Discriminating vacationers from The Piedmont often travel to The Outer Banks of North Carolina to enjoy the beach and the beauty with their families. They find the perfect house, in the best possible place and settle in for lazy days of seaside relaxation.

A few find their way to Corolla, and certain of those who have been there before quickly make their way to Flying Smiles Kites across the road from the historic and spectacularly beautiful Whalehead Club. Because once you've been seduced by the thrill of kite flying on either the beach or the sound, and once you've met owner Cath Shook, you'll never be happy with earthbound vacation pleasures again.

Kite stores are generally friendly territory for parents and children alike, but few offer the professionalism and deep expertise found at the Shook enterprise. If you've been a customer in seasons past, but your kite suffered when a brisk wind caught its sail, the damage can almost always be repaired at Flying Smiles Kites. Customers find a wonderful range of wind-related pleasures in the shop, in addition to kites of every shape and challenge. Exquisite wind chimes, puzzles and games all contribute to make it a shoppers' paradise for all kinds of fun.

If you've flown for one season with a single-line kite, but have been dreaming of a quad, Cath has the most beautiful flying designs you can imagine and will help you move up to the thrill of sport flying. If you're extremely particular, she may ask her husband to create something truly spectacular especially for you. Eliot Shook, who designs Masterpiece Kites for Revolution Kites, was a brilliant engineer whose work at Ford Motor Company contributed significantly to his understanding of what it really takes to create a kite that has lift, spirit and challenge. Eliot's bargello kites are known and admired by devoted flyers across the country, and Cath insists that he will soon finish work on an in-house Delta that is still in the design stage.

"We knew when we found Corolla Island that our twenty years in Michigan would lead us here," Cath explains. "We simply love the kite culture and the individuals who learn to appreciate how exhilarating it is to experience the pure joy of guiding a kite through the air. And we both knew we eventually had to live on the beach.

"People tease me about my love of the sport, but I really believe kite flying can be a Zen-like experience for many enthusiasts. It's one of the only truly universal languages and Kite flyers from India, Japan, Pakistan, Texas and Northern California can spend hours side-by-side on the beach using the same vocabulary and understanding each others' sense of transcendence."

Cath grew up in Wagoner, Oklahoma on a lake in the Eastern part of the state. An avid sportsman, she was a terrific water-skier and loved to sail, a talent that contributed significantly to her sense of wind and its effects.

She met Eliot when his father moved from Birmingham, Michigan to take a two-year assignment. They were both enrolled at Holland Hall Prep School in Tulsa and when they made their final choices about college, with no determination to be close to each other, Cath enrolled at Mary Baldwin and Eliot went to Duke.

"We quit fighting about sophomore year," Cath remembers. "He swears I would always break up with him on his birthday but we were always best friends. I'd grown up in a family of doctors and lawyers and he was grounded in engineering, so, of course, I had to learn!"

"Once, when we were seniors in college, we were away for a weekend with my brothers and friends and we all decided to purchase a box kite. Sadly, all the instructions to assemble it were in German. Even sadder, none of us spoke German at all. It took a long time, and we were terribly late returning to campus, but our combined understanding of math and engineering allowed us to put it together. We've never lost our love of flying since then."

Without question, Cath and Eliot did what upstanding citizens and good parents are supposed to do for 23 years. Now, they're doing what they've always wanted to do: live on a spectacularly beautiful beach where the wind is just right and there are stunning views over the marshes, the sound and past the lighthouse.

"We had no intention of opening a store, but we're so glad we did," Cath says. "Many of our customers are true kite aficionados, and we look to them for new ideas and special things they need that enliven our shop and our lives."

Although kite flying is a subtle, nuanced sport for the demanding flyer, friends and family members of every age can thoroughly enjoy the thrill of when you have the line in your hands and you back up slightly to gain some lift. For those who step into a wave unexpectedly, and have to transcend the surprise to keep your kite airborne, the thrill is even greater.

"If I won the lottery tomorrow, the only thing I'd change would be to hire a bigger staff of specialists and kite lovers," Cath concludes. "We raised our children well. Our son Ty, is dedicated to the North Carolina National Guard in Ashville, and our daughter, Cassie works for New Tech Kites in Austin, Texas. Now, it's our time to do what we love and help others learn the pleasure and satisfaction of kite flying."

"If I say it's a ministry of sorts, it may sound silly, but this is the continuation of an ancient culture for me. As a religion and philosophy major who graduated in the '70's, I wanted my life to include everything I loved. This gives us history, physics, sport, patience and challenge."

"And once a kite flyer is confident that he or she has 'the touch,' there's no going back to a vacation filled only with paperback novels. Clearing your head and revving up your heart is what a vacation should really include."

"We take great personal pleasure in contributing precisely that."

To contact Cath at Flying Smiles, please telephone 252 453 8442 or email Cath@FlyingSmilesKites.com. Please understand that, if the off season, hours vary, but you may count on Cath to open up and meet you if you want to visit the shop or place an order.