April 29 The Outer Banks (Lynette's Golden birthday)

We planned to stay 2 nights at "The Refuge on Roanoke Island" RV park, so today was planned as a full day. As an FYI many parks where we only stayed one night usually only gave us the afternoon to explore after driving 3-4 hours; we usually arrived at noon or soon after.
We started by exploring Elizabethan Gardens on the north end of the island we were staying in; Carolines camera was in over load mode :) the only thing really blooming at this time of year are Azaleas. BC is actually in the same zone as this part of the world. matter of fact this area had a bunch of snow at different times of this past winter. We waited till Lynette go out of bed and called her and wished her a happy "golden" birthday :) We'll Skype later tonight.
We then headed over the bridge to The Outer Banks group of islands which is the most Eastern stretch of "sand banks" of the USA. Very touristy area, many summer homes of the rich; amazing how many large sport fishing boats along the hidden harbors along this 80 mile stretch. We went South to Cape Hatteras and checked out the largest of the lighthouses on the East coast. The sands over time after this lighthouse was built were shifting due to the big tides forcing and moving sand. This lighthouse was moved 2900 feet inland a number of years ago; apparently it was an engineering marvel of the time. Off these islands the German uboats sunk hundreds of merchant and supply ships in the early part of WW2; we visited a maritime museum highlighting this as well as the waters off this coast was known as the "Graveyard of the Atlantic" as many ships over the years met their fate with treacherous seas and weather.
We headed North to Nags Head, Kill Devils Hill, and Duck (yes that's right, those are the correct names); we first went to Duck (Henry Meerstra would be proud) and walked along a boardwalk with shops all along the water, really cool idea. We then went to Kitty Hawk and visited the Wright brothers memorial; it consisted of a museum of artifacts and a restored version of the original Kitty Hawk airplane; as well as a monument on the hill they originally "pushed off". A metal replica made for anyone to climb on finished off the visit.
We stopped by a waterfront seafood restaurant before "heading home". A good day.

 the Atlantic is on the right

cute shops on the water boardwalk

 restored "Kitty Hawk" and the first glider the brothers flew first

 "LETS GO"!!

a young couple from Quebec pulled in beside us. felt a little sad for them with their "motorhome" (for about 30 seconds) they actually had a fold out mattress and a whole bunch of other stuff in there.