Yesterday Jamie and I travelled to Duck on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We're staying at a beach house (mansion actually) that belongs to a friend of the Fumo family. Originally we were planning to stay here until early Monday morning, when she was going to drop me off at Nolfork airport to go to Mexico but with potential hurricane Hanna heading up the coast toward North Carolina we are playing it by ear.

While we are waiting for Hanna we are making the most of it and seeing some of the sights of the Outer Banks. This morning we first went to the First Flight national monument which is located on the site where the Wright brothers took their first powered flight at Kittyhawk in 1903 (December 17). Being from a generation that has always taken international jet travel for granted it was pretty amazing to stand on the spot and reflect on how far aircraft have come in a little over a hundred years.

We then headed down to a State park known as Jokey's ridge, which contains a number of sand dunes and is a mecca for hang-gliding and kite flying. We stopped to pick up a cheap ($2) kite on the way. We got to the park and headed out across the dunes with Jamie taking charge of the kite from the moment we left the car. After a good 15 minute slog through hot sand (temperature in low 30s) we got to the top and went to launch the kite. On first attempt it went a little limp and fell to the ground. Examining the kite revieled holders for a cross-spar. Jamie admitted that it may have fell out on the floor. Yours truely treked back across the hot sand, retrieved the missing spar from the car then trekked back to where Jamie was waiting. A quick repair and it was off. We had a ball flying the kite, well worth the $2 and pilgrimages across the burning sands.

The afternoon was spent checking out some of the famous lighthouses that are found on the Outer Banks and playing putput golf. I hope Hanna stays away for a few more days........