East-West North Carolina, November 2023, Part 7

It was time to leave the beaches behind us and head on. But first,  big breakfast. 

Ihop has a senior's section on their menu, a slightly smaller serving at a reduced price. Which of course we take advantage of.

Our original plan was to head to Aurora, NC, where my paternal grandmother's family came from, and where we spent many summers in the 1950s and 1960s visiting Aunt Louise and Granddaddy. But Norbert saw that it wasn't all that much further to Edenton, and felt the need to go there and greet my parents in the churchyard.

Edenton is a beautiful colonial small town, on the Albermarle Sound. My parents retired there and lived there many many years.  

It is only a few minutes from the Waterfront to St. Paul's Episcopal Church, built 1736-1766. 

My parents' ashes are buried in the Memorial Garden. 

After a lunch at Dairy Queen, which unfortunately did not agree with me, we drove to Washington, NC., "Little Washington", as we used to call it.

Dinner was at a barbecue place across the parking lot from our hotel. I can very highly recommend Boss Hog's Chicken & BBQ. 

It was very full, which is always a good recommendation. And we soon learned why. I had chicken, smashed potatoes, green beans, and hush puppies. Before: 

And after.

East-West North Carolina, November 2023, Part Six

 On the Saturday morning, we said our farewells and headed off. Bill went back to Falls Church, while we drove up the coast to our next stop. Along the way, I was surprised to see this election poster. A dead Beatle running for political office in North Carolina?

We stopped for lunch at our favourite fast food outlet. Roast beef sandwiches! 

We arrived in Morehead City and then drove over the cleverly-named Morehead City/Atlantic Beach Bridge, arriving in, as you have no doubt guessed, in Atlantic Beach. And into a huge road constructin site.

Our first stop was the Fort Macon State Park. Some personal history: my father's family came from northeastern NC,  and when we visited them in the summer, we would almost always come down to this park. It had a lovely beach with very nice changing facilities. There is, of course, also the fort, which we all loved, as a family of historians.

We did not stop at the beach, it being not really beach weather, and it may even have been closed. We wended our way around to the fort, keeping an eye on the sky, as it was getting darker and more threatening every minute. 

The park has a nice new visitors center, which was quite interesting. Unfortunately, that was all we could really see of the park, as by the time we exitied, it was starting to rain. So we drove to our motel, where we were able to check in.

The Caribbe Inn is unique, unusual, and quirky, which is why I chose it. Having done so, I never need to do "quirky" again. I rather liked it though, more than Norbert did, I think. The quirkiness was simply in the decor, the room had all the usual amenties.

Our room: 

The rain not only continued, but got harder. We dashed out to the grocery store for something we could eat in the room. 

East-West North Carolina, November 2023, Part Five

 Our other big outing was to the Carolina Beach State Park, on the Cape Fear River. It is one of the few places that the Venus Flytrap grows in the wild, and there are many other naturally occurring carnivorous plants here, too. They have always been of interest to us growing up, especially for Bill. So this was an obvious visit for us.

The park is large, with campgrounds, but we concentrated on two parts. The first was, obviously, the Flytrap Trail. 

This trail, .05 miles, "loops through pocosin wetlands longleaf pine forests, and wiregrass savana communities. Venus flytraps can be seen along the edges of the pocosins." (from the park website)

Unfortunately for us, late autumn is not flytrap season, so we saw none. Even though it was nice to know that they are there and protected! 

Instead of flytraps, we saw dozens and dozens of pitcher plants. Love them all! 

From threre we drove over the river. Thre is a marina, with fortunately lots of parking spaces, a small store with mainly fishing items, and a concession stand -- closed for the off season, of course.

We walked over to the river. 

This is a bayberry bush. The berries are often used for making candles.

There was also a large platform for anglers, and it also had benches. It will probably not surprise you that we sat there for half an hour of so, watching the river, the boats, and the birds, and chatting with the anglers.

After all that fresh air, I need a little something to strengthen myself again.

It was our last night, and we decided to return to one of the restaurants we ate at earlier. Our landlady had recommend Michael's Seafood Restaurant to us, and rightly so. Wonderful fresh fish, beautifully prepared. And we all got a kick out of the fact that the trendy side dish was Tater Tots!

General thoughts on Carolina Beach: At the time of year we were there it was lovely. However, the houses are reallly crammed in very closely together. I simply cannot imagine what it must be like in high season, probably my idea of hell. There is extremely limited parking at each house, and all public parking is paid.

Although there seems to be a large year-round community, many restaurants were closed for the season. And some of the other things we want to do or see were either closed or under construction.

On the other hand, the beach was empty and lent itself beautifully to long walks, there is still much nature to appreciate, and our rental apartment with the incredibly balcony was surprisingly cheap.

East-West North Carolina, November 2023, Part 4

 At last we did something other than sitting on that lovely balcony talking or walking on the beach. Not that there's anything wrong with those things!

We have visited the North Carolina Aquarium in Manteo many times, so wanted to visit the one on this part of the state, the Fort Fisher aquarium. We were greeted by a lovely fish work of art.

They not only have alligators, they have an albino alligator. He was a rescue, as he would never have survived in the wild. For one thing, his coloring provides him no protection from the heat, and for another, makes him much more obvious to predators.

Bill and the alligator. I assume they have agreed not to eat each other.

Some of our usual friends, 

They also have a large outside area, very interesting. This bald eagle is also a rescue. He was hit by a car and so badly injured that he cannot fly. He has a large area here to run around in, gets the proper food, and the carers make sure he is always challenged. 

The highlight for us was this beautiful pond, with a bridge across the middle.We stayed there a long time, sitting in the sun, and enjoying the peace, quiet, and nature, and of course the good company. 

All that fresh air naturally gives us a good appetite, so we headed to lunch. Somehow eating hotdogs at a picnic table in the parking lot of Butts and More seemed perfect.

The afternoon was devoted to naps, sitting on the balcony, and so on. And, unsurprisingly, there was a sunset.