52 Ancestors Week 29: Automobiles

From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 29

The theme for Week 29 is "Automobiles." My dad owned and operated two services stations for 40+ years. Cars definitely play a role in my family history! This week, celebrate the car buffs, mechanics, road-trippers, and backseat drivers in your family.

You might find yourself behind the wheel of a sleek lime green
automobile.

   Traveling anywhere by car can be an adventure in and of itself. I remember taking many road trips all around New England with my parents and they've taken many road trips together or with other people. My father often went with his fellow "grumpy old Italian men" on fishing trips to Lake Ontario. My mother traveled with her parents and all of her siblings from California to Haverhill just to attend my great-grandparents' wedding anniversary party. Sufficed it to say they are well-traveled people and while those trips were awesome, I don't think they can compare with the time we all went in a caravan to the Outer Banks.

Dr. Kathleen Grammatico-Ferraiolo!

    Just after my sister-in-law Kathleen graduated from the University of Virginia, we decided to go on a trip with her parents to the Outer Banks. Joining us on the adventure were Kathleen's parents Steve and Regina Grammatico and my older brother Jim. Jim and Kathleen had been married for a few years at that point and wanted to go on a few adventures before having children.

    My parents and I have taken many trips to Virginia ourselves and found the journey to be quite fun if a little long. In total it takes about twelve hours to get to Virginia from our house. Along the way you get to see amazing sights and ride the Tappan Zee Bridge where you might actually get a glimpse of New York City on a clear day!

    That's just the beginning of the adventure. There are just so many places to see out there on the road to your final destination. Though, if you do take the same route we did,  I would avoid going the "Subway" restaurants in Pennsylvania. Three pieces of salami do NOT qualify as an Italian sub! Sigh....That was a crime against sandwiches. It was 95% lettuce! I could rant for hours on that atrocity. That's not what you're all here for. Moving right along....

   

Cozy and crazy expensive!

     It was decided early on that we'd travel to North Carolina in two separate cars because we didn't want to rent one of those huge recreational vehicles. While those are nice and everything, we were already staying at one of those fancy houses you'd find in the Outer Banks. So, to save money and incidentally gallons of gas, we opted for the caravan option.

    The caravan was still a fun option. We met up at Jim and Kathleen's place and drove to Outer Banks from there. Along the way, I got a good look at the Appalachian Mountains and I really wish I took some pictures! They were just that amazing! Nature sure can be amazing sometimes and it was a good thing we went well before hurricane season. Mother Nature can be beautiful. However, her wrath is mighty. 

    Once we arrived at our luxurious beach house, we planned out the rest of our stay. Where were we going to go while we were here. There was really only one logical place to go if you're within driving distance of a very important historical site. That's right. We went to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, the birthplace of modern aviation.

Hey, Leonardo! THIS is how you build a plane!
Those "bat" wings aren't gonna fly!

The Wright Brothers museum was one of the main highlights of the trip for me and not just because my grandfather worked on airplanes! Seeing a replica of the first airplane the Wright brothers created sparked the imagination. Think about it. We went from planes that looked like they were held together by duct tape to passenger jets in only a few decades. That's just unbelievable! 

   I know this week's blog is about cars and everything. But, it's just incredible how far we've come in such a short time. I'm really glad we saw the museum on the trip. It's definitely one of the places you need to see if you ever decide to visit North Carolina. Oh and I should point out that we went in the early 2000s and because of that, the museum had special 100th anniversary exhibits. Now that was 

cool!

    Of course visiting historical landmarks wasn't the only thing on the agenda. We checked out the local cuisine and dined at a place called "Dirty Dick's Crab House".  Please clean up after your spit takes, everyone. Yes. That is a real place and I have proof. Get your minds out of the gutter! This is literally a family blog! Sometimes. 

See! Told you! It exists! Check it out
on Yelp!

    Located in Nag's Head, North Carolina. Dirty Dick's menu offers succulent shrimp, tasty crab legs and even fried calamari.  If memory serves, the meal came in this big tin bucket and we were supposed to pick what we wanted out of it. Not bad. Though, I don't think that would fly in New England. Buckets would be thrown at people.

    I forget what I had to be honest. I think I might have had the crab cakes and they were pretty good. We were going to try the lobster. However, I think they tend to have a different taste than the ones we're used to in New England. It's not bad or anything. Just different.

    Speaking of crabs and other crustaceans, we also checked out the nearby aquarium and it was pretty awesome!

    While the New England Aquarium also has rays and all manner of sea life, I've always enjoyed seeing the exhibits in other aquariums. These rays at the North Carolina Aquarium were definitely fun to watch. 

    There was also this little tank where these fish were sort of picking on this other fish inside a cave. They were putting little pebbles in front of the opening and the trapped fish looked at his "friends" like "What the hell?!"

    I think we stumbled on fish drama at the aquarium that day!

    All in all the trip to the Outer Banks was an amazing adventure. The two families had a great time at Nag's Head and we all ended up returning to the Outer Banks in 2015. That was yet another multi-car caravan trip with an added bonus: Two nephews who were five and two years old at the time. That's a story for another time! My nephews have requested that we go there once again. Perhaps we will. You never know what the future will bring and I wouldn't mind going to the Outer Banks once again!

    Road trips are definitely fun and it's good to get out of your familiar surroundings every once in a while. It's a big world out there and there are so much to see and do. Every once in a while you should take a trip and see what the world has to offer. You might be surprised at what you might find out on the open road. Just....stay away from Subways in PA. And gas station sausages, too.....

See ya next time!

The grumpy old Italian men were telling me
to put my camera away....