Thursday, October 9 - Day 22

Wifes Head... Oops I meant Nags Head, lapsa lingua

 

What a great day! I don't know if it was the full moon or a storm at sea but the waves were very close together and continuously breaking and roaring when I awoke and they have not abated all day. It is now 4:30pm and Lisa is reluctantly coming in from the beach. It was intimidating this morning. The waves were furious and huge for here. It was also very cool and overcast. We decided to go to Kill Devil Hills/Kitty Hawk to see the site of the first flight.

KDH now is what used to be called KH. The site is a National Monument as it should be. It was a moving experience for me to be on the exact place where the world changed forever in 12 seconds. There is a large boulder on the exact spot where the Wright's plane lifted off under its own power for the first flight and flew for 120 feet, less than the distance of a modern passenger jet's wingspan. They flew 4 times that day, the last flight of 852 ft. There are small boulders placed at the spots where the four landing occurred. I was impressed with the simplicity of how the site has been portrayed and preserved and overwhelmed by the simplicity in contrast to the effect of that day, Dec 17, 1903. Every person on the face of the earth has been affected by what they did that day. How can you not be stunned by that? 66 years later two men walked on the moon because of them. Measure your accomplishments by that standard and bow your head. It is among the greatest technological accomplishments of all time: controlled fire, the wheel, the atlatl, scuba, controlled flight, distillation.

We spent most of the pm on the beach enjoying but with the buried thoughts of this our last day on the beach for a long time. Tomorrow we start the homeward journey with several stops at relatives so we can continue this journey for as long as possible.

We did have an amazing dinner tonight. We finally tried she-crab soup which is advertised in every seafood eatery along this coast. It's New England crab chowder without the potatoes. Lisa had broiled sea food combo: crab cake (excellent), large scallops perfectly sauteed, large shrimp and flounder, with very good sides. I had blackened redfish taco, not as simple as it sounds. Very good. We split a house made peanut butter pie for dessert.

Lisa may sleep on the balcony tonight.

Happy Birthday Joan!

 

Photos: 1 - line of trucks on the beach for fishing - they arrived at 7:30 am and left at 4:15 pm; 2 - Wright Brother's National Memorial; 3 - beginning point for the first four flights; 4 - plaque on the boulder; 5 - photo of first flight; 6 - distance from 1st marker to 4th; 7 - marker 1 - first flight - 12 seconds - 120 ft; 8 - marker 2 - second flight - 12 seconds - 175 ft; 9 - marker 3 - third flight - 15 seconds - 200 ft; 10 - marker 4 - fourth flight 59 seconds - 852 ft; 11 - replica that people can climb on with  Dave flying; 12 - Lisa flying with her BFF Orville; 13 - trying to replicate 1st flight photo; 14 - Monument to the Wright Brothers; 15 - restaurant that says "Eat and get the hell out."; 16 - Dave on boogie board; 17 - corner hotel room; 18 - crazy waves - they were coming in normally but also coming sideways too; 19 - Dave's dinner; 20 - Lisa's dinner; 21 - sunset; 22-23 - moonrise; 24 - moon reflecting on ocean