Sunday, August 22, 2010

Cape Hatteras/Kitty Hawk






As we headed toward Cape Hatteras, we thought we could just board any ferry. I had done a little research, and hadn't found any site where I could make reservations, so we assumed we didn't need any. WRONG! As we got closer, we saw signs with phone numbers for ferry info. I called and found out we couldn't get the ferry that day! We had to drive around and go in from the north.
First we went to Roanoke. This was Sir Raleigh's Fort of the Lost Colony. We heard a Ranger give a presentation on the theories of what happened to the colony that had settled there and Colin got another Jr. Ranger Badge.
We stayed at a KOA on the Cape. After setting up camp, we headed over the dune to check out the beach. The wave action was very cool! We enjoyed playing at the water's edge for quite a while. I even found a shark egg case on the beach. That is what is in my hand in the above photo. That night Colin and I joined the karaoke activity. We sang a duet, and he sang a solo! Go Colin!
The next morning Colin and I woke up early and headed to the beach to watch the sunrise. Marcus was up, just didn't know where we had gone, he was sorry he missed it. After breakfast, we went up into the lighthouse. It is the tallest brick lighthouse in the world. There were 267 steps, along with great panoramic views. Colin finished another Jr. Ranger badge there. He's getting to have quite a collection! We checked out the beach there where the lighthouse had been originally. Apparently, the sand is ever shifting there, and they were worried about the sea encroaching and causing damage. While at that beach, we saw an Osprey swoop down and catch a good sized fish, not that far away from us. It flew away, with the fish still struggling a bit in its talons. Very cool.
Next we were off to Kitty Hawk. This is where the Wright Brothers had their first flight. Marcus and I didn't remember there being that much there, but they had improved it in the last 25 years, and the kids loved it! We watched a movie that helped explain all the set backs the brothers had to work through. They were quite the guys! They had to design their own engine, since there wasn't one out there that would do what they needed it to do. We were impressed at two brothers having worked together so closely, after being in the car with two brothers ourselves and hearing all the bickering! It turns out the Wright Brothers bickered a lot too! But still managed to work together and work things out. Maybe there is hope for our set of Smith brothers too?! Let's hope so! The boys also participated in a ranger led activity, that explained more about how things fly. They made their own simple kites as they learned about thrust, drag, pull... They enjoyed that!
On our way off the Cape we found a ferry with room for us!! It was very small and we took up a good portion of it with the tent trailer. We piled out of the car to enjoy our trek back to the mainland. There were posts in the water to mark the ferries' route along the way. Several of these posts had been taken over by Ospreys for nests. We saw one nest with mom and dad sitting on it watching us go by. Too fun.
It was a big day, but we thoroughly enjoyed our short time in the Cape Hatteras area!


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