Yesterday.
I’m on vacation at the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Thought you’d like this: the Park Service has closed the Wright Brothers Memorial. I took photos from my iPhone this morning.
The cars parked out in front are not Park Service cars; they are people who hopped the barrier. The place looks deserted. If you have ever been there, there is an indoor visitors center but the rest of the park is wide open. Looks like the middle of the barrier is held together with zip-ties!
As an aside, I was there in 2003 for the 100th anniversary of flight. George Bush was there and gave a pretty good speech. Then a large crowd of us (at least 100) moved to the first flight pillar (where the first flight supposedly stopped).
A fellow with a watch and a great sense of timing gathered us all around and at the right moment we all chanted from 1 to 10, signifying the 10 seconds that Orville flew that first time. As we hit 10 we heard a noise and looked up — it was an Air Force B-2 flying over at that precise moment. So I think our timing was good!
They also tried the re-creation of the flight with the replica Flyer that morning but it didn’t work — demonstrated just hard it was and what an achievement it was for the brothers.
You can credit me; I’m not afraid of the NPS.
Best,
Steve White MD
stevewhitemd at LI
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Comments
Good for Steve!
Isn’t it amazing that neither Wilbur nor Orville had a pilots license. Also, the Wright flyer didn’t have an airworthiness certificate or registration papers from the FAA. There was no TSA security fence around Kitty Hawk, and the spectators didn’t have to be strip-searched either. How could they possibly have flown on that day???
You go, Steve! I hope your taxes are in order : )
Steve,
You may want to stay there. Read the headline at townhall this morning.
We should all storm all the barricades and shame the administration with peaceful demonstrations forcing either their retreat or mass arrests.
Was the ocean open?
Probably, but you have to cross a National Seashore to get there.
If memory serves (from other posts) you hail from suburban Chicago; have you any other examples of NPS public service tidbits to share from your trip, or did you and yours submit to TSA humiliations?
No TSA for me on this trip but I do have a flight next week. I wonder if they’ll arrest me if I ask they why they’re open during the shutdown?
I do have more pics and forwarded them to Bill. Stay tuned!
Zip ties, eh? One senses this group of park rangers are not fully supporting the plan.
‘Yo, Steve!! The BIG Boss(Missus NCS)and I are on our October 10-days in Fall Heaven on the other side of the state in the Great Smokies. The kids here in Franklin,N.C. play on monkey bars and swings and hopscotches without banging on I-Thingies…! God, we need this getaway in early June and October to remember that some folks haven’t lost touch with important things.
Nice report, Steve. Carry on.
(Thank you, Steve).
I was wondering about the stories of national park defacing that popped up not too long before the barrycading. NPR had a story. Potential vandalism has been used as the excuse for the barrycading. According to NPR story — a convenient couple of days before the shutdown, the total cost of cleanup for these scattered incidents in, apparently, ALL the national parks (consider how many millions of people visit the parks each year) amounted to $300,000 a year during the last three years.
I wonder what the barrycrap has cost by comparison.
I also wonder when the preparations for the “cost-containing” shut down commenced. The orange blight on the landscaping was so quickly and efficiently done…
NPR has been carrying some very weird stuff, lately.
Well done, Steve. You did us proud!
We just got back from a week in Hatteras a couple weeks ago, just before this all started. Our trip was very relaxing, but yours sounds like more fun;)
Well, color me proud that so many good folks are enjoying our beautiful state of North Cackalacky.
Great story, thanx for sharing.