….and some huge dunes and surprisingly rugged undeveloped mature duneland. That’s what we found as we wondered the northern outer banks from Nags Head to Kill Devil Hills and Kitty Hawk. At first glace this place looks ENTIRELY built up but we found a few pleasant exceptions. Hopefully others who come here see that other side too.
It is indeed an amazing story of how far aviation has come since that first little hop-flight in 1903. The memorial is not too fancy but really well done. The working replica of their plane is in the visitor center and they gave a demonstration of how the innovated controls worked. One of my, “I didn’t know that moments”. The Wright Brothers real accomplishment was not getting a plane into the air, it was inventing and creating the controls to keep it there and guide it.
Another tidbit. A small piece of wood and fabric from the Wright brother’s plane went to the moon with Neil Armstrong. First flight to a walk on the surface of the moon in 66 years.
It is a great gimmick of a small chain (Duck Donuts) based in the town of Duck here on the outer banks NC. We watched them mix, dispense, and fry our cake donuts right in front of us in a miniature Krispy Krème sort of setup. They glazed and iced them to our specifications and handed them over, still too hot to hold. The gal doing the dip icing with her bare hands won’t have any finger prints before long. They will be burned right off. Donuts were good, the overall fun experience made it great.
That’s the simple Piggly Wiggly Grocery store slogan down here. They are a fair sized, locally owned and operated store that sells lots of local produce and products. I did shop the pig. It is a “home town” experience.
At the Core Sound Decoy Carvers Guild in Harkers Island the elders are working to engage the next generation in the carving of decoy ducks as has been done here for generations. Their museum was pretty cool. We saw samples of the rough hewn, working decoys actually used for hunting and decorative pieces with such fine detail that they look more like taxidermy samples than carvings. Beautiful; and samples of an amazing dedication to the craft.
Nope, not thunder. Camp Lejeune is 15 miles away; the rumble of artillery fire travels quite well. Compared to traffic, airplanes, and trains at RV parks we have camped in, this is easily ignored. This is actually a lovely National Forest campground among tall lollaboly pines along the White Oak River. It is just 3 miles from the Atlantic coast too. We will spend a few days checking it out.
Myrtle Beach and the neighboring little hamlets claim the golden strand, 60 miles of uninterrupted Atlantic beach, and the title of “Seafood capital of South Carolina”. I think I’d agree. We strolled a few miles of lovely beach (lined with arcades, T-shirt shops, souvenir shops, restaurants, hotels, condos, Ripley’s everything-places and an unbelievable number of miniature golf places). The gal at the visitor center recommended a restaurant so we sampled clam dip, local flounder and shrimp. She didn’t steer us wrong.
Painted Bunting
Creamy lemon custard ice cream with Girls Scout shortbread cookies mixed in. That is the ice cream the local shop, Leopolds, calls Savannah Smiles. Fitting name for an ice cream created in this town. This is where Girl Scouting got started and the organization is 100 this year. Oh yeah, it was delicious.
It is just a dirty, tattered piece of cloth, right?
We attended a ceremony today where a “Northerner” returned the flag that was surrendered to his great grandfather when the Union took over Fort McAllister at Savannah 150 years ago. Confederate re-enactment soldiers from across Florida, South Carolina, and Georgia stood to represent the men of the Emmett Rifles who relinquished that flag so long ago. A group of them with bass, guitar, harmonica, and drums played music and sang, reminiscent of the encampments, both Union and Confederate, between battles.
We flinched at the report as they fired muskets and canon. It brought a bit of history to life for a few hours.