Tuesday, September 19, 2017

COROLLA NORTH CAROLINA TRIP - 5TH DAY - 9-5-17 - PART 2 - WRIGHT BROTHERS' MEMORIAL

Corolla, North Carolina Trip - Fifth Day - Part 2
Sunrise
Wright Brothers' Memorial
Lost Colony
Tuesday, September 5th, 2017


After enjoying the spectacular sunrise, we were out of the house two hours later and stopped for our breakfast/early lunch.  We always enjoy finding a good breakfast restaurant when traveling, and usually look for a local place on Yelp, but as we were driving by we saw "Stack 'Em High Pancakes and So Forth".   


I had pancakes, one egg and 2 sausages with a small dish of strawberries. Gregg had toast, eggs, sausage patties and hash browns.


  You ordered your food and paid at the counter before you sat down.  We enjoyed it, a fun and friendly place. 


We were curious about The Lost Colony and had that in mind for this afternoon, but as it was on the way we stopped at the 
Wright Brothers' Memorial.  We only did half of the site, concentrating on the monument at the top of the hill.  It is quite a large area so if you are ever decide to visit, I suggest carrying your own water, and wearing a pair of very comortable walking shoes.


These old photos are from Pixababy.


The last time we were here was 30 years' ago with my parents.  They were visiting from England, and we had been staying with Gregg's parents who lived in Virginia Beach. Virginia Beach is only a couple of hours away, and is north of Corolla, as you can see by looking at the map below.  It wouldn't take long as the crow flies but you can't drive down that strip of land, having to take a route further inland.  Corolla is marked with the red icon.


This gives you an idea where Corolla is on the US map.


Their regular, much larger visitor center is being renovated.  It will be closed to the public until the late summer/early fall of next year.  The temporary one did a good job for the space they had. 


It was a very hot day, and muggy.  I was prepared with my sunhat and sunglasses, but I had not taken any drinking water as I usually do.  We have been relying on the visitor centers to get our cold, refrigerated water, but there was no refrigerator here.  However, room temperature water was better than nothing.   


I did see at least one drinking fountain at the bottom of the hill near the large memorial.  There were probably more but this was the only one I noticed.  Before I beat this subject into the ground, my advice would be, don't forget to take water with you.  I read on Yelp from one person, that the center didn't have any water when they were there, and it may have been that they had run out. 


A few photos taken around the center.  The posters above were on sale.


The Wright Brothers


Orville was the youngest and described as a "practical joker, impulsive, enthusiastic, educated, introverted, optimistic and inventive".  Wilber, his older brother, was "steady, educated, focused, out-going, controlled, confident, a care taker".


It was interesting to read that the brothers got their interest for machines from their mother, who also passed on her knowledge and curiosity to her sons.  Their father was a Bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, traveled far and wide, and would bring gifts home like Alphonse Penaud's toy helicopter. These snippets I read on one of the posters.  You can learn more of the brothers here.  Below, from the same poster, are a few of the things that inspired them.


One thing of note is that Charlie Taylor built their engines.  You can read his story here.  Charlie should not be forgotten in the brothers' story, as I feel he was an integral part of it.


This is the information marker located at the bottom of the hill, which we read before we made the climb.  Information reads:

"Friends and Surfmen from the nearby US Life-Saving Station helped the brothers carry their gliders up the dunes."

"Big Kill Devil Hill - When the Wright brothers were here, Big Kill Devil Hill - the hill in front of you - was a massive sand dune.  Thousands of times the brothers trekked up the three nearby dunes to conduct glider experiments.

Climbing the hill was strenuous.  Deep, soft sand caused every step up the slope to slip part way back down.  The Wrights were also burdoned with carrying their heavy gliders up the hill for each flight.  Their tireless efforts paid off as they mastered their flying skills and refined their flight controls."

Underneath the photo at the bottom of the marker next to the writing reads,

"The Wrights mastered flight controls with their 1902 Glider."

Underneath the next photo, 

"Starting in 1929, workers planted grass to stabilize Big Kill Devil Hill so that the Wright Brothers Monument could be built on top."

(If you would like to see a larger view of all photos to get a better look, you can click and enlarge.)


From the Visitor Center there is a road you can drive along, and park closer to the monument.


We walked up a very steep hill to the actual memorial. 



We met a couple with a dog who were talking to two Australians.  Gregg initiated a conversation with one as he was wearing a shirt with the name of his old Royal Navy Captain.  This is going back to when he was on an exchange tour with the Royal Navy, when he and I met in my home town.  An unusual name but no connection.  It was to do with a 200 mile endurance race in Australia, so we learned something new that day.  


The two of them were visiting all the well known race car tracks over here.  They were a lot of fun to talk to, interesting and super friendly.  After a while we said goodbye to our Oz friends and wished them happy traveling.   


The other couple they had been talking to were American and they had a sweet natured dog called Roxie.  She was having a hard time with the heat and we offered her some of our water.  Roxie's Dad cupped his hands so I could pour her a good drink, and she lapped it up.  She had two full 'cups' of water before they left for the walk down.  They left their water in their car, thinking they would not need it for such a short hike.  Well, I've been there before!  Yes, I am still beating that big old drum.  Always remember your water no matter how short the walk.  FYI, for younger people it may be a short hike, but for us it wasn't that short and it was all up hill!






A few more photos of the Memorial, and then we make our way down, stopping at another exhibit we noticed from the top.














Last stop in this area was at a sculpture of the biplane used for their flight, with figures portraying the brothers, and others.  


This following are two markers near the sculptures.


















Can't resist a little role playing.


But who is taking a photo of whom?
















And with these two last photos we leave for our next destination, The Lost Colony, which will be my next post.




28 comments:

  1. I have never been there, though it is not too far from us. That breakfast looks divine! I would love to eat there. It's a good thing they planted grass there, I cannot imagine people walking up it on the sand. The posters are really nice, and informative. I did not know there was the plane sculpture up there! That is very cool, an exact replica I guess! I love the last pictures where you are both posing with all the sculptures, they are my favorite.

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    1. Thanks Ginny, as for the breakfast, it was wonderful but I could not eat it all. What I had was delicious. Happy you liked the post. I remember being fascinated by the place when we visited all those years ago, but don't have much memory of it other than enjoying my parents' reaction to seeing the glider in the old visitor center. The things they had to do to prepare was mind boggling.

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  2. I would enjoy the Wright Brothers. As a little kid I read all I could find on them. I did get my private pilot's license.

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    1. That is very interesting Red. I knew of them but enjoyed learning more.

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  3. Your photos are beautiful, Denise, and I really enjoyed the tour here! And your breakfasts both look and sound delicious!

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    1. Thank you Linda, I love showing my blogging friends these interesting places, and the food! ;)

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  4. Yet another wonderful day and informative post. Megathanks.

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    1. You are very welcome EC, happy you enjoyed it :)

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  5. HI Denise, what a wonderful place to visit, a really interesting post, but the Wright brothers would have such a shock if they saw what they had started with todays modern aircraft. All the best, John

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    1. Thank you John, isn't that the truth. All the best to you too :)

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  6. That was quite a breakfast - more than I eat in a week!

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  7. Great pictures from the site. We plan to visit here too during our vacation. I will try to remember to take water!

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    1. Can't tell you how happy I am that you are heading down that way. I am truly looking forward to seeing your photos. Yes by all means, remember that water :) I think why I keep going on about it is I remember when I became so dehydrated on the previous vacation in New Mexico and ended up wasting a day of my holiday in bed! Certainly don't want anyone else to have to deal with that and if I can pass on the word, I am content :)

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  8. That looks like a great memorial.

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  9. I love the statues of the people with real people and I love Roxy the dog too. Nice old plane also

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  10. What a beautiful site for a memorial to them. I read David McCullough's book on them a year or two ago, and really loved it.

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    1. Thanks William, it is certainly an impressive sight to see. Thank you also for the reminder about the book, I would enjoy reading that.

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  11. The building where you took breakfast is very pretty. I remember studying about the Wright brothers in history. That was a long time ago!

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    1. Thank you Nancy! I am thinking we probably studied them in school also, but I can't remember as it was such a long time ago.

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  12. Thanks for the maps to show just where you were. You did a great job of documenting and giving us information for sure. When our son in law was stationed at Camp Lejeune the furthest we traveled from Jacksonville was Emerald Isle.

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    1. Glad you liked the addition of the maps Ellen. I will have to look up where Emerald Isle is.

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  13. What a nice outing. Nice sculptures, too.

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  14. What an interesting post and I love all the photos especially those of you with the statues, what fun. Wonder what the brothers would think today if the saw what we fly in!!! Take care Diane

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    1. Thank you Diane, I think the brothers would be speechless.

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