Monday, September 9, 2013

Monday in North Carolina

 

After a great big breakfast at the hotel, we ventured first to Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brother's National Memorial.  We wandered the area where the Orville and Wilbur took their first flights, toured the visitor's center, and hiked the Big Kill Devil Hill, where the brothers conducted their flying experiments.  The name of the hill sounds much more intimidating than it really was. 

 

Unless of course you are Mr. Two and you insist on taking your own "short cut" down the hill, opposite the way the rest of the family is going, and when you discover that you can no longer see your family, you wail and run the whole (longer) way around the hill until you find them again. 
 

Good times.  No need to panic too much about a lost child when you can certainly hear him coming.  I sure do love that stubborn boy!  Tantrums aside, the views were awesome, and the boys loved seeing the replica gliders and dreaming about flight (and I do mean all of the boys ;)).


Our next stop was the beach.  We grabbed a Subway lunch and headed to the shore.  I was really excited to experience the Atlantic Ocean. 

 
 
We heard that the east coast beaches were different than the west coast.  The water warmer, the waves gentler.  Well, either the people who claim this are fibbers or we caught a strange day, because that water was cold!  The cold water aside, it was a beautiful day at the beach.  The tall grasses off the shoreline waving in the breeze, the pale colored, stilted beach houses, the warm sun, the small crowds of beach goers, just enough to feel like you had friendly company, but lots of room to stretch out and explore. 

The boys loved playing in the water and sand, building sandcastles, running along the shore, jumping in the waves.  It was strange to have the sun set behind us as we gazed onto the ocean, being so used to the setting sun on the ocean horizon.  The sunrise must be amazing.





We just missed getting to the Bodie Lighthouse in time for a tour, but we still got some great pictures.  I have never seen a lighthouse in person before.  It was probably a good thing we didn't try and get a tour in because all of the littles, except for Mr. One, were fast asleep by the time we got there.


After soaking up the sunshine and ocean air, and a quick stop for salt water taffy, we packed up and headed back towards D.C..  Salt Water taffy must be a big thing there because we saw signs for it everywhere.  Naturally, we had to get some to go, along with some chocolate sea shells.  Next, our intent was to get some good Carolina barbeque for dinner.  Unfortunately, the local places with good reviews were closed when we go there.  There wasn't even a chain barbeque place!  We were famished, so we stopped at McDonalds.  The kids were thrilled, the adults too tired to argue.  I guess we just needed one more thing left uncrossed on our list to entice us to venture back again someday!  A day full of sun, walking, swimming and adventure, and tummies full of food made for slumbering kids on the way home.  A few "short cuts" later, we enjoyed some extra scenery on the roads, and we were finally back in D.C. well past our intended 10:00ish estimated time of arrival.  It was a very full day indeed!  Good thing our last full day in D.C. would involve significantly less walking.