Wright Brothers

"Isn't it astonishing that all these secrets have been preserved for so

many years just so that we could discover them!!"

Orville Wright, June 7, 1900

Due to the lack of sun on our vacation we decided to take a drive off the island and visit this national memorial. This is something we've wanted to do in the past but when the sun is screaming your name it's hard NOT to hit the beach or pool!! So a perfect cloudy day it was to go! It's great to learn in general but when you can actually walk the grounds of where a new idea/invention took place it seems ALL the more real and exciting!

Sewing machine that Wilbur used for the fabrics of the glider, borrowed from Addie Tate who was a resident of Kitty Hawk

Replica of the glider made/designed by Wilbur and Orville

This boulder marks the spot where Orville and Wilbur took flight for the 1st time on

December 17, 1903

There are then 4 granite markers which show the 4 flights they took that day......how far they flew and how many seconds it took

*Kayden and Emery running to the 4th marker which was

852 ft from the boulder and took 59 seconds to fly*

Getting to the 4th marker

Replica of the "flight"

Kinda crazy to imagine being all exposed to the "elements" AND not buckled in. They just laid in this semi circle contraption and secured their feet into another one!

Trek up to the Monument which marks the spot of hundreds of glider flights prior to the 1st powered flight

One of the ground keepers told us that this hill used to be 450 feet forward but due to the constant shifting of sand it lays where it is today. They finally planted vegetation on the sand hill to keep it still

It was quite the blustery day and thought this was an

appropriate shot of Em's pretending to fly! (sorry about the undies)