North Carolina - Wright Brothers National Memorial

Since Hubby is a pilot, we naturally visited the Wright Brothers National Memorial, where Wilbur and Orville Wright took the first successful powered, heavier-than-air flights.

Special thanks to Hubby for editing this post!

The Wright Brothers

Full-scale Reproduction of the Wright Flyer

The large boulder marking the take-off point of the first successful flights

Monument on Kill Devil Hill, where the brothers practiced their flights on gliders

At the bottom of the Monument

The Atlantic Ocean

North Carolina - Family

After Charlotte, we drove across North Carolina to visit with family - my sister- and brother- in-law and their three girls, N, A, and baby #3 due in August!

We spent a few days together while visiting a couple of places . It was a lot of fun!

Battleship North Carolina



Wilmington Railroad Museum

Below are some more picture of our nieces!

North Carolina - The Billy Graham Library

After the visit with Chad and Angel, we visited the Billy Graham Library, designed based on a farm as a tribute to Dr. Graham's growing up as a farm boy. The Library outlines Dr. Graham's life and family, introduces his ministries and documents his preaching. True to his commitment to share the Gospel, visitors do not leave without hearing the Good News.

The barn, where the exhibits are located. It was amazing and humbling to walk through the cross (i.e. the entrance).

Dr. Graham's preaching Bible. Another one of my favorite pictures.

The Graham family home moved on site brick by brick.

Mrs. Graham's tombstone. The Chinese character on top means "righteousness," formed in two parts: the "Lamb" on top and "I" or "me" at the bottom. Mrs. Graham was born in China to missionary parents. The flowers were from Dr. Graham.

North Carolina - Friends

The title is a bit of a misnomer, since we were in North Carolina already when we got to the Great Smoky Mountains. No matter, we spent quite some time - a week - in the state, not only sightseeing but also visiting with friends and family.

After the mountains, we went to Charlotte to visit with Chad and Angel, whom we had not seen in quite some time. We had a nice dinner at their back porch before Wii (again!). At first, all four of us were playing a variety of games and having loads of fun, but after Angel went to bed, and Chad and Hubby continued to talk engineering on an increasingly intense level, I was the only one playing Wii (tennis, what else?), and ended up with a sore shoulder the following day. My opinion that Wii tennis was more difficult than real tennis held.

Tennis and Wii aside, we had a great time.

Chad and Angel

Blue Ridge Parkway

After camping at the Great Smoking Mountains overnight, we spent most of the following day driving along the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway.

The hightest point of this stretch was Mount Mitchell, at 6,684 feet. It was also the highest point east of the Mississippi River!

Great Smoky Mountains

We spent two days at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which was celebrating its 75th anniversary. It was great fun. While most people enjoy the Park in the fall when the leaves change to a beautiful array of gorgeous colors, the green was very nice too.

The Mountains were great. As we drove and visited different parts of the Park, we took many pictures. The hardest part is to choose which ones to post!

After the trip, I came across this article by Dr. Billy Graham. Since he is from Charlotte, NC, he was teaching the Bible using illustrations of the scenery we had just witnessed firsthand at the Great Smoky Mountains!

Georgia

After Florida, we traveled to Georgia, where we met up with my other former roommates.

Lindsey and 10-month old Bethany

We had dinner at Sonny's - where else? Since my roomates and I met in Gainesville, that was only fitting. While Stephen and Lindsey looked at the camera, Sandy (my other roommate) was busy playing with Bethany!

Florida - Interlude

As we were leaving Tampa -

Bayshore

Bayshore adorned with a palm tree

Old Tampa Bay as we passed through I-275

Old Tampa Bay under the beautiful blue sky

Mississippi

After Louisiana, we stopped at the beach while passing through Mississippi. We had a blast! We did not know how much we missed the water until that day. It was great weather and the water was perfect!

Clear blue sky

Nice water

Hubby taking a picture of me as I headed for the water! Fun picture.

Hubby hanging out

Me in the water. One of my favorite pictures from the trip.

Louisiana

I have been sorting through our 800+ pictures, and many posts will be coming. Enjoy!

Our road trip took us from Texas to Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, and back down to Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

The highlight in Louisiana was the visit with Hubby's friends from when he was a college student on co-op. I actually had never met the family, but had exchanged emails with Allison, who takes wonderful pictures and keeps websites of each of their three wonderful children!

Allison and 9-month-old Hannah

Eli, full of energy like Dad

Big sister Abby, who gave me a tour of their house and a heart-shaped sticker. She is a cutie, and was a joy to be around even though she was not feeling particular well that morning.

Happy 4th of July!

From the Wright Brothers National Memorial, North Carolina,

where we visited during our vacation.