Nags Head, NC – With a great gust from the puffed cheeks of a frowning sky, our plan to go hang gliding in Kitty Hawk – where the Wright brothers flew the first airplane – was blown from the air today.We had registered to be towed up to 2,000 feet by a small airplane and to glide over the coast for fifteen minutes, but the winds were too strong and threatened to carry us out to sea. Better than safe than sorry, they say – after all, my name is hardly Icarus.
Instead, we went hiking in Jockey’s Ridge State Park, which is home to the tallest natural sand dune system on the eastern seaboard, varying from 80- to 100-feet high. With the sun beating down, we climbed (and climbed) and ran across the dunes as colourful kites snapped to attention in the sky overhead. It was a magnificent sight and, remarkably considering the parks back home, free to enter. Bonus.
With the heavy humidity, though, sand bound to sweat and I soon resembled a giant sheet of 60-grit sandpaper.
Despite not being a driving day, we still inadv- ertently ended up covering 500 kilometres in the car as we drove throughout the area and along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore to the Hatteras lighthouse, which is more than 100 years old and, in a major feat of engineering, was moved to a new location in 1999. At 208 feet, it is the tallest lighthouse on the eastern coast. What is it with us and ‘tallest' places today?Throwing an ‘oldest’ to match, we had dinner at Sam & Omie’s in Nags Head, which opened in 1937 and is the oldest restaurant in the Outer Banks. We also had the best crab sandwich at Fat Boyz in town and spent some time down at the beach this evening.
on nature's marquee
The pelican dances
with the curled fists of waves –
fury vs. finesse,
the rising tide vs.
swoop and glide:
a vintage pugilist’s dream.
vii.29.9
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