Company

I had a most wonderful and lovely visit from my parents last week. Although much too short, it was grand having them visit. We met at the Wright Brothers Visitor Center Thursday morning. Without planning, my mom and I showed up wearing almost the same thing.

We enjoyed an absolutely amazing flight room ranger program. As an interpreter, you can't help critique other programs and this one was superb!

We trekked out to the monument and the statue. I got a lovely ride with Orville.

Dad needed a ride to. It was pretty much the coolest thing to see my dad climb up on that statue.

That night was the last full moon climb of the season. It was a beautiful night. My parents were superb again and climbed with my group both times. The moon on the water with the lighthouse light spinning above us is truly a magical experience and I'm so thrilled I was able to share a little part of that with my parents. We went for ice cream afterwards, then walked along the beach, hunting ghost crabs and watching the surf and lighthouse.

Friday morning we climbed the lighthouse again. I know, again. They wanted to see the view in the daylight. In the background, you can see Cape Hatteras, also known as Cape Point, or simply, the point.

After climbing down, we hiked a good mile and a half out to the point. It was hot, humid, and a looooong walk. It was worth it. My mom and I both stuck our feet in and felt very nice. A very kind fisherman gave us a ride back to where we had parked. I was thrilled my parents got to experience driving on the beach.

After a quick snack, we were off again, father south to Hatteras Village and the Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum. They are the ones who currently house and display the original Fresnel lens that used to be in the lighthouse. My mom's standing next to it for some perspective. Massive, huh?

The museum had a new pirates exhibit which was quite nice. I'll have to go back to explore a bit more. My dad was a good sport and took this picture. Arg!

We drove back to my trailer, my parents loaded up their rental car, and were gone. It was very short, but it was so fun to have them here, to play hostess for my parents, and to share a little bit of my life the past six months with them.

Evacuating for Earl

As Earl swirled his way straight for my little island, all the seasonal staff was ordered to evacuate government housing. This meant I packed my life into my car, again, and headed inland. I stayed Wednesday night in a hotel in Williamston because I was just too tired to keep going. A mandatory evacuation was given to all residents later that evening and my ranger friend Jen joined me. Her husband is a law enforcement ranger and had to stay. She joined me in my room and the next morning we headed to a little town south of Raleigh where Jen's Aunt Ruby lived to wait out the storm.

Friday, we decided to explore Raleigh. I'd flown in and out of the airport, but wanted to go see the capitol.

Below are two pictures. It is your responsibility to determine which is the real capital building for the state of North Carolina.

Which do you think? The top or the bottom?

The answer is the second. The top picture is the academic building on the campus of Texas A&M. Yep, I found the state capitol a bit pathetic.

I took a picture with the United States presidents that came from North Carolina, then, following in the tradition of my friend Rachel, Jen and I both turned cartwheels on the steps of the capitol.

We went in and it was a nice building, but about as plain inside as it was out. I found this very interesting.

The library. Has nothing, nothing, compared to the fabulous library in the Iowa state capitol.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at the mall. Holy cow, a mall. A place that has more than bait, boards, and bikinis! We ended with a fabulous slice of cheese cake from the Cheesecake Factory.

Highway 12 south opened at 7am Saturday morning and I got the call on my way back to Buxton that I was to report to work at 7am the next day. There was a ton of washover (water and sand) on the road in the Pea Island Wildlife Refuge area and I did not feel good driving through it. As long as you go slow, high water shouldn't be a problem. This, however, was not fresh water, but salt water and I worry that in another six months my little car is going to have corrosion damage.

I am back in my little trailer, the trailerhood is lively once again, and I've got five weeks until my season at Cape Hatteras ends. Hopefully another hurricane won't end it before then.

Out and About

Last month I took a trip up north. It's taken me a while to get pictures up, for which I apologize. It was a lovely weekend. I left Buxton and headed first for Manteo, NC, and Fort Raleigh. The crape myrtle along the side of the road up to FORA (in NPS lingo) was gorgeous. It made me a bit homesick for Texas.

I was able to wander through the visitor center, did my junior ranger booklet and got my badge, and made it out to the fort. This is where the lost colony of Roanoke was fabled to be. This is also where the first English-American child, Virginia Dare, was born. Hence, I live in Dare county. Pretty cool.

This was the earthen fort. Not going to lie, a bit anti-climatic. For one of my junior ranger activities, I was supposed to go out to the fort, and describe where I would be during an attack. I said I'd be outside the fort up a tree.

Next, I headed up to the Kitty Hawk/Kill Devil Hills villages to Wright Brothers Memorial (WRBR in NPS lingo). What an amazing place and what a cool part of our history as Americans, and as humans for that matter, took place here. I had goosebumps almost the whole time.

I was able to attend a flight room talk. They have a reproduction of the first Wright flier. It was awesome and I learned a bit about aviation and how a lot of what the brothers discovered is still being used today. Pretty cool. The picture is the replica of their first flier.

There is a nice memorial up on Kill Devil Hill. I hiked the hill and had a wonderful view of the area, and just how far those first few successful attempts at powered flight were. Incredible place.

As I was leaving, I saw this plaque. The letters state the piece of cloth and wood are original pieces of the first Wright flier and they successfully landed on the moon, taken by Neil Armstrong in the Eagle module. Wow.

I grabbed a bite to eat and was headed back to Manteo to the waterside theatre to see the production of "The Lost Colony". It is basically the story of the lost colony of Roanoke. It was cool to see, but I wouldn't make the effort to see the play again. You could tell the actors had been doing this all summer. The costumes were beyond fabulous, the set was pretty amazing, and the backdrop was a beautiful sunset.

It was a lovely day and it was so good to get out and explore the Outer Banks.