Out and about on the Outer Banks: Kitty Hawk, NC

Last visited: 11/2022

We stayed at Barrier Island Station

https://www.rci.com/pre-rci/us/en/resort-directory/resortdetails?resortCode=1008

What's cool a bout Kitty Hawk? Well, it's the sight of the Wrights (Wilbur and Orville) first flights in 1903. (Spoiler alert...the actual first flight happened in Kill Devil, but was uneventful and so the brothers moved to Kitty Hawk) This site was chosen because it has a great wind coming in from the ocean. This national park has a wonderful visitors center that has highlights of the historical aspects of the age of flight all the way up to more current space shuttle flights. This is a kid and dog friendly location.

Although the original plane, the Wright Flyer, hangs in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in D.C., a model is available to view at the visitors center. There are also recreations of their housing, markers that show the distances of their flights and a sculpture of the plane that kids love to climb on and have their pictures taken as if they are flying it next to Orville and Wilbur. Find more information here: https://www.nps.gov/wrbr/index.htm

Stewie's first visit to Kitty Hawk.

Very unimpressed

There are a lot of models in the museum which allow for better understanding of the first flight

A model of the original Wright Flyer shows just how fragile it is

Stewie sharing ideas with Wilbur and Orville

The large marker to the left shows where the rails start for the flight, with the four makers of the distances to the right

There are several outdoor sculptures that we had fun with

Stewie coming in for a crash landing

Showing which way the wind is blowing

Success!

Hamming for the camera man

What is the downside of the Outer Banks? It has a LOT of very tiny burrs that get stuck in everything. So, be careful when walking children or dogs anywhere on the island.