Outer Banks

We arrived at the Outer Banks on a rainy day but the beauty is very apparent. Our campsite backed right up to the Currituck Sound. It was wonderful to watch the water. To get here - we had to drive through a tunnel that went under the water! Not the big Chesapeake Bay one by Norfolk but still... interesting feeling to know the water was above us!

The first day we went south along the Outer Banks. We had heard about Duck Donuts and being by Duck, NC - we had to go in! It was fun to be greeted and waited on by the founder himself, Russ DiGilio! We took advantage of the buy 12. Ugh - thats a lot of donuts and no we did not eat them in one sitting! But... we did eat them... eventually.

We very much enjoyed exploring the Wright Brothers Memorial. It was incredible to learn the details of these two amazing brothers. The plane they have on display is a replica. We just saw the real one at the Smithsonian in DC. They flew those 4 historic flights in the course of one afternoon and then a gust of wind grabbed the plane - rolling it and it never flew again. In the first photo are the markers for the first 3 historic flights that went a few 100'. The second photo includes the 4th that went 852' that lasted almost a full minute way down in path. You can see the distance better from the top of the hill that also includes their cabin and hanger for the plane.

We climbed up the big hill that used to be a sand dune where they tested gliders for days to check how the wind was affecting the area. The memorial at the top is nice but we appreciated the bronze statues at the bottom that included the photographer! How smart to have him on hand capturing the moment!

We drove by a sand castle buried in a dune- that used to be a putt-putt golf place but the dunes took it over and the owner gave up trying to save it and left it. Just 5' of the tallest structure - the castle which was 30' tall - is visible some days (the dunes move so some days it can't be seen at all) but the rest of the mini golf course is buried another 15-20' under the dune.

We stopped by the Bodin Lighthouse - nice to see tall lighthouses again!

We drove across to Roanoke Island - fun to cross those bridges. We went to Fort Raleigh where the entire colony of settlers was 'lost' and never seen again.

Then we stopped along the Atlantic coast. There were endless lines of ducks/birds flying - we stood and watched for 5 minutes and while there were ocassional breaks - more kept coming and coming! Research later seems to indicate they were likely migratory Scoters but it is hard to know for sure. Lots of pelicans as well - hard to see in the pics as my phone was acting up. We enjoyed watching them very much!

We enjoyed walking by the ocean - we had the beach to ourselves!

Bill got to try Crumbl Cookies! Those pink ones are soooo yummy.

November 2022