Go West old man!: Visiting Kitty hawk and Cape Hatteras

This was our first non-travel day. We spent the day as tourists visiting Kitty Hawk and Cape Hatteras. After discovering that the drive over included an hour long detour we found a great start at the visitor center. One of the hosts was a local guy named Stanley. He has a family photo that he shows off proudly. It's the Wright Bros. standing by their airplane on 12/14/03, three days before the successful first flight. Standing by the plane (second from left, below) are his father and grandfather, and their dog. Kind f cool.

We spent some time at the Wright Bros. Memorial on the site of the first flight. The sand dunes have been planted in grass so the place will not be blown away. The hill from which they launched the gliders has been blown 500 feet from where it was a century ago. They have rebuilt the two buildings they used, the rail from which the plane took off and set up markers for the four successful flights on 12/17/03.

Then we went for a drive down Cape Hatteras National Seashore to find some beach. First we stopped at the Bodie Island Lighthouse. Well it's not very hard to find beach. It is mile after mile of sand dune with water on each side. Stop anywhere and go walk on the sandy beach. But it was COLD!!! The temperature had dropped to 40 and with a strong wind the chill factor was, well, chilly.

Tundra Swans are wintering here, by the hundreds. All over the place. We saw one flock that had an audience, several cars stopped to check them out. That seemed almost odd because we had seen several flocks that were larger and closer to the road that had no watchers. Go figure.