OBX!

I can’t remember what intrigued me exactly about the Outer Banks or where I'd first heard about it.  Nevertheless, it was a stop that Jose put on the first map we drafted up a couple of years ago.  Naturally, many of us hear about this area when Hurricane season rolls around each year and now that I’m here, I see how this beautiful area can become so devastated by water and wind.  I find it interesting that the things that make places and people who they are can be used against them by outside forces; yet persistence and hope that lies within eventually rebuilds earth, sky, and life. I digress.

Essentially, OBX is a 200-mile string of barrier islands that extends the entire length of North Carolina and a small portion of Virginia.  There are several gaps that you must either drive over via a bridge or cross on a ferry.  Cape Hatteras lighthouse is as far as where driving; then we’ll turn around and hook back up to the mainland via Roanoke Island.  Visiting the Lost Colony on Roanoke has been suggested by my cousin, Lynne, and Cathy, a Best Friends cat caregiver friend, so we plan to check that out tomorrow.




Many of the houses on OBX are 2-4 stories, and all are built on very tall stilts.  Some of them have decks covering their entire roof, one is built to look like a lighthouse with a regular square house built around it that is just as tall as the lighthouse!  The windswept dunes are high so that much of the drive you cannot see the ocean, but the intermittent gaps provide teasing glimpses along the way. Interestingly enough, a second set of dunes runs in front of the houses that are directly on the beach – I’m assuming that those provide some protection from hurricanes.

Naturally, this time of year, many businesses are closed for the season, but it’s very nice and quiet and there is little traffic although there are some who do live down here year round.

The highlight so far has been our visit to The Wright Brothers National Monument which is celebrating its 110 anniversary today (12/17/13).  It was amazing to walk in their footsteps and fly my little balsa rubber band powered plane from the exact place that they achieved the first flight over a century ago.  My plane did not hit their first marker, but the landing was perfect!