"OK, ENOUGH of that old-people music, Ricky.”

This comment on my musical selections from a 19- year-old wisenheimer in the back seat named Claire. Ever the family provocateur, she has decided that calling me Dad is too old-fashioned. Her mother Molly, busy scrutinizing a map of North Carolina from the navigator's seat, was born and raised in the United States. Marriage to yours truly helped turn her into a "dualie” - a proud Canadian and a homegrown American.

But Claire has never lived in her mother's native country and has decided she wants to know more about her heritage. She has also conveniently landed a scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is feeling pretty smug about it. Deservedly so; she worked hard on her studies and merits some sort of parental reward. So here we are, crossing the Wright Memorial Bridge to the Outer Banks of North Carolina's Atlantic coast. Our plan is to explore the banks and conduct a couple of recreational experiments with wind before delivering Claire to her new school.

The Outer Banks are a necklace of sandy islands along the state's coast. From Kill Devil Hills, made famous by the Wright Brothers' first powered flight in 1903, to the communities of Nags Head, Hatteras and Ocracoke, the islands are a beguiling playground of unspoiled beaches, historic sites, charter fishing outfits, wildlife refuges, outdoor-sports schools and splendid seafood restaurants. We sample a variety of the latter, but no amount of coaxing can get my companions to try the offerings at Dirty Dick's Crab House. Legendary food, I'm told, but the girls are having none of it. It appears that Dick has stepped well beyond the local appetite for cheeky monikers. To wit: Try My Nuts, which specializes in gourmet nuts, and Awful Arthur's Oyster Bar.

We book in to the recently opened Oasis Suites in Nags Head, which offers full kitchens in its 17 suites. Our rooms look out over Albemarle Sound. We toss our bags into our rooms and head immediately for the Wright Brothers National Memorial, located at the site where Orville and Wilbur learned to fly. Attracted by the steady ocean breezes and the forgiving sand that afforded soft landings, the dapper boys from Ohio built and flew the world's first powered airplane here.

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