Today it is raining. We've been pretty fortunate to have had such good weather. At this time last week, we wondered if we would be able to come because of all the storms! We've been trying to figure out a time to visit the Aquarium and decided today would be the day.

The North Carolina Aquarium is located on Roanoke Island. Jamie and his family were delayed, so Corey and I went to the Roanoke Island Festival Park. They have a replica of an Elizabethan ship and a nice visitor center.

We went on to the Aquarium. I completely forgot about being a member of the Nashville Zoo until we were inside and I saw the "Year of the Frog" display. (Because I'm a member of the Nashville Zoo, I can get discounted or free entry into other zoos and aquariums that are part of the AZA.) It was a nice aquarium, though smaller than the one in Chattanooga. The Earlys met up with us there. Cooper was much more interested in watching the people than watching the fish. He would turn around and sit on the edge of the tank and watch the people, while behind him sharks were swimming over his head! They had a cool replica of the sunken USS Monitor in the tank with the sharks. It was pretty cool to see! Sharks and fish tend to gravitate towards shipwrecks in the wild because of all the hiding places and minerals.

After touring the aquarium, we went to Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. We walked through the museum, which left us with more questions than answers. The museum was mostly about the "Lost Colony of Roanoke." Apparantly they tried to settle there twice. The first group had trouble with one of the local tribes. They ended up catching a ride back to England with another group of people. Then Sir Walter Raleigh sent John White with a second group (this time including women and children) in 1585. The group sent John White back to England to get more supplies, but by then England was fighting with Spain, and the Queen had all the ships fighting in the war. It took him 3 years to return. When he got back, there was a palisade around the settlement. On one of the posts, the word "CROATOAN" was carved. Apparently this was a location on one of the other islands, where Manteo's tribe lived (this tribe had been friendly). Instead of checking it out, John White headed back to England because a storm was coming. Keep in mind, his daughter and granddaughter were included in those missing. I woud have at least looked after taking all the effort to get there! Not of it made much sense to us...

Chris, another of Corey's best friends, came in to town tonight. We had dinner with him at the Black Pelican. Chris and I both tried some seafood pizza. It was great! Jamie met up with us afterwards and the boys spent the evening playing guitar.