Kitty Hawk

Last night we slept quite well in the Wal Mart in Kitty Hawk. The climate seems decidedly warmer with different flora and fauna than we are used to.

Everyone laughed at me when I said there might be alligators around, but the lady at the visitor centre confirmed that this is the northern part of their range. There is even a wilderness park on the Alligator River.

Today we visited the beach which was wonderful, just as imagined except for the giant dead turtle lying there. We also found a horseshoe crab shell which looked spiky and scary indeed. Also found out that dolphins are common along the coast here. So I have a bit of research to do and plan to do some of it with Morgane tomorrow at a local aquarium.

We visited the Wright Brothers Memorial which is where they made history by flying an airplane unassisted for the first time. I learned that flying meant controlling and not dying afterwards. The brothers were prudent enough to test their ideas out on kites and then on a local 10-year old boy before they embarked themselves. But although it took a few years to perfect their design, their three big discoveries are still what make all planes fly today.

Tonight we drove far and wide looking for a cheap-enough campsite so I could shower! We only found KOA ($60) and then an ugly RV park at $40. We drove out to Alligator River to find a $15 campground, but there weren’t any services there (it was a misprint in the guide). There were, however, a lot of mosquitoes and who knew what else. We finally said goodbye to our Swiss friends (who are heading off tomorrow anyway) and we came back to civilization (the strip of beach and hotels). Since it was late, we opted for a $45 hotel. So now we can have baths and showers and Morgane gets her own bed for the night.