Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Daufuskie Island
In mid-August we (my cousins, my aunt, my grandmother, two uncles, their dogs. and I) went to Daufuskie Island, South Carolina. First we went to Hilton Head and at four o'clock took the ferry to Daufuskie Island. No visitors are allowed to have cars on the island. On the ferry I could walk around on the deck because this was a large ferry. Some of us went on a golf cart to the house and some took the trolley. The trolley was quicker than the golf cart.
The first three days I went to the beach and built a sand fort and a sand castle with my grandmother. Then I went to the pool and took swimming lessons from Clynton. The first day of swimming lessons I got used to putting my head under water. Eventually I worked up to swimming under water for a few feet. Then one of my uncles found a shark's tooth. I competed against Rachel and Harvey to see who would be the most improved swimmer and win the shark's tooth. First I walked over to the five-feet with Avi. We both got in and held onto the ladder. Then we held our noses and climbed down using the ladder and sat on the bottom. Then we let go of the ladder and rose to the top. That guaranteed the shark's tooth.
When Victor and I went to the beach for an adventure, we had one. We found a dead horseshoe crab. Walked a little further and saw a hermit crab, an alligator in the ocean and lots of fiddler crabs. Then Victor broke his flip-flop. It was an exciting week.
Home for the Mansfields and Dudeboy for a week.Sunday, August 16, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
Roadtrip '09 Part 6
*This is the last post for our summer road trip. Check back next week to find out about Dudeboy's trip to the beach with the Mansfield clan.
Day 7-18-09
We saw the lighthouse at Bodie Island. Because they are restoring the lighthouse, we couldn't go up in it, but we could go in the base and look up. We drove to Asheville that night.
Day 8: 7-19-09
We went to King's Mountain Battlefield. I did the activities to become a junior ranger there. A leading British commander named Patrick Ferguson was killed there by seven or nine shots fired almost at the same time from American rifles. He fell out of his saddle, but one foot caught in his stirrup so his men had to cut him free.
At Cowpens, General Morgan, the American commander, thought up an idea. First he had his untrained militia fire two rounds and retreat. Then he had cavalry and continental regulars surround the British. Then the militia reformed and closed in on the open side. After that, the British commander Banastre Tarleton barely escaped. He had been the commander of the British at Waxhaws where the Americans tried to surrender but were massacred instead. So at Cowpens the Americans shouted, "Remember Waxhaws!" Cowpens was an important victory for the Americans and helped force the British to Yorktown.
Bodie Lighthouse
Spot where British Major Patrick Ferguson met "The Over Mountain Men."
I, Dudeboy, do swear that I will well and faithfully serve in the office of Jr. Ranger.
Banastre "Bloody Ban" Tarleton gettin' his comeuppance.
Decisive victory.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Roadtrip '09 Part 5
Day 6: 7-17-09
We went to the beach and I built sand castles. Then we went to Roanoke, the first English colony: it failed. At Roanoke we went to see the Elizabeth II, a reconstructed 16th-century merchant ship. I got to go all over most of the ship.
That afternoon we went to the Wright Brothers National Memorial at Kill Devil Hills. There we saw the distance markers of their first powered flights in 1903. The famous picture of the first flight was taken by a rescue team worker who had never taken a picture before, but it was a great picture.
Earthworks at Fort Raleigh.
Monument for Fort Raleigh and Virginia Dare.
The Elizabeth II.
Land ho!
We have lift off.
The fourth and final flight at 852 feet.
The third (and mostly unknown) Wright Brother hitching a ride.