Outer Banks, Part One: Making the Climb

So we went to North Carolina's Outer Banks. People there like to surf, ride bikes, walk along the beach, and generally enjoy life at sea level.

To celebrate, I wore my South Carolina flip flops. (Thanks, jandatell!) Those flip flops ended up doing a lot of unexpected climbing, however...

For example. On Wednesday we drove to Corolla where the highlight was the Currituck lighthouse.



For the low price of $7/person you could climb the stairs to the top. Great view!


Below: Same great view, but with me photoshopped in. (Easy way to photoshop yourself into a picture: take two pictures, one with you in it.)


Cheryl climbed with me.


We were given stickers.


(Notice the famed flip flop?)

On Thursday we drove the opposite direction. The tallest lighthouse in the country is apparently this one, located on Cape Hatteras:


More climbing!


Friday I visited the Wright Brothers memorial with my father-in-law Jim. In the picture below, we are standing at the first airplane's take off point, and the white stones in the background mark how far the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th flights went.



I was pretty impressed with Wilbur and Orville, these guys invented motorized flight and documented it with photos back in the day before cameras were a common companion--industrious, intelligent, tech-savvy, revolutionary guys. (I never met them--this is just my impression.)

And lo and behold... another climb awaited me. This time, to the top of the hill that the Wright brothers used for hang gliding in their spare time.



Here's a picture of the Wright brothers' plane, and that same hill in the background.



Here's a closeup of the memorial on top of the hill...






And the view from the top. You can see those white stones again, and the Wright brothers' hanger and hangout.



And for the Shomo family: See the rentals and the ocean in the distance? You could be staying there Summer 2010! Bring flip flops!