My second trip to NC was the furthest drive since we went all the way to the Outerbanks, roughly a 12 hour drive.
The drive there was easy since the directions boil down to take I-40 forever and then turn left. We left TN on a Thursday morning and we were almost at NC when we stopped at Chick-fil-a for lunch, one of my favorite places to stop on road trips because the food is always good and the employees are very pleasant. On a long drive it is nice to count on friendly faces during stops.
Now since we had a specific reason to be in NC, my cousin was getting married, we made the drive straight with no stops. So the only looking around we got to do was rest stops and along the highway sites. The drive itself was beautiful. I-40 is a pretty smooth ride and curves through the Smokey Mountain between the TN and NC border. And as we passed Asheville and drove further into NC we could still see Mountains in the distance.
After about 9 hours of driving we passed a sign for Nashville. which brings me to one of the fun games I like to play on road trips. This usually involves me seeing the name of a town or city I know that should be far far far away and acting lost. I don't know why I find this funny. So mainly the conversation goes like this:
Sign passes saying name of town - in this case Nashville-
Me: "Nashville! Nashville! We've been going the wrong way!! We shouldn't be anywhere near Nashville!"
I don't know it's dumb but funny. When we road tripped through Arkansas we saw signs for Boston. Which by the way from now on when someone says they are from Boston I think I am just going to assume they mean Boston, Arkansas.
Speaking of dumb road trip games there is also the fact that we can not pass a cow pasture without imitating cows: or sheep come to think of it actually horses too. :-) I guess we gotta keep ourselves entertained somehow.
At a quick stop in the Tyrell County visitors center we discovered how proud they were of their black bears. The parking were marked out by bear prints and this statue declared them the home of some of the world's largest black bears. Which resulted in Meg being super excited to see a black bear as we drove along.
Spoiler alert: we did not see any black bears.
Just before reaching the Outerbanks we reached the Alligator River and the Alligator River Bridge as well as the Croatan Sound and Virginia Dare Memorial Bridge. My Mom had been talking about these bridges as we were driving because she remembered them from when we had visited the Outerbanks as children. Unlike the high suspension bridges that we were used to in NY these were like extended roads just above the water line. Gorgeous!
The Outerbanks is a lot like trying to drive out to Montauk, there is one road in and one road out. And that one road in the Outerbanks is lined with more mini-golf parks then I have ever seen in one place: there were pirate and sailor themed mini gulf and at least two dinosaur themed mini-golf. Also there was something I had not seen in a long time, 7-11! I hadn't realized how much I missed that deliciously ice filled slurpee until I saw one.
Friday morning we got up and went to Kitty Hawk, or more properly Kill Devil Hills, to see where the Wright Brothers had made their first successful flights on December 17th, 1903. When we had first been here years ago as children everything referred to the site as being in Kitty Hawk and that was what we always said. When I was road tripping and planning this I was surprised to see Kill Devil Hills listed as the town. Kitty Hawk is apparently about four miles away but a the time of the flight it was the nearest town. Kill Devil Hills did not have a municipal charter until 1953. I tried to find out why it is called Kill Devil Hills and found several tales. One says that a man tried to con the devil and actually trapped him under the largest sand dune, officially Kill Devil Hill. Other tales involved sailing: whether it was because of rum from New England smuggled through the waters and buried in the dunes that was strong enough to "kill the devil" or an off hand remark from a sailor that navigating the dunes could "kill the devil".
Well because I have very little luck and things like to not go as planned we were there during the first week of construction on the museum so it was closed. Though we were able to go on the property and see the markers for the first flights and the hangers where the Wright brothers lived and kept their airplane, just most of the historical information and displays could not be accessed. That's ok some of our best memories are the result of something not going as planned- we are experts at the whole got lemons make lemonade thing. And on a side note I'm glad that the museum is being cared for and being updated so that more people will be able to come and learn about these early steps in flight. I didn't look up all the plans but it will be modernizing displays and making some things more interactive.
First off, for all the siblings out there: look how nicely they took turns! The ultimate sharing right there.
This shot shows the rail they used to help stabilize the plane and then follows down the path showing improvement with each of their flights.
Also there is now a metal replica of the plane complete with Orville ready for flight. I was going to climb on top of it and then realized I am old and didn't want to fall and break anything so I settled for half way.
On top of Kill Devil Hill is a monument to the Wright Brothers that overlooks the markers from their historic flights.
After exploring the site we left and began heading to Nags Head to see a World Record setting Blue Marlin at the Oregon Inlet Fishing Center in Nags Head. The Marlin was caught in the 70s and is over 14 feet long weighing 1142 lbs. It is mounted in a glass case next door to the bait and tackle shop.
At first I couldn't find it since I had parked in behind the shops and eventually I had to go into the bait shop and ask. I walked over to see it and then went to get Meg and my Mom and show them where it was. Now I had been saying world record blue marlin and I'm not sure why but I became a little insecure about the expectation set for it and so tried to talk it down by saying it's not really that big. As a result upon seeing it my Mom was like, "what do you mean not that big its huge!"
Then we started heading back to a brewery that we had seen for lunch. Actually Meghan had spotted the familiar tanks outside the building as we passed it and had correctly guessed it was for brewing.
Turns out this cool little Brewery is the first wind powered brewery in the United Sates. Behind the brewery is a giant turbine. I found it very fitting since the Wright Brothers first came here for the winds that a wind powered brewery would also do well.
Also they make really good beer and food! I had the station burger and we did end up bringing a growler home with us.
After lunch we went back to the hotel and took a walk on the beach, something else I didn't realize how much I would miss when I moved to a land locked state. I had realized it during our trip a year ago to HangOut Fest Musical Festival and the two trips to Florida to see the Falcon Heavy: Behold The Falcon Heavy and The Launch of the Falcon Heavy.
As we walked along the beach I gathered shells and skipped rocks. And then I spotted something in the sand that I hadn't seen since my last walk on the beach in Montauk!
My Dad called them Mermaid's Purses when we used to find them on the beaches of Montauk and Meghan and I had been wondering why we didn't see any at Gulf Shores or on the beach in Florida. But now here we were in NC and they were everywhere. Apparently they are Skate, a member of the ray family.
Also on the beach Meghan found a group of little birds that would run up to the water line as it receded and then would race back for their lives as the next wave came in.
Friday night was the beautiful wedding and Saturday we went to a brunch before heading home.
To break up the 12 hours of driving I had found several cool things that we could get to with in 15 minutes from I-40.
On the way out of the Outerbanks I had to stop at a 7-11 and grab a coke slurpee.
Then we were on our way out of the Outerbanks and Meghan began her renewed hope to see a black bear as we returned through Tyrell county.
Our first stop was in Zebulon, NC and their baseball water tower located outside Five County Stadium home of the Carolina Mudcats, a minor league team in the Southern League.
Really good job on it! I love the stitching around the top. There was a game that day and we did a quick turn around in the parking lot. Good news is they won 3-0.
From there we continued down I-40 towards Jamestown, NC and the world's largest Highboy Chest. It is in a little office park and we had to drive through a gate to get to it. Everything looked closed but luckily they leave the gate open, as I would think you should when you make something this attention getting. By the way it was beautiful! There was such attention to detail in the facade and handles.
To continue with the furniture theme our next stop took us just a tiny bit further down I-40 to High Point, NC where on a small lot sits another chest of drawers complete with socks hanging out. And bonus this one is for sale!
For $195,000 this could be yours. Behind it is a two story building that looks like it was some kind of office. So I'm adding this to my "if I ever win the lotto" to-do list. I don't know what I would do with it but I'll think of something.
Next, again keeping with home goods type things, was the Welcoming Coffee Pot in Winston-Salem, NC.
The Coffee pot was built in 1858 and stood in front of a tin shop owned by two brothers Samuel and Julius Mickey. It's been moved around a bit to help protect and preserve it and now has a nice little garden around it at a traffic circle. The Coffee Pot is seen as a welcoming gesture meant to bring to mind inviting someone in for a cup.
Now it was getting late and we needed to get something to eat so we took our longest detour away from 40 in order to go to King, NC and the Dairi-O restaurant. Basically a fast food burger and milkshake type place but it also had a giant Milkshake as its's entrance.
Of course I also got a milkshake. I mean if you bother to make it such a focal point it better be good. And it was!
Now we got back on to I-40 and started on our way back to TN. We were on pace to get home at around 2am central time but it was getting late so my Mom made the call to stop for the night.
The next morning we resumed our trip home and now that we had a fresh day I added some stops.
On the way to the Outerbanks I had seen a sign for "Bunker Hill Covered Bridge". Which had me confused because the only Bunker Hill I could think of was the battle fought during the siege of Boston June 17th, 1775.
Just like I mentioned earlier with Boston, Massachusetts and Boston, Arkansas obviously many places share names. Here in NC was Bunker Hill Farm. And apparently at some point back in the 1890s Catawba county requested the local owners to build a bridge over Lyle Creek. The bridge was covered years after it was originally built and now is one of two remaining wooden covered bridges in NC.
As I walked through the bridge I noticed that instead of nails or screws the bridge was put together using wooden pins.
It was a nice short early morning walk to the bridge as we followed the creek. On one side was a path and benches that had been part of one young man's Eagle project, and he did a very good job.
We returned to the car and continued down I-40 to Ashville, NC where our next stop was located. And once again since home goods was a theme in this trip we stopped to see a large Iron by the historic Flatiron building.
It's a triangular building made to fit a growing urban area and the space available. Like the Flatiron building in Manhattan it is ornately decorated with office and shopping space inside. We took some time to walk around and enjoy more of the architecture of Asheville.
And we found these cat statues off a small alley filled with little shops including a board game cafe which is an amazing idea.
Once we crossed back to TN we began looking for some place for lunch and we settled on Smokey Mountain Brewery and Restaurant. The brewery was located in Farragut just outside Knoxville. My Mom saw the sign for Farragut and remarked that there was a neighborhood in Brooklyn named for Farragut. Also in our tiny town in Tennessee is a store called Farragut Sales. I don't know if it is connected to this Farragut or not but it is a fun coincidence. James 'David' Farragut was born near Knoxville and served in the War of 1812 and the Civil War famously paraphrased as saying "Damn the torpedoes full speed ahead" during the Battle of Mobile Bay.
We sat down and took a few minutes to look at the menu. When we ordered my Mom and I ordered salads to have before the meal, which we do quite often. The funny thing is my Mom specifically said she wanted the salad before the meal which is weird because she doesn't usually actually say it- it's just how things normally happen. Anyway we had a very long wait and then the meals came out, skipping the salad and the appetizer that we ordered. The waiter realized before we could say anything about it and came and apologized. He said the salads and appetizer would be coming soon and was sorry for it being out of the order. Then a few minutes later the manager came over to apologize. He joked they were short that day and he had sent another manager to the kitchen which only made things worse. The joke worked and he pulled it off beautifully. It was actually better that the meals came out because waiting much longer would not have been good and if they had held the burgers back while we ate the salads they would have become to well done. So it all worked out nicely. And the manager coming over really really won the day.
And by mid afternoon Sunday we were home. The next day Meg and I went to work and got a cool surprise. We were asked to go to our companies corporate headquarters to learn new process and help with software testing. So on Tuesday we turned around and headed back down I-40 to NC.
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