Weekend is spare time. That does not mean we are going to do things separately. Our inner force drove us – a group of nine people – to the outer banks. Discover the local life in the old American way – with our huge car from one food court to another one. We stopped several times for historic milestones. While the sun was tickling our faces we discovered the story of the Wright Brothers at the Wright Brother National Memorial. Wilbur and Orville tried several times to bring up their plane using the strong wind at Kitty Hawk. We stepped at the point were the brothers did their first motorized flight – 12 s & 120 ft – on December 17th in 1903. If you are not interested in history, please skip this and go on with the next paragraph.
At first, the brothers started a good running printing business. But being successful was not enough to compete with the larger, more established daily newspapers. After being simple printers, they began repairing and selling bicycles. In 1896 they started to manufacture their own bikes. But these two guys did not care about the money, they were dreaming about trading wheels for wings. The brothers wanted to solve the problem they recognized. All flying machines in these days lacked suitable controls. So that is why Orville and Wilbur developed a system to control the airplane. After several failed test flights since 1900 they finally made it up in 1903. They were flying. In 1905 they tried to sell a flying machine to the United States War Department as well as governments and individuals like Germany as well. People who heardt about that were not convinced and did not take it them seriously. But finally, two years later the U.S. Army Signal Corps asked for an aircraft. In addition, the French syndicate of businessmen purchased another. And that is how it motorized aviation starteds and in at the same time the reason why we could have been flying to America and be part of these this project. They gave a huge input in innovation and flight history.
No Turtles for lunch
Some miles later we arrived in Nags Head to be part of a St. Patrick’s Day parade. Along main street we passed by pretty looking houses next to the ocean. It was full of excited kids with their parents waiting for the decorated vehicles. Even here the military was part of the American everyday life as the parade also included a cart loaded with a torpedo.
At lunchtime we headed to a special local restaurant called “Tortugas Lie” which we can highly recommend. The region of North Carolina is famous for its fresh captured seafood. Happy to be part of this cultural experience and with a full tummy we continued our trip down to Cape Hatters.
Where forces collide
On the left and right side, the highway is framed by water. In the early evening we made it to Cape Hatteras Lighthouse. We left the car near the beach and went the last miles per feed. Step by step along the beach to our final destination – the Cape Point. The sunset made this place even more special for us and we enjoyed our walk to the top of the sandbank. There you can see the point where the two forces – the Golf stream and the Labrador stream – collide.
Exhausted but satisfied we head back home.
Author: Laura Drischmann // Business Management
