All Eyes on the Sky

We wanted to get up early enough to be at the beach at sunrise but we didn't make it.  It was too nice sleeping.  We walked to the beach from the KOA.  Lots of people were fishing.  We don't know what they were trying to catch.  It is not uncommon to see trucks with five-six tall fishing poles attached to the front grill of the truck.  This is serious fishermen.

This truck has six tall fishing poles attached to the front of his truck.  I guess you learn to see through the poles.

Our first stop was Bodie Island Light Station.  COVID rules were masks and only gift shop was open.  We were able to walk a boardwalk out to a marshy area.  We were able to take some pictures of the lighthouse from the walk.  There are seven lighthouses on the Outer Banks.  We plan to see three of them.

We saw several crabs in the marshy area.  I don't know what kind of crabs they are but they were interesting to watch.

Highway 12 is very nice.  There are some awesome ocean views with the dunes and sea oats.  We drove across one of the big bridges to Roanoke Island and Fort Raleigh National Historic Site.  Fort Raleigh is where the English first established a colony and the first English girl, Virginia Dare, was born.  Sir Walter Raleigh financed three different groups of colonist from 1584-1587.  The second group of colonist is known as "The Lost Colony" because no sign of them ever having been there except for the word "Croatoan" carved into a post.  No one knew or knows now what happened and what that word means.

 

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The English also established a military outpost on Roanoke Island.  This is a recreation of what it would have been like.

During the Civil War, the Union Army designated Roanoke Island as a haven for runaway slaves.  It was a Freedmen's Colony governed by the Army.  By 1865 there were approximately 3500 liberated slaves living there.  There were schools, churches, and a hospital.  Following the war the Army decommissioned the colony.  Many of the former slaves left at that time.

This was our third stop of the day.  We really enjoyed learning about those first historic flights.

From the site of this stone each of four flights began on December 17, 1903.

These are a recreation of the living quarters of the Wright Brothers during three years that they worked on their flying machine.

On the top of Kill Devil Hill is a memorial to the brothers built in 1928.  It was quite a hill to climb for this old couple but we made it.

View from the top of Kill Devil Hill.

Despite COVID, a nice young lady offered to take a picture of us with our phone.

At the bottom of the memorial is a metal sculpture recreation that famous scene.  

Orville Wright in his flying machine.

                                      
Three witnesses to the first flight.

The photographer who took a picture of this famous scene.  This man had never operated a camera before but the picture he took was proof of that first flight.

Wilbur Wright encouraging his brother in this first flight.

Our fourth stop was Jockey's Ridge State Park.  This park is inlet but it has the highest sand dunes in North Carolina.  People go to the park to fly kits and parasail.  Below are a couple of pictures of the dunes.  We were completely out of energy from climbing Kill Devil Hill so we opted out of hiking out to the dunes.

We hadn't eaten anything since breakfast so we decided to taste a bit of the island.  We ordered a pot of potatoes, corn on the cob, onions, sausage, and shrimp.  The pot only needed two cups of water, some special spices and 16 minutes of boiling.   This would be our supper.

We got back to camp around 4 and decided to wait awhile before eating.  This KOA has planned activities for kids in the park.  This activity was a "foam party" and the foam looked like a lot of fun for kids.  At 6:30 we walked across the street to watch the sun set.  Not only did we see a beautiful sunset but lots of kites in the sky against the beauty of the sky.

There are men in the water flying these kites.  Some of the kites were propelling people on float boards across the water.

Sun has set and we enjoyed the show it put on.

This is the office of the KOA.  It looks like the rest of the buildings on the island instead of the usual KOA shaped buildings.

Finally we put our pot on the stove and it produced a delicious meal.  This was Carol's plate.  It was very good.  We even had enough leftovers for supper tomorrow.

It was a great day.  We learned so much history, saw some beautiful scenes, and had a delicious supper.  I think sleep will come easy and last long.  If we get up to see a sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean, we will need to set an alarm.  I doubt that will happen.  Today we explored the northern part of the Outer Banks.  Tomorrow we will go south.