Flying with the Wright Brothers

This is what we did Memorial Day weekend: drove south to North Carolina to pay homage to aviation at the Wright Brothers National Memorial. Isaac stamped my National Parks Passport; Eloise napped in the snuggly pack. Chris bought a kite in the shape of an airplane. 

The kite was very well received by a certain preschooler. The Wright brothers picked this area for its constant wind and soft landing sand—also good conditions for kites. Isaac chased the kite shadow around and stomped on it, helped Chris fly, and made lots of airplane noises tossing his foam glider around. 

There’s a monument on top of a hill where they did their glider tests, and stone markers on the ground where the first plane took off and landed on their four historic flights. Landing at an elevation equal to the take off point was a really big deal. I read recently maybe someone else actually did that first, but obviously there wasn’t a lot of info on that here since, there’s a whole park built around THIS moment in history. History that directly relates to our daily lives! 

The memorial is about an hour and 40 minutes south of Norfolk and is fun for at least an hour or two. Regular park fees apply, but we get in FREE with our military park pass.