On the Buxton Woods Trail by 8:15 a.m., we walked the three-quarter-mile loop and took off our jackets. Signs warned of cottonmouths, but it's still too cool for snakes.
"I read in several pamphlets that insects here in the summer can ruin a vacation," said Andy. "It's too early for bugs though. That's just a warning to bring mosquito netting if you camp and bug spray if you plan to be outside," he added.
I'm glad we're here now.
Signs warned of dangerous rip currents off Nags Head, but the beach, a pristine strip of sand and sea oat-covered dunes, stretched empty both north and south. Over the water the gulls discovered a school of fish. Hundreds of them took turns dive-bombing the water for breakfast. "There aren't as many seashells here," said Andy. We looked anyway.
"Nags Head suffers from 15 percent unemployment, mostly from a lull in construction," said Andy. It's hard to tell by just driving through with all the tourist spots closed for the season.
Chicamacomico, identified by an interpretive sign, marked one of the first Union victories in the Civil War. It was really more of a firing trade-off with both sides back where they started. Union and Confederate troops both claimed they had foiled a major enemy offensive and had succeeded in spite of being outnumbered. Actually neither side gained much.
Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, resting and wintering habitat for migratory waterfowl, featured the North Pond Wildlife Trail, which was dedicated to broadcast journalist Charles Kuralt, host of CBS Sunday Morning. Kuralt ended each broadcast with a few minutes of video on the magnificent natural features of the U.S.
"The bird walk visitors on Saturday identified 45 different species," explained an elderly volunteer at the Visitor Center, "but they didn't see a lot of anything in particular."
Brodie Island Lighthouse, undergoing restoration, included a small museum and a boardwalk with two-tiered viewing platforms for watching waterfowl. This time we forgot the binoculars, but the pure white snow geese were easy to identify.
"More than 200 artifacts," he said, "and all from the late 1500's, but no real clues as to where they went. But they probably did not all leave together as a group. Croatoan Island could not support so many. Years later fair-haired, blue-eyed Indians were seen on Croatoan Island, but any who chose to go north to Chesapeake Bay, their original destination, would have encountered much less friendly Indians." He wrinkled his nose. "Sooooo... mystery's solution?"
Five months ago, soon after we left home, we visited the Wright Brothers Museum in Dayton, Ohio. Now, less than two weeks before our trip ends, we are Wright back. At Kitty Hawk on Bodie Island on Kill Devil Hill, Orville and Wilbur Wright experimented with gliders and tested them out from the top of the dunes in 1901 and 1902.
For the first time ever, a manned heavier-than-air machine left the ground by its own power, moved forward under control without losing speed, and landed on a point as high as that from which it had started. Andy and I touched the granite boulder that marks the spot where the first plane left the ground on December 17, 1903. He ran the 120 feet to the first flight marker. "I don't think that was 12 seconds," I called. "You can run faster than they flew." We both laughed.
The second flight, Wilbur's of 175 feet, lasted 12 seconds. Then Orville traveled 200 feet in 15 seconds, and Wilbur sailed 852 feet in 59 seconds. Andy and I walked to each marker, trying to imagine how the dunes, now stabilized with grass, must have looked to them. They had picked the site for its wind, its sand-soft landing and its privacy, surrounded by trees and ocean. After Wilbur's second flight, Flyer was caught by a gust, rolled over and damaged beyond easy repair.
Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge, resting and wintering habitat for migratory waterfowl, featured the North Pond Wildlife Trail, which was dedicated to broadcast journalist Charles Kuralt, host of CBS Sunday Morning. Kuralt ended each broadcast with a few minutes of video on the magnificent natural features of the U.S.
"The bird walk visitors on Saturday identified 45 different species," explained an elderly volunteer at the Visitor Center, "but they didn't see a lot of anything in particular." 
Brodie Island Lighthouse, undergoing restoration, included a small museum and a boardwalk with two-tiered viewing platforms for watching waterfowl. This time we forgot the binoculars, but the pure white snow geese were easy to identify.
Fort Raleigh National Historic Site highlighted some of the earliest recorded history of the country. In 1584 Sir Walter Raleigh sponsored England's first sustained exploration of North America. Raleigh's two ships landed on Roanoke Island, where captains Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe, armed with a charter from Queen Elizabeth I, established relations with Algonquian Indians. In 1585 Raleigh dispatched seven ships carrying 600 people. They built an earthen fort before Sir Richard Grenville returned to England with many of the travelers. The 107 soldiers and colonists who had stayed behind, impatient when Grenville failed to return with supplies, accepted an offer from Sir Francis Drake and his raiding fleet to leave Roanoke. Grenville arrived later in 1585 to find the colonists gone. This time he left 15 men to maintain England's claim in America.
We walked around the earthen construction, not much larger than the size of a high school classroom. "No wonder they couldn't survive!" I said to Andy. "They had no knowledge of the woods, and here they are surrounded by woods. What did they eat?"
In 1587 Raleigh sent 171 colonists led by John White to settle at Chesapeake Bay. First, they came to Roanoke to find the 15 men whom Grenville had left behind. The search, futile, White's pilot refused to take them farther. They disembarked to repair the fort and dwellings at Roanoke. Hostile Indians killed a colonist while he crabbed in the shallows nearby. In revenge the colonists attacked an Indian village nearby, killing a native villager before they realized it was a friendly group. White returned to England for relief supplies, but, thwarted by captains who preferred to raid galleons and by conscription of all ships to fight the Spanish Armada, he did not return until 1590.
Andy and I read the signs along the Thomas Hariot Nature Trail out to Albemarle Sound. They suggested those early colonists knew little about survival in the wilderness and would have depended more and more on the Indians for food. They had promised White they would carve their destination in a tree if they left Roanoke Island. In 1590, he found CROATOAN carved into a post. A hurricane kept him from reaching Croatoan Island, so the fate of the colonists has remained a mystery.
In 1587 Raleigh sent 171 colonists led by John White to settle at Chesapeake Bay. First, they came to Roanoke to find the 15 men whom Grenville had left behind. The search, futile, White's pilot refused to take them farther. They disembarked to repair the fort and dwellings at Roanoke. Hostile Indians killed a colonist while he crabbed in the shallows nearby. In revenge the colonists attacked an Indian village nearby, killing a native villager before they realized it was a friendly group. White returned to England for relief supplies, but, thwarted by captains who preferred to raid galleons and by conscription of all ships to fight the Spanish Armada, he did not return until 1590.Andy and I read the signs along the Thomas Hariot Nature Trail out to Albemarle Sound. They suggested those early colonists knew little about survival in the wilderness and would have depended more and more on the Indians for food. They had promised White they would carve their destination in a tree if they left Roanoke Island. In 1590, he found CROATOAN carved into a post. A hurricane kept him from reaching Croatoan Island, so the fate of the colonists has remained a mystery.
"Did they ever find any clues when the archaeological team excavated in 2008?" I asked the ranger.
"More than 200 artifacts," he said, "and all from the late 1500's, but no real clues as to where they went. But they probably did not all leave together as a group. Croatoan Island could not support so many. Years later fair-haired, blue-eyed Indians were seen on Croatoan Island, but any who chose to go north to Chesapeake Bay, their original destination, would have encountered much less friendly Indians." He wrinkled his nose. "Sooooo... mystery's solution?"
We walked to the Waterside Theatre, overlooking Albemarle Sound. Here in the summer performers enact an outdoor symphonic play, The Lost Colony. I'm sure my eyes lit up.
"Yeah," said Andy. "I can see you'd like that. Don't hold your breath."
Five months ago, soon after we left home, we visited the Wright Brothers Museum in Dayton, Ohio. Now, less than two weeks before our trip ends, we are Wright back. At Kitty Hawk on Bodie Island on Kill Devil Hill, Orville and Wilbur Wright experimented with gliders and tested them out from the top of the dunes in 1901 and 1902.
They returned in 1903 with their flying machine, and on December 17, recorded the first powered manned flight, using their new 40-foot, 605-pound Flyer with double tails and elevators. A balky engine and broken propeller shafts had slowed them down until December 14. Wilbur won the coin toss, but he over-steered after leaving the launch rail and dove into the sand. The first flight would have to wait for repairs. Three days later with a 27-m.p.h. wind, Orville took the controls. He released the restraining wire at 10:35 a.m. Again, Flyer pitched and Orville overcompensated, but he kept it aloft for 12 seconds about 120 feet from the rail.
For the first time ever, a manned heavier-than-air machine left the ground by its own power, moved forward under control without losing speed, and landed on a point as high as that from which it had started. Andy and I touched the granite boulder that marks the spot where the first plane left the ground on December 17, 1903. He ran the 120 feet to the first flight marker. "I don't think that was 12 seconds," I called. "You can run faster than they flew." We both laughed.The second flight, Wilbur's of 175 feet, lasted 12 seconds. Then Orville traveled 200 feet in 15 seconds, and Wilbur sailed 852 feet in 59 seconds. Andy and I walked to each marker, trying to imagine how the dunes, now stabilized with grass, must have looked to them. They had picked the site for its wind, its sand-soft landing and its privacy, surrounded by trees and ocean. After Wilbur's second flight, Flyer was caught by a gust, rolled over and damaged beyond easy repair.
Andy and I climbed Kill Devil Hill, up a steep asphalt path to the 60-foot Wright Brothers Monument.
"Can you imagine hauling a glider up here?" I asked Andy, as we puffed our way to the top. "And they logged more than a thousand glides from this dune before they attempted powered flight." An interpretive sign called them "the first true pilots, masters of the air," not because they were foolhardy dare devils, but because they were methodical scientists, consumed by an idea that they brought to fruition.
Near the First Flight marker were the reconstructed hangar and the reconstructed living quarters and workshops, furnished with items like the Wrights used when they were at Kitty Hawk.
On the other side of Kill Devil Hill a sculpture by Stephen H. Smith recreates the First Flight event. Dedicated in December of 2003, the plane is made of stainless steel and weighs 10,000 pounds. The bronze figures represent Orville flying, Wilbur steadying the wing at take off, a member of the Life Saving crew snapping the picture and three townsfolk watching, all life size.
We headed back to the Visitor Center with its full-scale reproductions of the 1903 Flyer and the 1902 glider. It was easy to spend half an hour browsing among the exhibits, even though we already knew much.
The Centennial Pavilion focused on the evolution of aviation from the Wrights to man's first step on the moon. The story fascinated us as we wandered separately from exhibit to exhibit, reading and listening. There was still so much to learn.
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