We began our Thursday morning with the promised “dolphin hunt” and I surprised myself with being willing to leap out of bed around 6 AM. The family trudged down the road to the beach as the eastern sky was brightening.

Though it was early, it was wonderful having the beach practically all to ourselves. We sat on the “sand wall” built by the high tide and studied the awakening ocean before us. Numerous sorties of pelicans swooped low across the water, occasionally nabbing a fish breakfast for their trouble. I snapped pictures as the kids cheerfully smiled and yawned in the pre-dawn light. Though we didn’t see any dolphins that morning, we did see an amazingly beautiful sunrise.

There’s something about seeing the sun rise over the ocean, something that’s just not the same on the West Coast. That sense of promise of a new day, the feeling of being one of the very first to greet that day, was missing during my time in California. Sure, I’ve seen some great sunrises at California beaches, but by the time the sun reaches California America’s morning is already old news.

We took some time to enjoy breakfast before returning to the beach for more boogie boarding and playing in the sand. Hallie, Kelly, and I rode waves together while Travis spent most of his time digging around in the sand. A dad next to us had dug a hole about knee deep. Travis volunteered to help dig and soon had a hole dug up to his chest.

After getting cleaned up, we headed to the Outer Banks Brewing Station in Kill Devil Hills for lunch (and a few double IPAs). It was an excellent meal with excellent beer. It being America’s first wind-powered brewery was a plus, too. I’d definitely go back again!

Following our late lunch, we moved down the beach to revisit the Wright Brothers Memorial (well, the kids had never seen it but Kelly and I have). We arrived as one ranger was finishing up his talk in front of the replica flyers, but we were just in time for a special “behind the ropes” opportunity to get up close to the flyers. With gloves and special permission from the ranger, Kelly and Hallie got to touch the airplane. I was impressed just seeing how well the brothers Wright had thought everything out.

We then wandered the path the first flights took before visiting the new pavilions erected for the centennial celebration in 2003. Many of the displays inside had misattributed quotes but other than that few were memorable. We did enjoy watching the short film in the auditorium.

With only an hour left, we then wandered up to the First Flight sculpture and took some pictures of (and climbed on) this wonderful work of art. Then it was up the hill to the monument itself. With five minutes to spare, we rolled out of the lot and said goodbye to this park.

On the way back to Nags Head we stopped by the First Colony Inn, which was the site of Kelly’s and my short honeymoon in September 1999. Neither one of us has any great memories of the place: we had only planned to stay three nights there but got chased away after only two by the mandatory evacuation preceding Hurricane Floyd. Of course, Hurricane Dennis had rolled through two weeks prior, so the one thing I remember most about the First Colony was all the mosquitoes that plagued us during that short trip.

Anyhow, the family and I were disappointed to see that no staff person was around. We browsed the library for a moment or two before taking a stroll around the upper level, trying to remember where our room was. Striking out, we returned to our rental house.

With the sun setting, it was time to head out again to take family pictures on the beach. Usually this becomes a big pain in the ass as I try to get everyone to work together. Instead it became a lot of fun! I had to do a bit of MacGuyvering, though, as it’s hard to take a group photo without a tripod. While Kelly snapped shots of the kids on the beach, I scoured the dunes for a spot with not only a decent background but some sort of makeshift, rudimentary tripod that could be used.

I found just the spot, with a weathered two-by-four providing my tripod. My photo trickery also brought its own smiles to our session when we watched in surprise as my camera took an unexpected short dive into the soft sand below! A little dusting off and it was good as new.

Sunrise to sunset, it was a fun-filled day. I think out of all our vacation days this one captured most of what we like to do at the beach.