North Carolina

With one day of exploration left, we headed southeast, but not before stopping for an awesome breakfast at the Virginia Diner!  Big ol' slab of Virginny ham, eggs, home made biscuits, and peanut pie (think pecan, only better)!  Gotta give this pie 4 stars for its nutty goodness and not-too-sweet filling.  Crust could use some work and it would push 5 stars!  Sophia had the chocolate chess pie and the tangy chocolatey combination was also outstanding!

 

We then pushed for Kitty Hawk/Kill Devil Hills to complete the Wright Brothers journey we began back in November in Dayton, OH.  Since we were familiar with the engineering that led to the Flyers, we concentrated on the locale.  I always assumed they launched the craft from the dunes for the added elevation, but instead, their launch rail was on level beach and aimed slightly east of north (probably a 1/19 runway based upon the 2/20 at the nearby airfield).  The photo shows the monuments that measure the four flights that day, the longest reaching 852' in 59 seconds.

 

Of course, with a beach nearby, we had to get some sand between Sophia's toes ... see if you can discern which critter in the photo below had a better grasp of the close shelf, rapid break, and spreading volume of waves hitting the NC coast on a rising tide!

 

 

Back on the mainland (and in dry clothing), we stopped into the National Park Service's Fort Raleigh / Lost Colony site, where Sir Walter Raleigh established the first English settlement in America in 1587.  He left some 140 settlers including the first white babies born in America, but his return was delayed by the whole Spanish Armada thing until 1590.  He found an abandoned site, but no graves or indications of natural disaster.  There's speculation that the survivors were assimilated into neighboring tribes based on the eye and hair color of some tribal members encountered in later years, but all semblance of the English language was apparently lost.  All that remains now is the earthworks of their village.  And you thought New England had some old buildings....

 

 

Our last adventure stop in NC was for a quick quail hunt on a piney, swampy WMA.  Once again, successful at finding upland poop, but could not find any birds in the tangle.  We did however find something I'd never seen - a bear's skull!  That'll get your attention as you make your way back to the truck at dusk!