New Plan -- Going to Kill Devil Hills

So, we're looking at heading to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina instead.

By all means spend a day (at least) at Colonial Williamsburg on the
way to Kitty Hawk. Wonderful place to visit and a marvelous
educational opportunity for your kids.

Avoid the Norfolk area; it's very busy. If you must get involved,
call "Mankiller" (it's on the charts) for clearance, then fly down
the beach to Kitty Hawk.

You can land at "First Flight" airport, right next to the Wright
monument, but you can't RON. Dare County airport, at Manteo, only a
couple of miles away, is the best place to RON, get fuel, rent a car,
and so forth.

Comfort Inn at Nag's Head, between Manteo and Kitty Hawk, has very
reasonable rates mid-December; don't know about now.

If you leave to the south, fly down the beach to Hatteras Light. Then
west to Cape Lookout Light. Land at Beaufort. See the beautiful
town. Get dope on how to get past Cherry Point Marine Corps Air
Station so you can continue along the beach to Wilmington, if you want
to see the battleship North Carolina and go to Charleston, as someone
recommended. It is a gorgeous city.

So is Savannah. Folks there celebrate St. Patrick's day for an entire
week, btw; you're just in time. You can get Yuengling Lager (from the
oldest brewery firm in the U.S., based in PA) on draft. at both
cities. Try it; you'll like it.

While we're there we'd like to show the kids ..... some aviation museums....

The Eighth Air Force Museum is just north of Savannah. Damn few
airplanes but a great collection of WW II stuff.

Figure we'll be in the area for a few days, and then maybe try to fly
over to Texas along the Gulf coast,

Don't miss the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola. It's better than
the NASM, Dulles included. Second only to Wright-Pat.

Any questions? Have a great trip.

vince norris

By all means spend a day (at least) at Colonial Williamsburg on the
way to Kitty Hawk. Wonderful place to visit and a marvelous
educational opportunity for your kids.

We're planning to spend the night tomorrow night at Beckley, West
Virginia -- a place we chose completely at random as being more than
half-way to Kitty Hawk. Don't know anything about the place, but
we figure to only sleep there unless someone tells us it's known
for...something.

Avoid the Norfolk area; it's very busy. If you must get involved,
call "Mankiller" (it's on the charts) for clearance, then fly down
the beach to Kitty Hawk.

Yeah, we'll mosey down the beach, weather permitting.

You can land at "First Flight" airport, right next to the Wright
monument, but you can't RON. Dare County airport, at Manteo, only a
couple of miles away, is the best place to RON, get fuel, rent a car,
and so forth.

Thanks for the tip!

Comfort Inn at Nag's Head, between Manteo and Kitty Hawk, has very
reasonable rates mid-December; don't know about now.

Anything else to see in the area besides the Wright Bros Memorial?

Don't miss the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola. It's better than
the NASM, Dulles included. Second only to Wright-Pat.

High praise, indeed. In fact, if the "go back to Texas" part of our
plan comes to pass, Pensacola is on my list of places to stop on this
trip -- what's the best GA airport to use around there?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

"Jay Honeck" wrote

Anything else to see in the area besides the Wright Bros Memorial?

Jockey's Ridge. Large Dunes. Very close to Wright Bros. Memorial.

Don't miss the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola. It's better than
the NASM, Dulles included. Second only to Wright-Pat.

It is fantastic. I won't begin to compare one to another. I know I didn't
have enough time, while there.
--
Jim in NC

"Morgans" wrote in message
...

"Jay Honeck" wrote

Anything else to see in the area besides the Wright Bros Memorial?

Jockey's Ridge. Large Dunes. Very close to Wright Bros. Memorial.

Plus, you can take a hang gliding lesson while you're there.

BDS

Jay Honeck wrote:
By all means spend a day (at least) at Colonial Williamsburg on the
way to Kitty Hawk. Wonderful place to visit and a marvelous
educational opportunity for your kids.

We're planning to spend the night tomorrow night at Beckley, West
Virginia -- a place we chose completely at random as being more than
half-way to Kitty Hawk. Don't know anything about the place, but
we figure to only sleep there unless someone tells us it's known
for...something.

BKW was pretty empty the only time I visited. I'd recommend LWB (Lewisburg)
just a little east of there. Friendly folks, nice new terminal. Restaurant
on field, etc.

Although the Outer Banks don't have much Civil War history, it's still
one of the most beautiful areas to visit. Just south of FFA is Hatteras.
Worth a turn or two around the lighthouse. It's now about half a mile
inland from where it was built. And no, it wasn't relocated via hurricane.

One of my favorite places to go is Ocracoke. W95. Some people don't like
going there due to smallish runway and sometimes gusty winds, but it's
really not that bad and the only other way to the island is a pretty long
ferry boat ride. Make some calls as you approach to Howard's Pub. If they
don't answer, just call at the pay phone (252) 928-4441. They'll sent out
a little cart to take you to some excellent food and cool location. If you
don't mind walking, it's maybe a half mile away and another half mile
past that to the village. Not many people go there in the winter, so it's
pretty empty now, but still worth a visit. Be careful of all the restricted
areas. If you follow the Outer Banks though, you don't have to talk to any
one.

--
Don Poitras

On Mar 10, 10:31 pm, "Jay Honeck" wrote:

We're planning to spend the night tomorrow night at Beckley, West
Virginia -- a place we chose completely at random as being more than
half-way to Kitty Hawk. Don't know anything about the place, but
we figure to only sleep there unless someone tells us it's known
for...something.

Only a few miles north of Beckley is the bridge over the New River
gorge. It carries US19 over the river at Hico. It's great to view from
the air.

http://www.nps.gov/archive/neri/bridge.htm

GrtArtiste

The lighthouses are magnificent.

Jim



"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...

Anything else to see in the area besides the Wright Bros Memorial?

Comfort Inn at Nag's Head, between Manteo and Kitty Hawk, has very
reasonable rates mid-December; don't know about now.

Anything else to see in the area besides the Wright Bros Memorial?

Dare County is named for Virginia Dare, supposedly the first English
child born in the New World. Remember "Powhatan"? So there are
historical sites celebrating the first colonists, including a replica
of a square rigger sailing ship, which I suppose represents the ship
they came on.

The problem is that most of the "touristy" stuff is shut down for the
winter, so I don't know what you'll be able to find open.

The Hatteras National Seashore is "open," of course, but it's not an
ideal time to lie on the beach.

Don't miss the Naval Aviation Museum at Pensacola. It's better than
the NASM, Dulles included. Second only to Wright-Pat.

High praise, indeed.

Well, you can tell me later whether or not you agree. As an old Naval
Aviator I may be a bit biased.

In fact, if the "go back to Texas" part of our
plan comes to pass, Pensacola is on my list of places to stop on this
trip -- what's the best GA airport to use around there?

PNS provided good service last time I was there, about four years ago.

vince norris

"Jay Honeck" wrote

So, we're looking at heading to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina instead.
The progs look great for at least three or four days, and I'm sure
there is plenty to see and do in the Southeast -- an area that we have
not explored very much.

Any recommendations?

Jockey's Ridge. It is dunes; of the type that the Wrights likely used to
try their early gliders.

As a matter of fact, the parks department runs a hang-glider class, from the
dunes, there. My daughter and son-in-law took it a couple weeks ago, and
had a great time. You get the morning to run down the dunes and get briefly
airborne-solo! That might be fun for _all_ of you to try.

Also, if you can spare the time, go and see the Cape Hatteras Light House,
http://www.hatteras-nc.com/light/ one of the most famous in the world. It
is the one that they moved 2900 feet, away from the eroding beach.
http://www.nps.gov/archive/caha/lrp.htm It was an engineering marvel,
just figuring out how to do it. Unfortunately, you can only go up in it,
from April to October. The keepers' house is there, and open, and has been
converted into a small museum. It has a lot of pictures, facts and
artifacts. You get a pretty good feel what lighthouses an life-saver
stations are all about, from the displays.

There are many small airports, with nice long runways at most, all up and
down the seashore, and the barrier islands. Do some googling to find the
things you want to do, then pop in and do them.
--
Jim in NC

Jay, see:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/03/11...html?th&emc=th