Virginia Beach and The Outer Banks(OBX)

Virginia Beach and the Outer Banks

May 1-4

We had busy and fun filled days while visiting the Chesapeake Bay area.  We spent the first day in Norfolk, Virginia visiting the zoo and the naval museum.  We have loved our Science Membership card that has gotten us into so many cool zoos, aquariums and science centers.  The animals were pretty sleepy at the zoo, but it was a beautiful park like setting and the sun was shining!!

We headed just down the road from the zoo to an AMAZING museum called Nauticus.  It covered a wide range of topics from Navy history, information about the importance of the Chesapeake Bay as a port, to a 3-D movie about the Oceans off of South Africa.  The boys had a chance to build and try out an aqua-bot...an underwater robot.  Next door to the museum was the Battleship Wisconsin.  It was HUGE...we were able to see the top deck areas and see how the technology had changed, since this ship was used until the 1990's.

The other full day we took a day trip about 2 hours south to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  It was a place that I have always wanted to see...and being just a few hours away...we couldn't pass it up.  We spent the morning at Kitty Hawk at the Wright Brothers National Memorial.  It was fascinating to see what determination and scientific method was used to get their planes off the ground.

 This was a replica of the exact plane they flew on that amazing day in December 17,1903.  We listened to a ranger program on some of the specific features of the plane that made them successful.

 They took off from this rock the plane took off from...only doing 4 flights that day.  The first only lasting 12 seconds and going 120 feet.  But you will see what happened on the 4th flight...

 The Wright Brothers owned a bicycle shop in Dayton, OH and just traveled to Kitty Hawk to work on their plane.  They spent a total of $1,000 on all the materials for all their planes that they experimented with...that is building on a budget. :)

 Just a little farther south was Cape Hatteras National Seashore...truly one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen.  Lots of rolling sand dunes, grasses swaying in the breeze and wonderful, long beaches.  If I ever disappear from Spokane...you should start your search here...I am likely hiding out on the beach.

 Our next stop is Williamsburg, Virginia and the historic towns of Yorktown and Jamestown.
  Farewell from the sandy beaches of Cape Hatteras National Seashore.