The Outer Banks

Laura, our awesome friend from Warsaw, has moved back to DC and invited us to spend the weekend with her in North Carolina while she enjoyed her vacation on the beach. She had an amazing sea cottage rented in Avon on the Outer Banks.Though it was quite the drive for a weekend, it was absolutely worth it! Here we are enjoying the beach:We spent the early morning and late evening out on the beach. I managed to avoid any sunburns (thank you SPF 55!), but Dave missed a spot on his legs and got a little pink. We mostly spent the time sipping iced tea, reading, and jumping large waves in the ocean. The beach cottage had this really great outdoor shower setup, so we didn't even track in sand after our beach outings Apparently this is pretty common at beach cottages, but having never been to one I thought that was really neat. They also had a fish cleaning table set up outside.During the hottest part of the day, we took a break from the beach and explored other nearby attractions that had air conditioned visiting centers and shopping. I have always been in love with the idea of living near the seaside, 'near a lighthouse.' I have no idea where this fascination with lighthouses comes from (I certainly wouldn't even want to hike up one), but there's something incredibly charming about them. I had my chance to visit my first light house at Cape Hatteras. It was built in 1870:Sunday we had to check out of the cottage early, so we loaded up the cars and decided to make a slow return up the outer banks, including a stop at Kitty Hawk. There, we visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial and visitors center.The visitor's center featured lots of interesting original items from the Wright Brother's works, and also included a full size reproduction of their glider and powered plane. The glider is pictured below.I got a huge kick out of learning that the brothers came down to the Outer Banks from Ohio to take vacations during the summer for several years in a row. Granted, the main purpose of these vacations was to work on their plane...but it was funny to learn that they chose the Outer Banks because they wanted a nice vacation (I'm sure the wind had something to do with it too).Here I am standing on the field where First Flight took place in 1903, December 17. I'm standing near the launch point. The brothers flew 4 times that day and each of the 4 white stones indicates how far the engine powered plane went (going into the wind). The last flight lasted almost a full minute, and you can barely make out the marker in the distance.We all hiked up Big Kill Devil Hill to get a better view of the field, and Dave and Laura paused to strike a noble pose.
Just to prove that I too made it up the hill, here I am with Dave at the Wright Brother's Monument at the top of the hill.

We couldn't end our visit to an area known for its famous pirates (Black Beard was caught just off the Outer Banks) without gathering some loot and provisions take home. We made a stop by the local seafood joint and picked up that morning's catch of the day: shrimp, scallops, and crabs. Further along the road, there's a series of farmers markets that helped add to our loot: we brought home fresh peaches, blueberries, cherries, and corn. It might not be the kind of loot the pirates were after, but we were proud of our yummy treasures.