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We woke to a view over the sea with two fishermen out there
trying their luck. It was another lovely day - where was that snow?
Everywhere else! We had brekkie at the "American
Embassy" once again. This was what one of our drivers in Canada
called MacDonalds. We drove to the Orville and Wilbur Wright
Memorial once again. This is set on the field where they made their first
flight on 17th December, 1903. The main building was almost 'afloat'
as they had big troubles with water leaking from the ceiling. 
In
fact Tracy emailed me after we arrived back home to show that the centre was
closed indefinitely and we were probably one of the last to see through it for
quite a while. It was very interesting walking where the Wright Brothers
walked and seeing their hangar and living quarters. However, it was
absolutely freezing out on the field - the coldest I'd ever been.
Tracy and I walked up to the memorial on the hill - it was freezing! We
set out for further south to Cape Hatteras. On our way we called in to the Bodie
Island Lighthouse - I just love these lighthouses. They are so
beautiful - very different from the ones I've seen in Australia. This
light house was the third one to be built on this site. The first
one collapsed, the second was blown up in the Civil War but this one is still
standing. We learned that Blackbeard was once in this area and he
was hanged somewhere nearby. We crossed Bodie Island Bridge
across the Oregon Inlet to Pea Island Wild Life Refuge, where we saw lots of
birds - black ducks, white swans, snow geese - and eventually came on to
Hatteras Island. Tracy tried to tell us that the people in the village of
Salvo, which we passed through, saved the people from other villages from a
hurricane and that's where the saying "Thank God for the Salvos" was
based. Meanwhile, according to Tracy, people from the nearby town of Avon
sent through messages of support and that's where the saying "Avon calling" originated. My comment was "Crap!"
We came to Hatteras Lighthouse (see
pic above), which was another beauty - diagonally striped this time.
It is the tallest one in Northern America. They actually moved this
lighthouse and its residences in 1999 because of worry about high tides washing
away the foundations. Amazingly, they put the lighthouse on a
platform and moved it on rails to its present position, 2,900 feet away.
Quite a feat. It is a very impressive structure.
We continued on to the end of Hatteras Island but we had to turn back as we were
running out of time. (As usual) There were huge three storey houses
on stilts everywhere in this area and they look as though they are made of
match-sticks. A good wind would blow them over I am sure.
At Hatteras Landing David watched the ferry leave but it was absolutely freezing
so we girls had to take shelter in another souvenir shop. We bought
baguettes for lunch in a little coffee shop and as we ate, we were entertained
by a dear little boy at the next table. It was then time to diove back up the Outer Banks, where we saw snow geese flying in
formation as we drove through the Pea Island Wildlife Refuge. There
were heaps of fishermen on the shores here. We crossed the bridge
back over to Bodie Island before crossing over to Roanoke Island, the birthplace
of America's first English child in 1587. So the sign told us - it could
only happen in America! Then we crossed over to the mainland.
I've never seen so many ute/trucks as there are in that country. The
higher, the wider, the better. Big boys with big toys, and the noisier the
better too. Probably all voted for Dubya too! We
crossed on a drawbridge over the Alligator River, which is part of the
Intercontinental Coastal Waterway, and had to wait as the bridge had just opened
for a yacht to go through. And meanwhile...the counting for the
election still went ever, ever on. Once again we were in
a cotton growing area. It was a very pretty area with absolutely
gorgeous autumn leaves. Oh, Oh! We were pulled over
by a State Trooper for speeding and because Tracy has an Australian drivers licence we had to follow him
to a magistrate's office in Cresswell - a small town we'd gone through a short
time before before. We were in trouble for time now as we were
supposed to have dinner with Tracy's netball coach, Crystal that night.
Oh well, s..t happens! We had to wait for a magistrate to 
come
and it cost Tracy $115 - $25 for the fine and $90 for court costs.
The magistrate took a while to come as she was cooking soup for Thanksgiving
next day. When we finally left Cresswell, it was absolutely
beautiful as we crossed Albemarle Sound - the sunset was magnificent and the sky
all around was a lovely colour. This was a big cotton growing area and
there were large bales of picked cotton alongside the fields waiting for
pick-up. We saw quite a few farmers harvesting their cotton as we
drove through. We drove through Dismal Swamp in the dark and Tracy
assured us that it was better in the dark than in the daylight. After we had gone through Norfolk once again, we
passed through the Monitor-Merriman Bridge/Tunnel. We drove home in
a hurry as we thought Crystal would have phoned and we were running late, but
she had obviously forgotten and I think were all a bit relieved as we were very
tired. I cooked dinner and we TV'd once again.
It was sleep in time but I was up early as usual and set to
typing this diary. I then started to pack for home!!!
When everyone had surfaced I cooked a 'Jenny Special' brunch - we didn't have a
1lb of bacon each! Then it was time to watch the Macy's Parade from
New York and we all agreed that it was not a patch on our own Christmas Pageant.
It was then time to get ready to go to Kurt's and Lisa's for Thanksgiving 
dinner. Kurt is Tracy's boss and they had kindly invited us to share
Thanksgiving with them. Kurt and Lisa have a lovely two storey home
in a really classy neighbourhood, Yorktown. They have two children,
David 10 and Megan 8, who are now both Crows fans, since seeing the '97 Grand
Final at Tracy's on 4th July. Also there for dinner were Lisa's
brother Mark, his wife Jackie, and daughters Mara and Caroline. They had
driven from Ohio a couple of days previously. A friend Mical, who
also works at Langley, shared dinner with us as well. While they were still preparing dinner, we got started with the delicious nibbles
they had served up. It would have been rude not to eat them after
all. I had nothing to do with the fact that they were so yummy.
The tradition is to have Thanksgiving Dinner at 3 or 4 p.m. It is
also a tradition to watch football during the day - quite acceptable to have the
TV on during the 
day. What a great idea - watching footy!
Young David was barracking for the vikings and everyone else the Dallas Cowboys
so I helped him out, even though I like the Dallas Cowboys' colours better.
Our dinner was served at about 4 o'clock and it was the most delicious meal -
perfectly cooked turkey, mashed potato, yams, green bean casserole, sweet corn,
sage stuffing, dressing, gravy, hot rolls and sweet corn muffins. It was
wonderful and they wouldn't let us do a thing, which made it even better.
This was all followed by fruit compotes. Everyone left the table for
a while, and as guests, we watched the football while the others cleaned up. They insisted. Then it
was time for desserts - the most delicious chocolate cake I've ever tasted,
pumpkin pie and bourbon pecan chocolate pie. Yum!
After dinner I sat and chatted with Jackie about all sorts of things.
Then David joined us while Tracy played a ball game with Mark, Mara and young
David. It was a great afternoon and evening and we were so grateful that
Kurt and Lisa made us part of their Thanksgiving celebrations. We
drove home and finished packing as we had a very early start the next morning.
Tracy and I watched E.R., which was not a nice one, then off to bed.
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North
Carolina and Thanksgiving
