803 is out to sea now. The position it is in now will be safe for 100 years. The point we were at today was referred to as the "graveyard of the Atlantic" and the position off Hatteras Lighthouse is also famous for the Site where the Monitor sunk in the Civil War, where Billy Mitchell tested his Bombing theory in the 20's, and where the German

U-85, partrolled and finally sunk in 1942, after having sunk 20 or so boats.

Back to the Hotel for a dip, which was refreshing again, a little blogging now off to Golden Coral.

Outer Banks Trip Day 1

We actually have three days off together and decided that we simply had to see the outer banks. So we packed for the three days and drove off toward the Atlantic Ocean a mere 295 miles away. We made such good time that we decided to have an ambitious first day, instead of just going to the hotel, we decided we would go to the NC Aquarium in Manteo. Alas, the directions were crap and when we should have turned left (the aquarium had been marked for roughly 140 miles but not the last turn---- 'natch), we found ourselves going over a drawbridge and within shot of another site we were going to see on Sunday, the Wright Brothers Memorial.

Let me tell you having been to my fair share of memorials, this one is well laid out and considering the time of the Wright Brothers first flight, 1903, remarkably well preserved. The memorial itself cannot be reached by auto, rather you park at the base of a hill and walk up. When you get to the top it has brass busts of the brothers. The busts there now are replacements because sitting on top of the hill within a mile of the Atlantic, it is sure to be prone to erosion. THe monument is granite and when you are finally at it, you realize that its in the shape of a tail of a jumbo jet. Get it?

Anyhoo, from the memorial hill you can see down where the plane landed, they have markers, 1,2,3 and 4 to show where the first four flights landed. THey also have the barns they lived and worked in while they were there. Of course it was December so it would have not have been 90. But because the so many acres have been preserved it was very open and the breezes were nice. There is even an airstrip (there were about a dozen planes there). The airstrip is long enough to land a cessna and is open by permit, to "good pilots". It runs parralell to the Wright Bros, flight path so it must be great. They had a metal replica of the first flight that kids and such could play on, the art was actual size, the girls loved that. The most interesting thing was a piece of the original Wright Flyer (which now hangs in the great hall of the Air and Space Smithsonian), this piece was given to NASA and flew with Apollo 11, then with the Eagle to the surface of the moon. It was donated back (intentionally) to the Wright Museum in 2003 for the commemeration of the 100 Anniversary of the first flight. What a journey that little piece of airplane took.

Afterwards we drive the 60 miles to our hotel and took a nice dip in the indoor pool, and then a hot tub, the hotel is practically deserted. We drove a few miles to Elizabeth Citys waterfront and ate at one of the more (fancy for Elizabeth City) resturants. The meal was fabulous, Everyone got something they were hankering for and, and were able to take a nice walk on the water front. The temp was down to 80 with great breezes and no humidity.

Wright, now Tina is doing a work out in the hotels gym and the girls are wrighting in their journal, when she gets back we will go take another dip. Tomorrow we will attempt to get to the aquarium and will get there, or my name aint nathan arizona.