What happens when you dream big...

I never finished telling ya'll about our little visit to the OBX, so here goes...

On our way out of town, we made a couple more stops.  The first stop was at the Wright Brothers National Memorial.  We were up early and arrived just after they opened for the day...

We explored the grounds, first coming to the replica of the cabin the brothers lived in while they did their experiments...

...and right next to that was the hangar for their crafts (world's first airplane hangar, pretty cool!).

Of course we had to pause for a photo by the "First Flight" marker :).

The kids, having their usual abundant energy, decided to run the length of the first four flight paths.  The first marker was for the Wright's first flight (the shortest) all the way to the last marker for the fourth and longest flight.

Then we directed our attention to the monument on the big hill, aka Big Kill Devil Hill.

This hill and the surrounding area looked quite different in the early 1900's.  It was ALL sand back then!  That is one of the reasons the Wright's chose the location...for a soft landing during their trials and experiments.

When it was decided that a monument would be built on the hill, the area had to first be stabilized.  So they planted the whole thing in Bermuda grass...and now you know ;).  A giant sand dune turned fixed hill...

Up at the top, the view is beautiful.  You can see all the way to the Atlantic...

The kids took some time while we were up there to work on their Jr. Ranger books.  Wouldn't you love to have this...

...as your workspace for the school day?  For those of you that don't know, we do many of these Jr. Ranger programs as part of our school work.  So...this was our classroom for the morning :).

Back down the hill and into the Visitor Center.  We took part in the Ranger talk that outlined the life and achievements of the Wright brothers.  Highly recommend, very educational.  At the end of the talk, he invited the kids up to give the Flyer a little test.  The kids each had to put on a white glove and then they were allowed to try out the control lever.  Neat!

It amazes me, completely and totally, how these young brothers took a dream and turned it into something so huge, that it forever changed the world.  Think about it...  In their time, no one had ever flown in an airplane.  They didn't exist!  And now...flying is an every day thing for many people.  "They conquered the air..."