Tag: North Carolina

Gone to Carolina

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!

Reunited!

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.

Past Present Future – North Carolina

Backroad travel into North Carolina with historical sites – churches, cemeteries, visiting relatives, and seeing the sites

Wow, it’s been a long time since I posted here! So today I will catch up by starting with the present, take a visit to the past, and plans for the future.

I flew into Raleigh Durham Airport yesterday for my very first time in North Carolina. Well, I have deep roots here as my biological father was from here and I have lots of distant family from both my mom and dad’s side, along with the bio family. That’s all just a happenstance, though. I am actually here for work, thus the future.

I chose to arrive a few days before my training begins so I could explore and meet up with some people I haven’t seen since I was about 8 years old. My first night was spent in Cary. I was tired after a long day flying cross country so I limited my exploration to the hotel and spent time working on my other website, reading, and relaxing.

This morning I took off for a three hour meandering drive toward the central-west part of North Carolina. It looks surprisingly as green as Washington and I had actually arrived during a very big rainstorm yesterday. That was a welcome surprise since I expected my time here to be unbearably hot and humid, thus miserable in that sense, but I’ve been blessed with cloudy weather in the 70’s.

I set out on my drive telling the Mapquest app to avoid freeways and tollways. I like to explore and I had every expectation that I would see lots of churches and part of me really, really wanted to attend a “black church” service because I think the spirit moves those congregations in a very special way. By the time I got on the road and started seeing anything remotely like that, church was over. I actually expected to see mostly Baptist churches, and I did see several. I LOVE the names – Mt. Zion, Mt. of Olives, etc. All a nod to one of my favorite places on earth, Jerusalem.

I came to a community of absolutely giant houses – mansions – all built very recently. The architecture was amazing!

The first town I stopped in was a little cute place called Pittsboro. I actually stopped not for the church, but because there was the coolest antique store with an entire yard full of things made of metal.

Chickens, turtles, big foot… you name it. Well, of course it was closed being Sunday in the south, but I got out and took photos and walked around the little main street.

In an alleyway I found a beautiful mosaic on a wall- mirrored and tiled into a flower garden and birds; right up my alley, literally! There was a Presbyterian church getting underway but I passed it by and looked in all the shop windows. Nothing would open until after 12 so I got back in the car and kept heading west.

There are swamp lands, kind of a little reminder of Louisiana, and the cicada are so loud it is kind of overwhelming. I stopped at the next church I saw which had a few people standing outside. It was a cute white chapel and a gentleman was nice enough to invite me inside for photos of what he said was a Quaker church, built in 1907. I asked if he was the pastor. He said they don’t have pastors in Quaker churches. People gather and share “whatever the spirit moves them to share”. There is no set agenda. He says sometimes it is just silent and people share in the presence. “It cuts out the middle man; having a pastor can make people lazy,” he said. I agreed. It sounded like a good way to be held accountable for knowing what the Bible actually says and relying on God’s Holy Spirit to guide you to understanding. While leaders are not necessarily a bad thing, I see their point and I am going to study up on Quakers. All I ever knew about them was that they were the pilgrims who came to America due to the inability to worship freely in England. Who knows what all got left out of our schooling. The man said Quakers had been in this area since 1700’s, so it all makes sense.

So, I continued down the road and came upon a sign for Snow Camp. I had seen signs in peoples yards starting a few miles back saying NO Snow Camp Mine. I will have to look that up. I pulled off to head to Snow Camp and saw a sign, an historical marker, along the road which said

The Quakers Society of Friends were early anti-slavery supporters of the Underground Railroad. Once the war erupted and Alamance County residents chose sides, supporters of the Confederacy regarded the Friends as Unionists. Never attacked directly by their neighbors, the Quakers were subjected to various pressures to conform. The government, attempting to enforce conscription acts, not only tried to persuade Quaker conscripts to renounce their faith, but also inflicted physical and psychological violence on them.

Solomon Frazier, of neighboring Randolph County, endured an experience suffered by many others. Early in the war, Frazier paid a $500 fine to avoid conscription. By 1864 however, when Confederate manpower needs were acute, he was arrested and taken to prison in Salisbury. There, despite being beaten to make him renounce his beliefs, he refused on religious grounds to “take up the gun” or to serve as a prison guard. When the officer in charge became furious with him, Frazier said, “If is thy duty to inflict the punishment on me, do it cheerfully, don’t get angry about it”. When rifle barrels were leveled at his face, Frazier calmly added, “It is the Sabbath and as good a day to die as any”. Never broken, he survived his mistreatment and the war.

William Thomson, conscripted from this congregation was killed at Gettysburg, leaving a wife Martha and small children. At lease seven Confederate veterans are buried in the cemetery a mile west, a silent tribute to the Friends’ spirit of forgiveness of those who did take up the gun.

I drove for many more miles, stopping at graveyards, churches, and anything else that caught my eye. I’m always fascinated when traveling outside the great Pacific Northwest what kind of roadkill other places have. Texas has those dang armadillos, Florida had the baby alligators, and I’m sure each area has it’s specialty. Washington it’s bunnies, opossum, raccoon, and the occasional porcupine and deer. North Carolina has pretty much the same as us, only they have vultures that come along and pick them clean! That was a first for me!

I stopped for lunch in Greensboro. I had tried to call and meet up with the cute couple we met last year on our Israel trip – Sheila Ann and Junior. So far I have had no luck getting in touch to make a plan, so tomorrow I will just pop in on them! Lunch was at a Steak and Seafood place called NOLA – all inspired by New Orleans style cuisine. My waiter was awesome. He is from Iran, studying civil engineering at the University here, and he sat right down in my booth and talked to me for awhile. Very outgoing and when I left he even decided I should have an iced tea to go since I had a lot of driving to do. Isn’t that just the best?

I finally arrived at my Aunt and Uncle’s house in King. I have not seen them since late 1960’s! My cousin, Laura, who I don’t even remember, came right outside to greet me and welcome me. It was so absolutely lovely to spend several hours out on the deck listening to Aunt Ruth’s childhood memories, good and bad and ugly, and to learn all about her life. She and Henry have been married 61 years and she was my dad’s twin sister, the last of 16 children.

Aunt Ruth will turn 80 years old in just a few days. Trying to imagine my dad, who died when he was only 41, is hard to do. She described her spiritual connection to him, told me her testimony of faith, and how God’s love has brought her through so much loss in life. We went to dinner and celebrated her birthday and had a wonderful time.

Tomorrow I’m going to head out for some Civil War history lessons here in Winston Salem, then go back to Greensboro to see if I can get one more good visit in before my business trip begins.

Past, present, or future – My life is blessed with so many people and experiences. I am thankful for each one.