Greetings from the Outer Banks 2

We spent most of Monday at the beach, with a break after lunch to go see the Wright Brothers National Memorial on Kill Devil Hill and the exhibits around it. The tide was very high in the morning, with good-sized waves splashing up the beach almost to the dunes. There were dolphins diving on the far side of the big breakers, and pelicans, gulls, plovers and sandpipers flying over the waves and looking for food on the beach. It wasn't outrageously hot, maybe mid-80s, and we took a quick swim in the hotel pool before we came in for lunch.


Here are our kids at the Wright Brothers National Memorial...


...and for contrast, here is a photo of them in the same spot in 2002.


This is the actual spot from which Orville Wright took off in December 1903 (and here is a photo of him visiting this marker with a senator and Amelia Earhart).


The Wright Brothers' final flight that day came down on this spot.


Here are my kids atop the memorial, completed in 1932.


The national park building on the site has a model of the first flight...


...recreated in bronze by sculptor Stephen H. Smith for the 100th anniversary in 2003.


Crowds of geese as well as tourists enjoyed the afternoon at the park.

We went back to the beach in the late afternoon for a couple of hours, at low tide when there were big beds of shells and pebbles exposed and when the water was calm enough for Adam to spend lots of time on a boogie board. Daniel dug a deep hole in the sand and uncovered a ghost crab, which pinched him when he tried to pick it up. We went out for very good seafood at Mako Mike's (blackened tuna, grilled salmon, Crab Norfolk, stuffed flounder, shrimp and swordfish...plus a tank with live little sharks). Then we took a walk on the beach with flashlights to see ghost crabs in a better mood -- they still ran away quickly, but there were more of them!