I am now home and this museum is speaking my language! I love aviation (along with my father) and when we were here in the 70’s I remember being enthralled with the First Flight that the Wright Brothers took! The other really cool thing is it happened the day before my grandfather (my mother’s dad) was born and I remember returning to Vancouver and telling him all about it! My grandfather was a railway man, however I think he understood my excitement as it had to do with engines too! I have always remembered standing on the sand and seeing the markers of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and finally the longer 4th flight and really wanted to return some day. Unfortunately in my working career, I was able to get back to Edenton once, however not all the way to the Outer Banks. Guess where we are going today!
It is now a National Memorial and there is an entrance fee of $10 per person which is reasonable compared to some other places we have visited. When we arrived at 1pm a ranger talk was just starting, so we decided to visit the museum first and attend the next talk at 3pm. The museum is down right amazing. The quality of museums that we have seen have been top notch and heading to the Smithsonian ones in Washington DC where they are fabulous, we really have had an amazing history lesson during our time in North Carolina, Virginia and to come Washington, DC. Anywho, oneward we go – here are some pictures of the display – it started with the brothers Orville and Wilbur and their idea that they had in Dayton, Ohio; their trips to Kitty Hawk on the Outerbanks to test their flight ideas (the wind was good at this location), their restarts and then their successes. Then in another room is a replica of the original plane that flew at Kitty Hawk. Where is the original you ask? I know! It is “flying high” in the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum in Washington DC as I have already seen it there!
Please enjoy these pictures that I took of the museum and the path to the First Flight on Dec 17, 1903. The videos for the “Inspire Others” can be found HERE
Now we visit the big round room that holds the replica of the plane used for the 1st flight and some interesting facts that are around it!
Videos
Click HERE to check out the above movie in 5 segments on the Wright Brothers and others and aviation. All videos are silent.
Still with time until the ranger talk we decided to visit the flight line – we had seen the previous group with the ranger visit the flight line so we knew that the information might be repeated. I, yet again, did not think and thought we could ALSO climb Kill Devil Hill, where the Memorial to the Wright Brothers is located. Once we walked in the wind to the flight line, and along for a little ways to the hill, I turned back as I would rather hear the ranger and deal with the hill later! It was a good decision! That is one TALL hill!
Next we listened to an AWESOME ranger tell the story of the Wright Brothers – it was NOT boring and this ranger obviously has a theatrical background! He did the whole story even down to the coin toss that Orville and Wilbur did to determine who was going to take the 1st flight.
Last, we decided to DRIVE around the Wright Brothers memorial like the guard said we could do when we entered the park. There is parking all around the bottom of the memorial actually and some winding concrete paths winding around the hill up to the top. I was fine not climbing the hill until I saw this other display by an artist of the Wright Brothers plane – in metal, with all the people supporting them in their endeavor behind it – Wilbur (Orville took the first flight), the photographer and others. It was a REALLY cool exhibit and it was totally accessible – although I stayed on the path – I do not like walking that much on crushed gravel. After that, as we were already out of the car and sweating, what was climbing up a hill? It actually was not that bad as we took the longer but less sloped path. Well, what a fabulous view from the top! The actual memorial was not accessible – it had stairs – however I could walk all the way around the top and see up and down the Outer Banks a fair distance! Andrew wanted me to sit on my walker and roll down using my brakes, however I think that would have caused smoking brakes and I still have another 6 weeks to go with my walker, so we walked slowly down instead…
What an amazing day we had at Kitty Hawk! Well, I had an AMAZING day – I hope Andrew learned some things too! We then went back to the hotel and someone I know fell asleep early! Again, all that fresh, sea air is playing tricks on me! Tomorrow we are leaving and traveling to Norfolk Virginia, via the Great Dismal Swamp!