Quote:
Originally Posted by mntlblok
One of my earliest vacation memories was witnessing a (white) tornado (whilst over the spit of sand that holds the road) dance on the beach before heading out to sea as a water spout - that had just destroyed a bowling alley and taken a huge chunk out of one of the big sand dunes at Jockey's Ridge. Summer of 1959. It's been hard to find any news reports related to it, though.
Oh, and we were allowed to climb that striped Cape Hatteras lighthouse that trip. Believe I've read that it was bodily moved a couple hundred yards inland since.
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I wish I could have seen the “white tornado”. Hurricanes yes, every year late August The Outer Banks were evacuated. Only the most stalwart resident stayed, boarded up, through serious hurricanes. And the flooding after each hurricane, the reason why most houses are built on stilts.
The Cape Hatteras lighthouse has been moved inland in 1999 because after years of trying to shore it up with sandbags it was impossible to keep it from the ocean’s erosion. Before it was moved I had a chance to climb all 257 steps and saw the gigantic Frensel lens close up.
The huge sand dunes at Jockey’s Ridge would get hot in the summer, but would be super fun. We’d climb up to the top and slide down just like tobogganers but on our rears. My small Welsh terrier would tumble paw over head all the way down, then quickly climb up again. While beside us the hang gliders would be learning to fly their kites at ground school.