NORTH CAROLINA & ITS OUTER BANKS

Jett’s Wild Flight:

By: Jett Lillie

10/15/22 – Biltmore Estate: On our travel day to Charlotte, NC we went to the Biltmore Estate and took a tour of the 128 room castle!

After that, we went shopping and looked at all of the gardens.

My favorite part was all of the hidden rooms it had!

10/18/22 – The Wright way to do it: The Wright Brothers invented the airplane although there was a lot of trial and error. These brothers were the “wright” people for the job! We got our Jr. Ranger booklets and went on a Ranger Walk to where they flew their famous 1903 Wright Flyer!

Here's me trying to hitch a ride on the wing!

We also saw their monument and went inside it!

Jaycie’s Bunny Hoppin’ News:

By: Jaycie Lillie

10/17/22 – Traveling to the Outer Banks: We traveled to the Outer Banks of North Carolina! The travel wasn’t so fun, but the beach day was!

We saved a jellyfish and saw a Mermaid’s Purse! The Mermaid’s Purse is an egg sack that sting rays and some sharks use for reproduction. The Mermaid’s Purse is the tough leathery outside sack that contains the eggs. If it is not opened yet, the eggs haven’t hatched. Be careful not to bring home baby sharks!

We also found many shells! Afterwards we were so sandy you couldn’t see our feet! Here is the YouTube video I made of our time on the beach and you can catch a glimpse of the Mermaid’s purse: https://youtu.be/qx-12VQExCw

Enjoy! Thanks for reading!

10/18/22 – Wright Brothers: First, we visited the Visitor’s Center where we got the Jr. Ranger booklets.

Soon after, we attended THE Ranger Program. I learned that the Wright Brothers had many ideas in mind of where to experiment. They were thinking of Chicago, the “windy city.” The brothers wrote letters to different places asking for weather facts or why that place would be good to go to. Kitty Hawk, NC was the only place to write back. So the Wright brothers took 3 trains and a boat. The people with the sailboats didn’t know the place (Kitty Hawk) where they wanted to go. The brothers tried until finally on the 3rd day a guy said he would take them. But the guy’s boat got a hole in it and they all had to use buckets to bail the water out! Once the crew got to Kitty Hawk, the Wright brothers stayed in a house with some nice people. In the morning the people saw a gliding device in their front yard! Imagine waking up to that! Soon, the Wright brothers built a cabin and a workshop. They tested kites and gliders and eventually engine powered planes. After 4 years finally they did it! A man on the side had the camera and he was told to take a picture if anything exciting happened. He took the picture of the first flight!

We saw the picture (above with Jett) and the cabins.

Here's us celebrating with the statue of the camera man:

There are markers of stone where the first 4 flights took off and landed. Here's Daddy and I walking it all:

Jules’ Journal:

By: Julianne Lillie, 8/20/22

10/19/22 – Cape Hatteras National Seashore: We all woke up tired this morning…just dragging a bit. But it was our last day on the Outer Banks and there was still a lot to see and do. So we all rallied! We packed a picnic lunch & headed out to Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

We arrived at the Bodie Island Visitor’s Center about 10am. We got our passport stamps, Jr Ranger booklets and souvenirs. Since it was the “off season” unfortunately the lighthouses were closed and we couldn’t climb up to the top. And there were no longer Ranger programs either. So we just browsed the exhibits and admired the beauty of the outside of the lighthouse.

Lighthouses are something I have always loved since my grandparents took me to the Oregon/California coast in their motorhome and we drove down Hwy 1. I just think they are beautiful and symbolize hope. As Christians, we are called to be a beacon of light to those around us pointing to others to salvation… much like lighthouses. Maybe that’s why I love them so much!?

We hopped back in the car and drove over a VERY LONG bridge further south to Pea Island where we visited the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. They had neat animal displays including the loggerhead sea turtles nest & had an area for bird watching.

Over 300 species of birds migrate through these wetlands. And nearly a dozen sea turtle species nest on the Outer Banks beaches. This year they charted nearly 300 Loggerhead sea turtle nests that the NPS identified and roped off for protection. I guess I never realized the eggs were buried under the sand… but it makes way more sense!

I was disappointed we just missed the hatching season which is between mid-July through mid-October. Maybe just a couple weeks earlier we could’ve watched hatchlings. Oh well, this gives us a reason to come back to the Outer Banks again!

From the Visitor Center out the window we could also see the steam mast (at low tide) of an old Civil War ship that wrecked right outside the center. It was pretty cool to see!

View from the window:

Up-close photo at lowest tide:

What the ship looked like before sinking. The Steam mast just to the right of the center is what is poking through the water.

Then we kept on driving south to Hatteras Island and stopped at the Hatteras Island Visitor Center & Lighthouse.

By now the kids had finished their Jr Ranger books so we stamped our passports & the kids turned their books in, took the oath, & received their 53rd badge.

The Hatteras Lightkeeper’s house had been transformed into a museum so we checked that our & then took pics of the Hatteras light and admired its majestic height! It’s actually the 2nd tallest brick lighthouse in the world measuring at 198.49 ft.

After that we headed to Jaycie’s happy place, the BEACH!

We purchased an ORV (Off road vehicle) permit so that we could drive the truck right out onto the beach. Ja had to let out air from his tires all the way down to 18-20 PSI. And then we drove out to the Cape Point – the “elbow of the Outer Banks” and watched the waves going different directions crashing into each other. We sat on the back of the tailgate while we watched the crazy waves and ALL these fisherpeople!

Us on the tailgate:

Crazy waves crashing:

Fisherpeople to our right:

Fisherpeople to our left:

Apparently, we rolled up and parked right in the middle of a fishing tournament! It was fun to watch them. One poor old man caught a sting ray and we watched as he struggled to unhook it without hurting it and him. Quite the ordeal!

After our picnic lunch, we decided to drive a little further up the beach to find a less windy, better place to collect shells. We found several nice piles of shells and we all helped Jaycie search for some pretty & unique ones.

Jett and Jaycie also found some jellyfish that had washed up on the shore so they decided to save them.

Once our buckets were full of pretty seashells, we headed back north towards our campground but ended up stopping at Studio 12 for an impromptu “art class” on mosaics.

Before:

After:

Jett created a big Jack 'o' lantern pumpkin. Jaycie created the most precious little mushroom you’ve ever seen. And I made a retro camper. Jason just worked on airing back up his tires and then helped us get more tiles when we needed them. It was so much fun! (Well maybe not for Jason.) Then we drove back to Kill Devil Hills and ate dinner at Miller’s Waterfront Restaurant while we watched the sunset across the water. It was absolutely gorgeous!

Jaycie's virgin Pina Colada for her "night cap"!

Then we headed home to tune into Cedarpoint Students & prep for a travel day the next day. Today was a very refreshing day – something about the ocean air just rejuvenates a soul!