James Taylor once sang…
In my mind I’m gone to Carolina
Can’t you see the sunshine?
Can’t you just feel the moonshine?
Ain’t it just like a friend of mine
To hit me from behind?
Yes, I’m gone to Carolina in my mind
Now some of this post is going to seem a bit repetitious… deja vu almost.
I returned to North Carolina for a second time in a month. Since class doesn’t start until Tuesday, I got my flight for Saturday and planned a few days at the beach this time. I figure I have seen my relatives west of Raleigh, so now I’ll take a little extended vacation and see the Atlantic Ocean!
I tried to get an airbnb reserved a couple weeks ago but was turned down because Hurricane Dorian was bearing down and the host didn’t feel it was a good idea in case there was damage. So I waited until he passed on by and made a reservation at a little beach bungalow on Carolina Beach.
I flew into Raleigh-Durham and got my rental car, racing the setting sun on the two plus hour drive south and east. It’s so different here – no hills to climb, no curvy roads… just a nice straight shot to the beach.
The sunset beat me but I arrived in good time and got to my little place a block from the path to the ocean. I immediately headed down to greet the waves and hear the breath of heaven blow over my weary, hot and sticky face. I love, and I mean love, the ocean.
I have only seen the Atlantic once before when I did training in Florida and made a one day trip from Orlando to Cocoa Beach then to Clearwater/Tampa Bay! It seems much wilder than the Pacific somehow.
Since it was getting late I headed out to dinner – seafood of course! I love that my rental car is a 2020 model in 2019 and has all the features of being able to guide me wherever I want to go. It also has some crazy features like constantly correcting if you get too close to the line, beeping if someone is in your blind spot, and telling you to take a break by putting a little symbol of a coffee cup and a suggestion to pull over and get some rest! Nanny Car…
I sat next to an aquarium and the most beautiful shrimp was swimming around in there trying to make me feel bad for eating his family… but eat them I did and boy were they good!
I set my alarm for 6:30 a.m. for a 6:47 sunrise. I hopped out of bed and threw on a jacket … which I immediately regretted as it never got below 75 in the night! And the humidity never got below 90 percent I think… what’s the use in messing with your hair or makeup here?
What a glorious sunrise it was – slowly you could fee the sun peel off the layers of the night, lift its face above the horizon one slow inch at a time, and roll the waves closer and closer to the edge of the earth. It was beautiful as the waves pulled back leaving a palette for the sun’s reflection to paint itself upon. The ripples and crashes and foam all working to form a portrait of morning.
Suddenly I remembered that a lady I worked with 15-20 years ago in Tucson lives in North Carolina on a beach somewhere. I know the coast line is long so not much chance of finding her, but you know me if you’ve read any of these posts before… I’m going to look her up on google!
When I got back to my room I typed in her name and I almost fainted when I saw that not only is she listed in Carolina Beach, NC… but her address is listed on the very same street I’m staying! Oh my gosh I was amazed! I debated… it’s 9 a.m. and I’m heading out to breakfast on a Sunday morning. I remember that she is an early bird, but what if she is going to church or isn’t an early bird anymore since she retired?
Well, again, if you read my last post you’ll not be surprised to hear that I decided to knock on her door on my way to coffee, thinking maybe she would want to join me! I pulled into her parking area behind the car that was there – good sign, I thought! Now to find the place – it is kind of a funny building with many condos right on the canal, which was very lovely. I rang the bell. Again. I knocked. I waited. At this point you might expect me to just open the door and go in, right? Well, not this time! I started looking for a pen and paper. I had nothing in my tote bag, went to the car and looked but could find nothing to leave her a note. I sat there thinking what to do next. I decided to google her again and see if there was a phone number. It was a Tucson area code so not sure if that’s old, but what the heck – I can’t just leave and say, oh, well!
I dialed the number and she answered hesitantly, seeing an unknown number and it being Sunday morning expecting a solicitor. “Bonnie? It’s Belinda Botzong… do you remember me?”
It turns out Bonnie moved from the Seashore inland a few years ago. I told her I was heading to breakfast in Wilmington. She immediately suggested meeting me there and spending the afternoon with me! She just had to get ready and would drive the hour to meet up. I was so touched that she just dropped her plan or lack of a plan for the day and took time to drive over 70 miles to see me.
I stopped for coffee and breakfast sandwich at the nicest little cafe with these really sweet ladies. One thing I appreciate about the south is the accents and the sweetness of the people. I think even if they weren’t sweet, the accent makes them sound nice anyway! But these two were truly sweet and so happy I came in. They asked if I was visiting (I have no accent, so I assume that’s a dead giveaway). I told them I was meeting my friend and how it came to be and they loved it. So I also told them about my last adventure with Sheila and Junior… see prior post!
I drove into Wilmington and walked around a bit taking photos of the ancient buildings, bricks, cobblestones, etc.
There was an art fair going on, which is what made me go there in the first place, so while I waited for Bonnie I did a little art shopping therapy. I bought a ceramic light switch cover for my bathroom. It has a sand dollar painted on it, which is my favorite. I asked the artist if there are sand dollars in North Carolina – she says she doesn’t know but that she rarely goes to the beach and prefers the mountains! I told her she is definitely misplaced – there isn’t even a hill for many many miles let alone a mountain! She agreed 🙂 I then bought from a lady who makes pull chains for ceiling fans, decorating them with ceramic pieces with sea life on them. She, too, prefers mountains apparently and thinks living in the Seattle area would be much more suited to her tastes.
Bonnie and I met up in a tea and spice shop. Reunion! The tea ladies loved that. I bought several teas for my daughter and Bonnie bought over half a pound of Decaf Earl Grey, which is not always easy to find. We walked around and saw a horse and buggy ride so we got on board for that!
While we waited for the horses, Prince and Jeff, to rest up for the journey, we started catching up on our lives. We worked together from 1999-2004. We rode the bus to the University of Arizona almost every day together during several of those years. We have both been through so many life events since we last saw one another. We did stay in touch for a few years after I left Tucson, but as it goes with much of life, we had not kept in touch over the past ten years.
Time for our journey. The carriage driver told the history of Prince and Jeff, work horses from Amish farmers. They are two of many rescued horses the owner has taken in over the years. When the horses can not work on the farms, they get sold at auction. Rather than letting them go to get butchered, he rescues them and trains them for carriage rides. They are truly magnificent animals.
The carriage ride was awesome. We went through the historic neighborhood and saw so many beautiful old homes and buildings. To think of the times of the Civil War and post-war, the plantations and Southern Belles dressed in their finest.. and to really imagine life before air conditioning!
We headed to lunch at a pizza place where I had a spinach salad and we reminisced about our time in Tucson working for the University of Arizona together, about our lives since then, families, loss, grief, and love. All the things that have transpired in the past 20 years.
We parted ways after lunch with hugs and promises to keep in touch. What an absolute blessing to get to meet up with her spontaneously, to have her give up her Sunday afternoon without a plan, and to know that there is someone who would do that for me besides my own mom. She would have loved this whole adventure I’m on and it makes me miss her, not being able to tell her about it.
After we parted ways I went around the town again taking more photos of bricks and cobbles and buildings. I saw a huge church steeple in the distance and drove to it and saw more mansions. I went to an art store and bought earrings and then drove randomly around a huge lake before setting the GPS to take me back to the beach.
I stopped at a local grocery store for fruit, coffee, and cream. Isn’t it always interesting to just see people out in their normal life while you are out traveling? Maybe I’m the only one who thinks that’s interesting? I then drove all the way down Pleasure Island from Wilmington Beach, Kure Beach and into Fort Fisher. I was tempted to stop at the aquarium but it’s just so hot and muggy I prefer being in the car with air conditioning!
After coming back to take a nap I headed out for dinner at Big Daddy’s where I was sold on the burnt ends/brisket as an appetizer, then they threw in a huge basket of hush puppies before bringing my actual dinner of flounder and chips. There were shark bites on the menu! My husband would love the logo for Big Daddy – so retro and cute. I was stuffed and wasted a lot of food before I headed over to the pier at Kure Beach.
Standing high above the waves on that pier was an adventure. I didn’t get out too far before I decided people should not tempt nature. This man made structure has been beat up by who knows how many hurricanes and all these people are on it walking far out over the surf. You can feel it rumble and shake as the waves crash high and mighty. In the darkness of the evening it is truly ominous, beautiful, dangerous, and powerful.
It has been a blessed day. Thank you, Bonnie Seashore, for making time for me today. Thank you, Lord, for the majesty of your voice in the waves and winds. Thank you family for supporting me in all my adventures.
