outer banks

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Today is the 120th anniversary of the first powered air flight, by the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk on the  Outer Banks of North Carolina.

In May of 2017, not long after coming back east after nearly a year of traveling across America, I took my dog Tammy on a day trip to the Outer Banks.  I wanted her to be able to say (to other dogs anyway) that she has seen the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.  We drove down to Cape Hatteras and visited the lighthouse, then went back north.  We spent a little while at the Wright Brothers monument, and got our photo taken at the spot where that very first airplane flight took off from:

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Chris Knight's avatar

This afternoon the lovely and effervescent Kristen let me know that she had composed another of her articles for this blog. That’s something I really appreciate about her: how much of a surprise she always is!  Her first entry, “My Bipolar Boyfriend”, has turned out to be one of the more popular posts on The Knight Shift.  I know she has a few others in the works too.

So take it away Kristen! 🙂

“A Beacon of Light”
On Memorial Day weekend of this year, Chris and I went to the Outer Banks.  I had been in the area 25 years ago, at the age of 3, and felt like this was a trip of nostalgia (although I barely remember the first trip).  We enjoyed the Elizabethan Gardens and aquarium in Manteo, but also ventured from Roanoke Island to see Cape Hatteras, Bodie Island, Kitty Hawk, and Jockey’s Ridge.
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Hurricane Irene should be thrashing the coast pretty hard come this time tomorrow. As of this writing it’s a Category 2 storm: weaker than it had been a day ago but still capable of tremendous devastation. Thoughts and prayers going out to those in the eastern part of North Carolina and the rest of Irene’s projected path.

A hurricane is never something to take lightly. But given the current situation, I thought it might be neat to all the same share with this blog’s readers something that I’ve always thought was an intriguing story from the already rich culture of North Carolina’s Outer Banks. And it is perhaps the most unusual (some say the most accurate) hurricane warning system anywhere…

The Gray Man of Hatteras is a ghost reputed to haunt the beaches in the vicinity of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. If beaches are haunted then I suppose there are ...

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