I've never been a beach person - nor much of a water person for that matter - there are only lakes and rivers in the land-locked Prairies scoured out of the ground by the glacial action of the last ice age and the meltwaters of the Rocky Mountains .
But, I think I could be... Place name links like Carolina Beach, NC go to Wikipedia. Place name links like Carolina Beach use the local tourism or government website.
| 2012.11.12 |
To the Outer Banks |
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The weather has been extremely good for the Veterans Day weekend, but being the weather nerd that I am, I see that it's not about to stay that way much longer. So, we're off to the Outer Banks to see what life is like on that odd little strip of land that the Atlantic hasn't washed away yet.
| We're headed to Kill Devil Hills, NC where the Wright Brothers did their pioneering work on developing an engine-powered flying machine in the favourable environment of sandy dunes (for softer landings) and reliable winds (for lift) there. |
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We went to the end
of the highway at
Corolla, so it's
included here. | |
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With temperatures around 70°F, it was top-down driving all the way, past cotton fields, a lot of mobile-homes, and forested areas, culminating in 3 long bridge crossings. The place is pretty touristy, though not quite as cheezy as Myrtle Beach or Pigeon Forge, but it was apparent that the area is well developed for holiday visitors.
| We drove as far north as we could to Corolla, NC where the road ends and only 4x4 traffic is possible. I pondered for a moment taking the VW onto the beach, but the soft sand on the slope between the road and the beach made that look like a one-way trip. North of Corolla is an animal sanctuary that is home to a small herd of feral Banker horses . Instead we went to the first beach walkway, just south of the end of the road. |
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North on Hwy 12
to Corolla | |
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North | |
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South | | The Outer Banks beach is much wider than that at Carolina Beach, and there were signs of past erosions, with remnants of old walkways jutting out from the dunes and ending abruptly in space. The beachside face of the dunes is home to crabs that burrow into the sand and appear sporadically when they aren't kicking sand out of their nesting holes.
| Further south is the Currituck Beach Lighthouse, the northern-most of the 7 North Carolina Outer Banks lighthouses and the only one to have its 1 million bricks left unpainted. For 7 dollars we could have walked the 214 steps to the top, but we preferred to walk the grounds and enjoy the sunshine and peruse the amazingly-full gift shop. |
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Along the | |
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winding road | |
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southward | |
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Across the water westward are the Inner Banks , 3,000 miles of inland coastline that were some of the earliest inhabited regions of the US. |
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Our last stop was back in Kill Devil Hills, the site of the Wright Brothers historic first flights. Though Kitty Hawk, NC gets the credit the flights were actually made here, while the telegram announcing their success was sent from Kitty Hawk. The Wright Brothers National Memorial grounds contain two museum buildings, a couple replicas of their working buildings, and a large memorial monument. Though the area was all sand at the time the Wrights were there, it since been planted with native grasses to preserve it. One odd feature, museum-wise, is that the Visitor Centre and Centennial Pavilion buildings are spread quite a ways from each other, contain many redundant displays, and make absolutely no mention of each other. Thanks to the US Veterans Administration, admission was free this day.
Replicas of their
first successful
glider (foreground)
and powered plane
(background) | |
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The launch rail and markers for their first four successful flights. The large stone is the lift-off marker for each flight. Since the ground was too soft for wheels, flights were launched off the rail. The first flight was 120 feet, while the fourth was 852 feet. |
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The Memorial Site's most notable feature is the Kill Devil Hill Monument. |
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approaching the | |
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monument | |
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site view from the
monument hill | |
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As if there haven't been enough shots of sunny clear blue skies, here's another panorama from the top of the monument hill.
North | |
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South | |
| Time to head back to the beach, past cotton fields that I had neglected to photograph on the way in, so I had TFS shoot them as we drove. Thus, they look whiter than they really were. |
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As with most of our other trips, our return home was enhanced by some impromptu driving through areas we hadn't planned on. That is, we missed a turn and ended up too far west, and had to make our way back on some 3-digit roads (meaning regional, 2 lanes, and more circuitous), in the dark, until we could get back on an Interstate highway. But, we got to pass through Farmville (not the Facebook time-waster), where Roberta Flack once taught music.
Just as we left the Outer Banks there were road signs warning us to watch for bears, and we did see some, actually the most I've seen in one session of driving since I've been down here. But not the furry ursine kind, just the 10-4 Good Buddy kind. Fortunately they didn't see us, which was good, as I made up for our roadwise misdirection by embracing the spirit of flight and driving at high speed, up to 90mph (145kph) for some longish stretches, even with the top down, and the Cabrio, with a fresh tune-up a week before, drove like it was on rails. Great gas mileage too. Gotta love that German engineering. 10-4 Good Buddy indeed! |
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