Last month, March 2016, Jesse and Kathy, our son and daughter-in-law, invited anyone in the family who could join them for a vacation at a beach-front property they rented for a week in Duck, North Carolina.
First, the interior of this seemingly unassuming, two-story (plus above-ground basement), ocean-front house – with over 4,400 square feet of floor space with a lot of windows and ocean-themed décor – was simply beautiful. Aside from the Dodge Mansion (an automotive baron’s house which is now a museum in Oakland County, Michigan), this house in Duck was the first single-family-residential property that I have been inside which came equipped with an elevator. The house had seven bedrooms, each with its own full bathroom. All in all, it had a total of eight full and two half bathrooms. The top floor with a very high ceiling was one, spacious, open area. It came with a fully-equipped kitchen (with two dishwashers), a bar counter with seating for eight, a dining table for ten, another table for four that could be used for anything, and a living area with a large-screen-TV set with two couches and additional comfortable chairs. Off toward the street side of the house was a loft (also surrounded by windows, above two decks of balconies). It had its own sink, refrigerator, and comfortable lounge chairs. Clearly, this house was built to entertain family and friends. And I would have been happy just enjoying the company of my family at this beautiful house. But others had different plans.
First was to visit the Lost Colony in Roanoke, aka Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, where the early British settlers vanished without a trace. More than learning about the history, the best part of the visit, for me, was when Jessica found a tiny four-leaf clover and asked me to keep it for her until when she may need it. Jessica, it is kept inside the back cover of your (Great-) Grampsie‘s book, “A 91-Year Adventure,” which was finalized and gifted to us by Grandma Sandie. It is placed above the fireplace in our living room. I love the book cover (shown below) and, of course, the contents. It is a family treasure.
In any case, let’s get back to our time in North Carolina. Second was to visit the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kill Devil Hills, NC. Blessed with a beautiful weather, it was a lot of fun.
This is where the Nelsons (Kathy’s parents, Paul and Sandie) and we (David and I) bought our senior passes (for those ages 62 and over) for $10 (yes, ten dollars) each. Each pass enables us to bring up to three additional guests to any one of the over 400 national parks in the United States. Can you believe it? How wonderful is that! Half-jokingly, Sandie and I talked about visiting most, if not all, of them systematically because, from now on, every visit is already paid for! Because Sandie and I act like two teen-age girls whenever we get together – with not a care in the world, giggling a lot and having fun – Kathy thought we should write a series of books about us, two grandmas and two grandpas, visiting National Parks together. She is convinced these books will be hilarious. Kathy is very good at planting interesting and encouraging seeds in our heads.
Again, back to the Wright Brothers. Reading the materials in the museum, I realized that the very first flight by the Wright Brothers took place in 1903. That year, my maternal grandmother would have been barely two years old. From that thought, my imagination went wild. If Wright Brothers did not invent airplanes, it is highly unlikely that David and I would have met. After all, we were born half-way around the world away from each other. Along this line of thought process, it would not be too much of a stretch to say that our descendants were made possible by the Wright Brothers’ invention.
For everything in life, there is always the first. The history of aviation is no different. Every single one of the first four flights at Kill Devil Hills showed an improvement. At the Wright Brothers National Memorial, it was made easy to visualize each of these improvements, thanks to the stones marking the distance for each: The first one was 12 seconds and 120 feet; second, 12 seconds and 175 feet; third, 15 seconds and 200 feet. Lastly, the improvement between the third and fourth one was huge: 59 seconds and 852 feet. It was fantastic to be able to fast walk (and sometimes run) between these stones to fully appreciate the distance for each of the first four flights.
At the museum, a Certified Wright Brothers National Memorial Park Volunteer by the name of Mr. Steve Dias, a pilot who also flies helicopters, was very kind and helpful. He took the extra time, using the Wright Brothers aircraft replicas, to explain the basics of flight to our grandson, Ryan, age 11, who is very much interested in becoming a helicopter pilot. I was grateful for Mr. Dias for two reasons: (1) emphasizing safety above all else to Ryan and (2) reminding and encouraging me that I could get my pilot’s license (destroyed in the house fire in 2008) reissued – even if I’m not current. On the back of his license was a picture of the Wright Brothers. Wow! If I were to get it reissued, I would definitely want one just like his.
To someone like me, who still has occasional dreams of flying through the air (on my own, no aircraft, no more than 500’ above the ground), it was such a privilege to be able to see where aviation started.
Thank you, Jesse and Kathy, for one of the most memorable vacations ever. I love you both to infinity!
Mom
