Beaching with my Sis!

I would've posted for the last two weeks, but I was too busy collecting experiences to blog about!  Lately, I've been feeling like I can't keep up with my own life, so a couple of weeks ago, I revisited the Outer Banks with Monica.  We purposely chose a couple of weeks after Labor Day so we could avoid the tourist crowds, but our timing just barely allowed us to enjoy the last warm breaths of summer.  The weather was a little cooler and the wind a little stronger than we would've liked, but we did our best to be beach bums anyway!

With both of us armed with fancy-smancy digital cameras, it wasn't hard to fill in the overcast hours with photo safaris.  The Outer Banks (or OBX as the locals write it) is quite photogenic.  From light houses and fishing piers to sunrises and sunsets, there was never a lack of subject matter to click a shutter at. 

One of our favorite stops along the OBX was Jennette's Pier at Nags Head, NC.  This recently rebuilt landmark is not only a great fishing hole, it is multi-sensory education on angling, sea life, coastal ecology, and preservation.  You can't walk 10 feet without coming face to face with information on how the tides affect water temperature, how to clean a fish, size regulations on different species of fish, or even how storms affect the coastline and how forceful hurricane strength winds can be (as felt in a hurricane wind simulator booth!).  This was definitely one of our favorite stops along the coast.

Although I had already toured the Wright Brothers National Memorial, I discovered tidbits I had missed on my first visit.  It's a fascinating story how the two brothers went from bike builders to the fathers of aviation.  Standing on top of the memorial overlooking the coast and sand dunes, it's not hard to understand why the brothers chose Kitty Hawk as the locale for the pursuit of flight.

One of the little nuggets of history I had missed the first time around was the wall of portraits of aviation trail blazers.  One that caught my eye was the story of Georgia "Tiny" Broadwick.  In 1913, this four foot adventurer became the first woman to parachute from an airplane by descending 2000 feet under a canopy.  According to the placard accompanying her portrait, during a jump in 1914 when she was demonstrating pack parachutes to the US Army, her line became tangled and she cut it, causing her to perform the first free-fall parachute jump.  By the time she retired in 1922, she had completed more than 1100 jumps!  Now that's super-sized courage packed in a pint-sized package!

The premonition I had on my previous journey to the Cape Hatteras light house when I decided to forgo the stair climbing to the top came true on this trip.  Monica and I climbed all 248 steps to view the island habitats from the top.  After climbing the equivalent of a 12 story building, we took a breather at the top by taking in the 360 degree view of beach, marsh, ocean and wildlife.  Pretty cool!

Although the lighthouses have become the symbol of coastal life in the east, there are numerous US Life Saving Service Stations up and down the OBX coastline that are just as symbolic of the culture.  In the late 19th Century and even into the early 20th Century, Surfmen assigned to the stations would rescue sailors from ships in peril due to hurricanes and enemy attacks.  The lighthouses may have prevented the loss of many Sailors and cargo, but it was the Surfman who risked life and limb to save them once they were met with danger.

All in all, we had a great vacation despite the less than cooperative weather.  We managed to end the week with tan lines, some great pics, bellies full of crab cakes, and lots of shared memories to add to our collections.