Mary Lesh

Today we wanted to see 2 lighthouses, some beaches and of course a sunset. We did manage to see the Oak Island Lighthouse. The other lighthouse we managed to see from across the water but we could not take the truck on the ferry and did not want to have to carry all our “stuff” and walk everywhere. So we settled for a walk on the beach, a shot across the way and later we drove to Southport and walked their river walk. While there I was able to get a decent shot of a seagull in flight. There were lots of birds because a local lady was feeding them. The riverwalk has a nice little park with benches and swings and a small covered area with a table. We really liked Southport.

After Southport we were headed to a Bird Island Reservation. Ha ha, I was going to get a great shot of some local birds–or so I thought. We put it in the map and it took us to a vacant lot across the waterway from Bird Island. I don’t know why it is on a list of things to do because there is no ferry to get there and it isn’t on that vacant lot. We were able to get to the island a round about way (there is a bridge) but the road ends before you get to the Bird Reservation. No place to park, no walking trails, no signs so we went to a small park, Water Front Park and it was in Southport. There I saw a great Heron and ran (well, I really walked to the truck to get my big lens) and took a few shots. It was another lovely area in our now favorite town in this area of NC.

It started to rain so we headed back to camp to take a break and plan for our next adventure. John found a great place to take some sunset pictures so we headed there. We went to Oak Island and it really was a beautiful spot. I am going to overload the sunset pictures. All sunset pictures are unedited. Wow, what a sight. After that we planned to go to a local pizza joint only to discover they are closed on Monday. Needless to say we ended up with a Little Caesars. Back at the campsite we started prepping to leave in the morning. And that is the long and short of this vacay.

The year has come to its end and we are on our last camping trip of the year. Each year for the past 5 or so years we have taken our last trip of the year immediately after Christmas. It is a time when our kids are spending time with their in-laws and we get time to ourselves. Makes perfect sense to us to take a short trip. In the past we have done, Panama City, Biloxi, Outer Banks (a couple times), Fort Pickens in the Panhandle and this year it is Wilmington, NC.

We are staying with a Boondocker for 3 nights in Bolivia, NC. We arrived about 5:00 and set things up. It was already getting dark so we stayed in, had some leftover pizza and played some scrabble. John actually used all 7 tiles in the 2 games we played. In all the years we have played scrabble, neither of us has ever used all the tiles in one turn. I think he cheated.

We had a good nights sleep and headed to Wilmington to explore. We wanted to go to Airlie Gardens but dogs were not allowed so we headed to the Riverwalk.

From there we headed to the other side of the river to see the USS North Carolina. Which served during WWII.

After walking around the USS North Carolina we were getting pretty hungry and we really wanted to see the beach. Needless to say NC allowed everyone to build on the beach side so you can’t see the beach as you drive along the road closest to it. I hate that. I love riding along the water. After studying the map we headed toward Jack Mackerals Bar and Grill toward the end of the island. We had lunch, which was delicious and decided to head to the tip of the island and catch a ferry back to the mainland.

And then we took a ride on the ferry. Just a cheap thrill for both of us. Oh, and while we were at the restaurant we started looking up lighthouses because we were on coastal land so there had to be lighthouses somewhere near us. Sure enough there is one that can be see from the ferry. Score!