Petey's Adventures

Petey, Petunia and I departed from Ocracoke today,  after tidying up some last minute paperwork and saying good-bye to our new friends. We were so fortunate to have such a wonderful group of ladies to share in our learning experiences!  We learned so much about women who have influenced the history of aviation in our country…both past and present heroes and their contributions!  We enjoyed being able to learn science, history, social studies, math and language arts all at the same time!  We would like to thank our facilitators, Sandra, Donna Glee and Betty, for arranging such meaningful learning experieces for us.  We would also like to thank the Ocracoke NCCAAT staff for making us feel so welcome, and we are certainly grateful to the state of North Carolina for making this fantastic vision a reality for so many dedicated educators (and two really smart panthers!)

Petey, Petunia and I will definitely keep in touch with our new friends from around the state, and we can hardly wait to share our experiences and knowledge with the kids  and staff at Moyock Elementary!  We need to rest up tonight, because we have lots of important work to do now. Who knows…we may inspire a few people to find their own wings and fly off to new horizons, just as we did! 

We’d like to end this edition of our blog with one of our favorite quotes.  We aren’t sure who to said it, but we think it speaks volumes about our week of learning about high-flying heroes!

“Shoot for the moon…even if you miss, you will land among the stars.”

What a day we had today!  Petey, Petunia and I woke up early to prepare for our plane ride.  Although it rained on us, our spirits could not be dampened on the best day of our week! Our facilitators gave us plane tickets, let us do a pre-flight check on a plane, and talk with an air traffic controller before we actually flew over Ocracoke. WOW!!!!!! What a sight!  It was absolutely breath-taking!!! (The panthers were a little nervous but they had met our pilot yesterday when we saw the bi-plane, so they knew he would take good care of us. )

After our flight, we were fortunate enough to meet an entire crew of female Navy aviators who flew into Ocracoke on a Nighthawk helicopter and told us all about their experiences in the Navy, participating in rescue and recovery as well as combat missions.  They were all so enthusiastic, positive and inspirational!  I wish you had been there to talk with them…you would have been so impressed!  They are without a doubt the living legacy of Amelia Earhart, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Christa McAuliffe and all the other female aviators who came before them…and as one of my new friends so accurately stated, “They have inspired the inner aviator in all of us!” Each of the ladies in the Women in Aviation group was honored with a “pinning” of wings by the Navy pilots.

I will treasure those wings, along with the wonderful lessons I have learned and the fabulous memories I have made with new friends from all over the state!

Today was the best day yet….we started our day really early with a bus trip to the ferry, then a ride to Kill Devil Hills to visit the Wright Brothers’ Memorial.  We heard a great speaker, Darrell, who is a park ranger and an expert on the Wright Brothers!  We saw the place where the first flight took place and saw a replica of the original plane.  We got to see how it worked, and then we showed Darrell our dance about how a plane works.  I think he was impressed, because he posed for a photo with Petey and Petunia, and let them sit on the replica of the Wright Brothers’ plane! While we were there, we re-created historic photos of female pilots, and the panthers and I got our photo taken sitting on the wing of a bi-plane!  (I got to wear a cool pilot jacket, leather cap, scarf and goggles!)

After a nice picnic lunch, we were off to Kitty Hawk for lessons on kite-making and the science of how kites, hang gliders and kite boards work. They are very much like planes, but without engines!  Then we got to make our own kite, assisted by some kite-flying experts on staff at Kitty Hawk kites, then we trekked up Jockey’s Ridge to take our new creations on test flights.  They worked great, and I have a pattern to teach everyone how to make one when I get home! Can’t wait to share with you!

Our adventures continue tomorrow with a flight over Ocracoke on a small plane!  We also get to meet some Navy fighter pilots and air traffic controllers to learn how their jobs contribute to the progess and safety of flight in our world. 

That’s about all for now…Petey and Petunia have already fallen asleep and are likely dreaming about their escapades of the day!  It is tough being adventurous, trailblazing panthers!

The panthers and I had a great day today, filled with exciting retellings of trailblazing women in aviation history, a fun dance to help us remember how a plane flies, and a hilarious journey using compasses to navigate our way around the island!  Petey and Petunia are not as directionally challenged as me, and neither was our group so we successfully found our destination…the lighthouse!  When we got there, a local gentleman was waiting for us INSIDE the lighthouse (what a great surprise, because the public is not normally allowed inside!)  He told us all about the history of the lighthouse, and shared some of his memories of growing up here on Ocracoke.  The best part of all was listening to his native Ocracoke accent…it was spellbinding! Petey and Petunia got their photo taken with him…they liked him a lot!

As if we hadn’t packed enough adventure into one day, we were scheduled for a sunset sailing trip and Petey and Petunia could hardly contain themselves!  They have never been on a sailboat and neither have I! Sadly, when we got to the docks we learned from our captain that the motor of our vessel was not working properly, and unfortunately we needed the engine to get us out of the harbor.  So, we climbed aboard and learned a little about how a sailboat works and about how sailors find their way across the water but we were disappointed to miss out on sailing, to say the least. 

Now we are back in our cozy room, ready to settle down with a good book or two.  We can’t stay up too late, though, because we are catching the bus tomorrow at 7:20 to visit the Wright Brothers Memorial.  After that, we are going to Kitty Hawk Kites to learn about the science of making and flying kites, then we are off to climb Jockey’s Ridge and fly our homemade kite creations! 

I will hopefully have some video of our adventures tomorrow.  I have taken lots of great photos but had technical difficulty with my memory card reader (it doesn’t fit my memory card!) so unfortunately I can’t share the photos until I get back home.  In the meantime, we will just have to describe our adventures and let you paint the pictures in your minds!

Petey and I were nearly finished packing our bags when Petunia called to say she wanted to come along with us!  So, it is exciting to have a GIRL panther studying Women in Aviation with me!  We had a great trip here, and time passed quickly for Petey and Petunia as they enjoyed their books about female aviators, learning more about Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly across the Atlantic, Elizabeth “Bessie” Coleman, an African American female aviator, and Katharine Wright, theyounger sister of Wilbur and Orville Wright.  But their favorite part of the trip was the ferry ride from Hatteras to Ocracoke!  Tomorrow holds lots of excitement….learning about the female pioneers of aviation, discovering how pilots find their way through the wild blue yonder, and exploring the similarities of sailing and flying!  We probably won’t sleep a wink, but we are sure to dream about flying if we happen to doze off!

Petey and I are packing our bags for an Outer Banks Adventure!  We are heading to NCCAT in Ocracoke, NC to study Women in Aviation for a whole week!  We will be taking a plane ride, sailing on a sailboat, visiting the Wright Brothers Memorial and flying kites on the dunes at Jockey’s Ridge!  (That is the highest sand dune on the East Coast!)  Please check our blog daily for an update on our adventures and find out what we learned about Women in Aviation!  Hope to see you soon!