Wed. 9/19/07 ~ Lighthouses & Airplanes on the Outer Banks

We left the motorhome in the campground and headed off to see the area and the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. Since nothing was open until 9:00 AM we stopped for breakfast at a place called Bubba’s BBQ. Bubbas gives little “greasy spoon” restaurants everywhere a bad name! The food was not that cheap and it was really pretty bad. After we ate we went to the lighthouse. Even though it is a national historic landmark they would not accept our National Park Pass. According to the lady, “they charge a user fee not an entrance fee because if they allowed people to use their National Park Pass they might come 20 or 30 times per year and cause wear and tear on the lighthouse.” Now this is in a 150 year old light house that has withstood numerous hurricanes and the staircase leading to the top has been updated with steel steps but nevertheless we were very careful to walk lightly so we wouldn’t damage it. We climbed all the way to the top – all 257 steps and then visited their small museum. After we left the lighthouse we retraced our path (since there is only one road) and picked up the motor home. We continued traveling north and stopped at the Bodie Lighthouse for pictures. We arrived at Kill Devil Hills, NC in the late morning and went through the museum and the Wright Brothers’ Memorial. It was really interesting to see the rail that was used to take-off and the granite markers showing the distance of each of their original flights. In the museum they had exact replicas of their glider and the airplane that were built for the 100th anniversary in 2003. On the grounds there was also a reconstruction of the building they lived in and the one they used as a hangar for the plane. Their monument is on top of a large hill where they made about 1000 glider flights in preparation for their first self-propelled flight. Since we both have grown up hearing about the Wright Brothers in school we really enjoyed seeing the location of their flight. When we were finished in the Outer Banks area we continued driving north on highway 12 to the 258 and the 268 crossing through a long underwater tunnel into Virginia. We picked up highway 64 and took it into Williamsburg and registered for two nights at the Anvil Campground.