The Blue Ridge Mountains extend up through North Carolina to Virginia, but most visitors
will stay along the Eastern seaboard to enjoy the Outer Banks, where deep-sea fishing is
a major attraction. Kitty Hawk, where the Wright brothers flew their first airplane, is
also located in the Outer Banks. Along the coast from here to New York City are many
beach communities where summer residents enjoy swimming in the moderate temperatures of
Atlantic and indulge in beach activities from lazy sunbathing to volleyball.
North of the island on which New York City is located, the beach communities continue
Northward to Cape Cod, the enormous peninsula shaped like a flexed arm that juts out
into the Atlantic Ocean. The entire Cape is ringed with swimming beaches and docks for
fishing boats and pleasures craft. Inland there are forests and fresh water ponds ideal
for swimming and boating. The Cape is dotted with little towns that try to maintain a
quaint, fishing village atmosphere. During the summer it is quite crowded with families
fleeing the hot and stuffy cities, but in the spring and fall there are few tourists, and
days on the Cape are very relaxing. Here the colorful sky, the reds and golds of a sun
just below the horizon, are to be found in the east in the east at dawn, a time for quiet
walks on the beach, or calm half hour of casting a fishing line into the surf.
The Green Mountains, one range of the Appalachian chain of mountains, run from
central Massachusetts Vermont to Canada. Few roads or pathways lead to the tops of
mountains here. Between the sharply rising peaks are deep gorges, where public roads
weave around the towering hills. Yet there is a wonderful and challenging footpath
stretching for 3450 km from Maine all the way back down to Georgia called the
Appalachian Trail. (The full name is: The Appalachian National Scenic Trail.) Hikers, or
just robust walkers, may join this trail at any point and proceed as far as desired.