One short flight for man

View from the Black Pelican restaurant---sand and sea

We recently took a short trip to the mid-Atlantic coast, making pilgrimage to the North Carolina shore where Ohio’s Wright brothers performed their famous experiments. We lunched at the Black Pelican, formerly the Kitty Hawk lifesaving station, weather bureau, and telegraph office, from where Orville sent his historic telegram, December 17, 1903:

"SUCCESS FOUR FLIGHTS THURSDAY MORNING ALL AGAINST TWENTY ONE MILE WIND STARTED FROM LEVEL WITH ENGINE POWER ALONE AVERAGE SPEED THROUGH AIR THIRTY ONE MILES LONGEST 57 SECONDS INFORM PRESS HOME CHRISTMAS. OREVELLE WRIGHT"

Wright Brothers Memorial, Kill Devil Hill, NC

After lunch, we visited the Wright Brothers Memorial, where the brothers conducted their first flights. The little dots at the base of the monument are people. My husband walked to the top and said it was much larger than it appeared from below. A lifesize model of the glider rested near the parking lot. (The little gumby in the foreground is a water fountain.)

The brothers had a single-minded focus, the command of a wide range of relevant practical knowledge, and a willingness to toil in relative obscurity that would be rare to find in a person today.