August 5 & 6th

We have arrived at Cape Hatteras, specifically the National Seashore and the national park campground. We decided to do a couple of days kind of for old times sake. i first stayed at this campground when I was 12 years old, and we had a couple of great times here with our kids. This campground has no hook-ups, but the onshore breeze provides the required cooling, and the sand dunes that surround some sights are impressive. The Oregon inlet fishing center is right across Rt 12, and is always a required visit around 4:00 when the sport fishing boats return with the days catch. I still recall my first trip here.
 It was on my birthday, that they announced on their big speakers that an incoming boat would arrive with a huge Marlin. We went over and the fish turned out to be a world's record setting catch. The record held for at least 30 years. This park was also the place Liz fell in love with her favorite light house, the Bodie Island light. This light is not a popular as the Hatteras light and was closed for climbing in the past. Liz recalls laying in bed with the side curtains to the pop-up open and looking at the light. It's also her favorite sight as we come down the cape, to see Bodie . Our kids learned to crab with a ranger on the road at the end of the parking lot, below. We're going to get a different view of that site now, because the Bodie light house has been restored and is now open for climbing, and climb we did.

The restoration story was interesting to us, because we knew from prior visits that the lower steps, and many other cast iron components were corroded beyond repair. Turns out they removed them all, and made molds from them, then melted them down, had them analyzed, added missing components to the metal, and recast them. It seems that liz was not alone in her love of this lighthouse, because there were many among the climbers in our party who were visiting because they'd heard that it was no open. Because this light is 50 miles closer than Hattras I think that this one will become a popular stop for those visiting Kitty Hawk and Nag's Head. It was also nice to be able to get an aerial view of  the Oregon inlet area, to see the "landscaping" that Hurricane Irene did.
 While we were here we stopped back at the site of the first flight, the Wright Bros. memorial. They have a notable addition, an actual a sculpture of the Wright flyer, and several sculptures of the observers of that first flight. The really cool aspect of this sculpture was that kids could climb on it. I remember the fascination that our daughter, Meredith had for the Wright Bros in third grade. I can see her now laying on the wing looking up and imaging flight, just like the little boy is doing in my picture.. Tomorrow our last stop of the trip, the KOA in Rodanthe.




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