Hang Gliding and Such

After the kids left with their grandparents for the Outer Banks, the sudden change in decibel levels in our home was overwhelming.  It went from four adults and seven children to crickets chirping. Sometimes stillness and quiet is just tonic for the weary soul (Gift #640)!  We tried to tidy up a bit and prepare lunch for my husband's brother and wife who would be dropping in about 90 minutes after the first shift of guests departed.  They drove all the way from Oklahoma as well but without their four kids, so it probably felt like a honeymoon for them alone in the car all that way.   We enjoyed their visit very much (Gift #641) and were able to connect more easily without kids running loudly all around us.  She brought a housewarming gift she bought from a local artists' crafts store on the other side of our state.  I love the way the new book looks on our mantel.  It was the finishing touch we needed up there!  (Gift #642)

We had a great chat about family and life and went on a walk along the greenway beside the creek before they continued along their journey to Virginia Beach.

For the first time ever at this house, my husband and I were both home without kids, so we took the opportunity to take a bike ride along the greenway to the lake.  Just as we were arriving at the lake, God gifted us with a gorgeous sunset, (Gift #643) which helped make it the most enjoyable date we've had in a long time!

Low budget phone picture

We had planned on going sailing on that same lake the next day but discovered too late that sailing rentals do not operate during weekdays.  So, to ease our disappointment we booked reservations for hang gliding lessons later that week.

We spent much of our two days alone together purging the kids' rooms.  It wasn't fun. It was exhausting, frustrating, overwhelming and slightly maddening, but after throwing away over three garbage bags full of junk and reorganizing everything in there, I felt like a great burden had been lifted. (Gift #644) Too bad it will not stay that way.  We were glad we made time to clean out and wash sheets because those preparatory activities would come in handy later that week.

I did a lot of tutoring that week and prayed seriously about accepting a job offer at the kids' school to teach AP Statistics to 12th graders even though such a job was completely out of my skill set and comfort zone but those conditions provide a great opportunity for God's power to be displayed. (1 Corinthians 1)

As we packed our bags for our couple's getaway to Kitty Hawk and made plans to visit the Wright Brother's Museum, several lighthouses, and to hopefully catch a glimpse of wild horses running along the dunes, we watched the news fervently to track the movement and progression of tropical storm Arthur.  Our area has NEVER experienced a tropical storm of any magnitude this early into hurricane season.  Considering that a hurricane swept by us when the entire extended family were all vacationing in Disney World and that tropical storms crashed our family's last beach trip in this area and that tornadoes blew through during another family visit, we would find it very bizarre if Arthur turned into anything serious.  We took it with a grain of salt but joked about how our hang gliding experience could blow us right into the arms of Jesus where we would meet the Lord in the air.   (1 Thess. 4:17).   On my Facebook status that day I wrote:

"Recent weather maps showing Arthur looking more like a hurricane than a tropical storm during the time when we had planned to go hang gliding has me second guessing the timing of our lessons. My husband insists that it will 'barely be a hurricane'. Is that like being barely pregnant? He's excited about the hang times Arthur's winds will give us, while I'm wondering if I'll just glide right into eternity."

We just happened to follow the state news & weather reporting truck most of the way to Kitty Hawk and considered that to be strike #1 against us.  When we arrived at the state park for our hang gliding lesson, the hurricane warning flag was blowing aswinds were picking up.  Strike #2!

We went inside to make sure our lessons were still a go, and there we bumped into an anchorman from The Weather Channel.  Strike #3!  At least he stopped long enough to take a selfie with my hubby.

After getting the thumbs up from the hang gliding crew (not just the one from weather channel guy as shown in the above photo), we went out for a power lunch since we knew we needed fuel to climb up those dunes over and over again.  We sat through the training class and then began the arduous hike across the dunes to our flying site.  They chose a dune further away due to the increasing wind speeds.  I kept watching the clouds as we hiked the dunes, and they certainly did seem to be changing as Arthur grew nearer.

Views from the Wright Brothers' Playground and from our hotel balcony

We had come this far, so we weren't backing out now.  We were all suited up and ready to fly, and my husband volunteered to go first with me right behind him #2 in line.

As we were assuming our T-Rex stance and were all ready to hang, the instructors noted the wind speeds and changed things up a bit.  The winds were too powerful to glide solo.  In fact they were too powerful to glide with one instructor holding the ties down while running along beside us.  The winds required two instructors per glider just to keep us from gliding off into the sunset or perhaps right into Arthur's eye.  Each student got to feel the lift and sail down the dune once, but it wasn't quite the same with an instructor on either side of us holding the glider down.  So they gave us all wind checks and told us to come back another time.  Do what?  We drove all that way and paid for a nice hotel just to turn around and go home?  Humph!

Husband Goes First

My turn

(Those marks on my legs are KT tape from yet another injury.)

 

By the time we had each finished our one pseudo flight, the three hour window was up anyway, so we rushed back to find out if any tourist attractions were still open, given the constant beeps on our phones announcing hurricane warnings.  Everything on the island and all the neighboring islands had  closed except for Bodie (pronounced "body") Lighthouse.  So we raced to it arriving about 30 minutes before they closing time.  It did not shut down due to winds because all the steps were indoors, but tours to the top shut down right before we arrived, not because of the hurricane but because the heat index at the top soared over 105 degrees.  Lovely.  At least we could walk inside and look up and walk around the island.  It's a lovely little area and made me feel like I had traveled back in time.  The winds were rough, though, as Arthur rolled in closer, and I looked like the Stay Puft Marshmallow with all that wind in my shirt and shorts.

By then, we were calling our trip a total dud but felt like God gave us a little mercy by getting us placed in an ocean front room in the hotel which was a free upgrade for us. (Gift #645)  We dropped our bags, washed the sand out of every crevice of our bodies and clothes and went out to eat at a seafood dive that offered a simple, bar style atmosphere with loud noises from the TVs overhead and the sounds of dishes clanging in the kitchen.  Raw fished glared at us from behind a glass window where we picked whatever fish we wanted them to cook for us.  I'm not accustomed to eating $20-$30 fish on paper plates with plastic forks, but that's the beach for you.  It didn't taste that bad for that kind of money, I expect a little ambiance.  And since I loathe bars, I guess it is no surprise that we were seated on uncomfortable stools at the bar.

Near the end of our dinner, my husband received a call from the family. They were being evacuated from their beach house at Avon.  We had a decision to make.  Would we meet them at the highway ramp near us to give them a key to our house (or call a neighbor to leave them the extra key), or would we give up our nice hotel room and drive back to greet them at our home when they arrived at 3:30am?  We opted to give up our expensive room without regrets.  We got home around 2:30 am (what a long day), just in time to feed the bunny and prepare beds and pallets to sleep 13 people (my husbands brother and sister-in-law had joined the family at the beach house by then).

We woke up groggy with splitting headaches as rains from the tropical storm belted down outside.   But at least I could laugh at the irony of all our family vacations getting hindered by tropical storms.  I fear our Oklahoma relatives will not ever want to come back!