As I said, one of the days we were in the Outer Banks some of the group signed up to do hang gliding lessons on the dunes - Ryan, lover of all activities, was of course one of the ones that wanted to go. It's interesting, Brian told us that when he was younger and his family vacationed in the Outer Banks they had tried hang gliding and he highly recommended it. Ryan looked into it a few months before we went and it seemed so expensive.
It was something like $300 for 15 minutes of flying...which seemed crazy. But, in hindsight, we now understand more about what it's all about. This hang gliding that we ended up doing was something like $100 for 5 runs. But, it's like comparing apples to oranges. In this instance, the "riders" didn't get much more than a few feet off of the ground, as you can see in the pictures. The guides are running with the kites and helping you to get air, but the total flight time (if you can call it that) is only a few seconds long, maybe 30 seconds at the most. And, you just don't get any height.
What Brian was telling us about, and what was so expensive to do, is the type of hang gliding you do where you truly are flying, high in the air, for 15 minutes with the guide. One is not better or worse, just different and next time we'll know.
After doing this, I think Ryan will be very interested in doing the 15 minute flight option. An activity for next time...because, there's going to have to be a next time for us!
Oh and the kite!! I love the above picture because if you look very very high up in the top left of the picture you can see a tiny kite. Uncle Rusty hauled a kite all the way down from Wisconsin to fly out on the beach. I'm pretty certain it was a 30 year old kite and I know it had a real sock tied to the end to help it fly. It was so funny...and so fun to see him get it up in the sky for the kids. They just loved it. He even let the kids fly it...which was a highlight for sure.
The dunes were HOT that day. I'm talking, it feels like you're on surface of the sun hot. But the girls did such a nice job of not complaining and entertaining themselves while we watched the hang gliders and waited around for everyone to have their turns. Of course they only thought it was fun to watch the kites for a few runs...and then they were bored. But they figured out how to entertain themselves. Of course, having hoards of slightly older cousins around to help entertain and play with them helped a ton too!!
Gah...looking back at these pictures makes me wish we could do this vacation all over again. We had such a great time while we were there...and I cant wait to do it again sometime soon-ish. I don't think a big beach vacation is in the cards for 2019 (yes, I'm already planing for 2019!)...but maybe sometime soon.
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