Thursday, December 6, 2012

Nov/Dec Journey 2012 Part 3 - Wilmington

Our time in Wilmington, NC, was wonderful! We had this neat little condo with a balcony overlooking the Riverwalk on Cape Fear River. 



That is our balcony on the left upstairs. I took this on the last morning and it was cloudy.








Our street was a one-way cobblestone street with almost no traffic. We could walk to all of the shops and restaurants in the Historic District. 



Our building is on the right. 









It is off season but most things are open, there are no crowds, and we had temperatures in the 70s! And I loved having a washer and dryer in the condo - we needed to do laundry!

We toured the USS North Carolina one afternoon - I felt like we were alone on that huge battleship - not many people around. The older ships always amaze me - how did people sleep on the 5th bunk??! Is it still that crowded on our current ships?



We also toured Historic Fort Fisher - I learned more about  the Civil War. It was fascinating to see and the day was absolutely gorgeous! We had lunch outside near the beach visitor center/ranger station. Then we spent some time walking on the beach - the sand felt so good! 



It looked and felt like summer but it was December 5! The sand wasn't hot but the water was cold.







A ranger told me the water was probably in the mid 60s - it was cold! This area and Kure Beach seem very laid back and relaxing.


Of course we ate! There was a neat bakery/coffee shop across the street at Chandler's Wharf and another one, Bella's, a few blocks away. Also a few blocks away was the Front Street Brewing Company where we had a great meal one night. We were shopping at City Market, which is lots of little shops, and a gentleman offered us pecan samples. Oh my, the praline pecans were wonderful! So we bought a bag and, of course, ate them all!

The last morning we visited Yarns of Wilmington. I found yarn for another sweater with help from the friendly owner. Then we went to Sew Happins, a quilt shop that is just 18 months old. 





The ladies were very friendly and I just happened to find a couple of things on my 'needed' list!






We headed to Wrightsville Beach. It seems very populated similar to the Outer Banks areas of Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills.  The one lady at the quilt shop told us to check out Topsail Beach - a little further north and a lot less crowded! We'll keep that for next time.

And there will be a next time - we're looking forward to returning to this area!

1 comment:

  1. DH and I talked about returning to NC one of these days ... and Topsail Beach is on our list of places to visit.

    ReplyDelete

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