Day 6 Southport North Carolina

Day 6. Today we traveled  twenty miles or so north to the little community of Southport.  This is definitely a spot worth visiting and spending some time.  Less commercial than Little River, North Myrtle Beach, or Myrtle Beach, there are lots of things to do and places to eat.  Our hosts for the day were our friend Ernie, and a new friend, Connie, took us to a restaurant called Fishy Fish on the ICW.

From a food standpoint Fishy Fish was a treat. The place was big on atmosphere, the patrons friendly and the food very good.  Between us we had a crab sandwich, fish taco's, calamari, and shrimp with the fixings and all were pleased with their choices.  Although busy on Saturday noon, the service was prompt and friendly.  Check out the tequila diet mentioned on the sign above.

From Fishy Fish we traveled a little way south, to Silver Coast Winery for a wine tasting.  Befitting a Saturday the place was busy,  but the staff friendly and helpful.  The wines were quite good by our tastes and properly priced.  We were more fond of the whites (Chardonnay blends) than the Merlot or Cabernet.  I don't know quite what to say about the place.  Wine grapes don't grow particularly well in this region and all of the grapes are trucked in.  In some ways this made Silver Coast feel like a mock winery (the vines in front are for show only), but I respect the brewer's art enough to know that regardless of the origin of the grapes these people know wine.

We decided to wear off our wine at nearby Oak Island with a walk along the beach.  The wind had thrown up row after row of waves against the powdery sand beach.  The rip currents were obvious so no one was swimming, but the beach walk was great. Gloria caught this picture of Ernie and I under a fishing peer a half mile or so down the beach which was nearly deserted. What a beautiful spot.

The leisurely beach walk whetted our appetites enough to warrant a stop at Java City back in Southport. The coffee was excellent, but pricey. We hung around until the place closed at 7:00 pm.  Surprised that it was time to eat again (but pleased ) we settled on The Dead End Saloon and Fish Factory Grill as our supper stop.

This restaurant is not a sinister as its name which comes from the location of the place at the end of a street just before the water's edge.  Once again the food was excellent, especially the crab soup which was one of the best and most filling dishes we have consummed on this trip.  In fact, the crab here was as good as any we have eaten so far.  We watched the sun go down over the ICW from our table side window and said goodby to another very pleasant day on the road.

We thoroughly enjoyed meeting our new friend Connie and exploring the wonderful little community of Southport, NC and would definitely return here for a stroll down its Main Street which promised more adventures than we could take in on one day.

Maybe we'll see you along the way. 

Day 5 - day trips from Little River

Day 5 - Day trips from Little River

The weather this morning, overcast, showers, occasional thunder storms, is tailor made for inaction. It seems like a good morning to slow down (even more) and do a few mundane chores.  Our original plan was to drive fifty miles or so north to Wilmington, North Carolina to visit attractions in that city. Since most of the destinations of interest were outdoor events we decided to wait until the weather clears.  This will give us time to plan the rest of our stay here.  We hoped to drive down the coast to Hilton Head island, just north of the Georgia line, or perhaps continue across the river to Savannah Georgia which is a beautiful city (the old town section by the river).  Time and weather will determine if we make it down there since that is far enough to justify an overnight stay.

We lunched in Little River today at a place called Snooky's.  The restaurant is on the second floor of a marina office building and features a great view of a tidal marsh and the Inter Coastal Waterway (ICE).
We enjoyed sampled the seafood which was good, but not at the standard of the Inlet Crab House in Murrell's Inlet where we ate yesterday. 

Gloria seemed to enjoy the view and she and our poet friend got into an interestng debate concerning how to write a poem about two intertwined pine trees along the ICW.

After some grocery shopping and touring a new housing development, we spent the remainder of the day browsing consignment shops.  We found several that carried quality products from glassware to furniture.  Here I am taking a picture of a brass head board in front of a glass front cabinet.

I've always favored refinishing quality used furniture over buying new.  There is something about worn furniture build from quality materials  that beats cheap, new factory built objects constructed of particle board wrapped with vinyl.  We do hope to visit some of the shops and factory stores in North Carolina that carry products in a tradition of quality craftsmanship on the way home.

Tomorrow we will visit some local vinyards and meet some of our friend's friends in North Carolina.
See you tomorrow. 

Day 4 - Little River, South Carolina

Day 4 Murrells Inlet, Pawley's Island, South Carolina

This is our first full day staying with our friend at his home in Little River, South Carolina. Little River is just north of Myrtle Beach which is a major tourist destination. Beaches, hotels, restaurants, golf courses and other forms of recreation are everywhere. This is me in front of the home where we are staying.

After a great evening of conversation around the back yard fire pit, we turned in pretty late and were in no rush to head back on the road this morning.  In fact I finished yesterday's blog entry this  morning since I had trouble connecting to the Internet last evening.

When we did get on the road we decided to skip Myrtle Beach proper, which we have visited before.  Instead our destination was a concentration of tourist attractions called Murrells Inlet, about 33 miles south on the coast.  We arrived at noon, so our first stop was lunch at the Inlet Crab House and Raw Bar.

The Inlet Crab House has lots of character and good food.  From the varnished wood plank tables to the undersized cushions on the hard benches, the meal was an experience. We sampled shrimp, crab and flounder entrees which were all great and modestly priced.  We will definitely return.

Murrells Inlet proper was a few miles down the road,  bordered with more restaurants, bars and boat rental places.  Our destination was a long boardwalk that borders a huge salt water marsh.  We had been told that the boardwalk was surrounded by shops, and there were a few vendors selling t-shirts and souveniers, kayak rentals, and boat charters, but several restaurants were closed (it is early in the tourist season) and mostly the walk was lined on the inland side by a long chain of bars. Bars are okay if that is your kind of thing, but it takes more than alcohol to amuse us (although it does help) so we moved on down the coast.

Our next stop, another 20 miles down the coast, was a community called Pawley's Island.  There we found a collection of specialty shops called The Hammock Shops Village, probably named for the craft shop on the property in which artisans hand make rope hammocks.  Despite my previous comments about alcohol, we passed a pleasant hour at a wine tasting in one of the specialty shops pictured below.

The village was filled with blossoming azaleas in pink and red filling the air with a perfume that was worth a few sneezes to enjoy. Dozens of shops and restaurants are organized along wide crushed stone paths.  In all we spent a couple of hours wandering around the shops looking for gifts to bring home after our trip. This is a very pleasant stop.

My overall impression of this section of the South Carolina coast is the intense commercialization. Most of the fifty miles of coast we traversed today was is littered with seemingly endless sequences of national restaurant chains, hotels, big box stores punctuated by over the top entertainment like helicopter rides, a huge "upside down" house, theaters, car dealers, and the like. Our host joked that bypass route 17 is just a commercial and busy as business route 17 which runs closer to the ocean. There is clearly a lot of entertainment here, and activities for all ages and tastes.

Of course there is much more to the region than the heavily tourist oriented coast and we look forward to exploring some of the rest of North and South Carolina over the next several days. 

See you tomorrow along the road. 

Day 3 Emporia, VA to Little River, SC via Smithfield, NC

Thanks to the followers who are finding your way back to this blog after our year off. I see page visits are up although many of you seem content to lurk for now. Just a side note, comments are still off until I remember how to enable them for followers.

Perhaps Emporia isn't so boring after all. Our hotel was adjacent to a fire station and the Emergency staff were summoned repeatedly with a loud horn rivaled only by the blasts from a couple of trains.  Sleep was elusive...

Day 3 was another sunny, warm day.  We left Emporia mid morning and headed south.

Our travel plan, no more than 300 miles per day, one major mid-trip stop, and lots of short walking around stops continues to work well for us.  Off the Interstates there is a big country filled with lots of interesting people and places.

A case in point is today's mid trip stop,  Smithfield, North Carolina. This charming community deserves a several hour stop, and probably another stop on the return trip.  Smithfield was recommended to us by a North Carolina travel services guide at a highway stop on I95 just south of the Virginia border.

Our first destination was Simple Twist a great little eatery in the historic district.  BTW, our Garmin GPS didn't recognize the address on East Market Street, but with Gloria driving and some expert navigation by me we only needed to back track several times.  It was worth the confusion--the chicken corn chowder was the best ever, and the sandwiches (Roast Beast with Horseradish Mayonnaise) were excellent too.

However, the real treat while walking around town was the Ava Gardner museum. A block away from the Simple Twist was this amazing little museum dedicated to one of the first Hollywood megastars, and a local hero who grew up several miles away.

At the request of the museum staff we refrained from all but one photograph inside the museum. The Ava Gardner museum deserves its high Trip Advisor rating.  This is a very professionally organized and displayed collection of memorabilia designed to tell the story of a beautiful small town girl who rose to the pinnacle of the entertainment world.  Throughout the numerous displays and excellent documentary video, the story of Ava's life is told with the class and candor that reflect Ava's personality very well.

Perhaps the highlight of the visit was the opportunity to meet Deanna Brandenberger, the Executive Director of the museum and trustee of Ava Gardner's estate. Below is the one inside photo we took.

Deanna was very generous with her time, supplementing the otherwise excellent displays with her detailed knowledge of the story around the many panels. Her regard for the late film star is obvious and reflected in the thoughtful and artful displays.  The museum is in the midst of a campaign to fund upgrades to the museum's fire suppression systems.  We plan to contribute and hope that other fans of Ava and small town museums will too. The museum web site is http://avagardner.org .

Below Smithfield we opted to head back toward coastal Wilmington, NC on interstate 40 rather than proceeding directly south on I95 as Garmin suggested.  Numerous vineyards, eateries, shopping opportunities and parks beckoned just off the highway, but the thrill of heading toward the coast at 70mph won out. 

The trip down Rt 17 to Little River was much more interesting and we were prompted to get off the road for a quick stop to pick up some allergy meds.  All those beautiful cherry trees in blossom finally got to my nose!

We arrived at friend Ernie's house around 6:00 pm and talked well into the evening.  We'll be here for a while slowly exploring the greater Myrtle Beach area.  See you along the way.

Day 2 2016 Mid Atlantic States Trip Lancaster, PA to Emporia, VA

In contrast to yesterday today started mild and sunny and stayed that way all day. We started from Lancaster, PA and headed southwest toward Baltimore and Washington DC.  Our mid morning destination was the Baltimore Museum of Industry in the harbor district.  Gloria drove and I navigated.  Here is a shot of the Washington Monument in the distance.  Highway driving is a drag, but there are few viable options in this region.

We have visited the Capitol area exhibits and museums in the past and didn't plan to stop today. The trip to Baltimore went smoothly and after a winding trip through city streets we turned into our destination.  This is the view from the harbor of the not so modest sign for the Museum of Industry.

 Several outdoor exhibits were also plus size.  In the picture below that is me on the left, not trying to figure out what this machine was supposed to do, but if it will fit into my garage (sadly, no).

The exhibits inside covered a variety of industries important to Baltimore, past and present, including food processing, textiles and sewing, transportation, printing, communications and a clever hands-on exhibit on video game development. Gloria is standing next to a pot for the cook who has everything. This one is about four feet across and extends another three feet below the floor.

My only complaint about the museum is that they could have done a better job of telling the history of their artifacts.  Many of these were stepping stones in trends that made America and industry what it is today, but we read little of the social dimensions of the industrial revolution, the rise of labor unions, the displacement of workers by new technology and the like. Good collection, marginal curation.

We finished with the museum around noon and asked TRIP ADVISOR to recommend a restaurant near by. Two blocks away was the Southside Diner (5 stars) which served a number of tasty meals including the Greek salad with broiled crab cake pictured below. Obviously I started on it before taking the picture.

On the way to our destination, Emporia, VA, we detoured off I 95 and using route 1 which was a longer drive but much more interesting.  BTY,our past experience was that Emporia is so boring that we found ways to extend our wanderings  by nearly six hours to avoid getting here earlier.  Little River, SC and a visit with our friend Ernie is the destination for tomorrow.

Keeping our daily progress to 300 miles per day continues to be a good choice.  This allows us to get off the Interstates, and see more of the  people and our country.  Lots of short stops have confirmed that most people are pretty nice and hard working.  I  can't think of any other reason why the system works as well as it does.

See you along the way tomorrow.

Day 1, 2016 Mid Atlantic States Car Trip Connecticut to Lancaster, PA

What is it about travel that makes me feel so alive?  Maybe it's the same thing that makes it difficult to start-- leaving a myriad of projects behind.  I don't even bring emergency tools along relying instead on a AAA and a credit card. All I'm sure about is that taking it slowly and stopping to explore this great country is the only way to go.

We started today in pouring rain, a good sign we should leave Connecticut.  Here is what I84 looked like in Danbury just before the NY border.

Our half way attraction today was the Gillinder Glass Museum and Factory in Port Jervis, New York.

While not as large as the museum in Corning New York, this was fun and not too taxing.  The tour included a visit to the showroom, a history and view of antique glass, and a visit to the shop floor. The tour was informative, and a nice way to stretch the legs.

Gloria and I are still getting the kinks out of our driver/navigator roles and we missed our intent to eat lunch in Port Jervis despite lots of possibilities. We settled for an Atkins bar on the road and a fine meal at the Fifth Street Diner in Temple, PA about 40 minutes from our destination of Lancaster.

The trip took us through the Delaware Water Gap, an outdoor recreation area on the New Jersey, Pennsylvania border.  We traveled through dozens of little towns and were well pleased to spend no time on interstate highways once we left Port Jervis.  I highly recommend letting Garmin choose the back roads.

We are also noticing things we forgot to bring, but our hotel in Lancaster is across the street from a COSTCO which had just what we needed at a great price with 2% cash back!  I made some points with Gloria, not only a nice, comfortable Hampton Inn, but great shopping.

I feel the tension ebbing away, except for that little spot between my eyes.  Maybe that will be gone tomorrow.

See you along the way.

On the Level, a mystery of suspense, romance, and home improvement

The picture below is the cover of the project that's slowed down my travel plans and efforts at home renovation for the past year. Click here  On the Level , to find the web page for my first novel. The book was originally planned as an endpoint on one of my bucket list items, (learn to write something a person would pay money to read for fun), but now seems like just the first step on a very different kind of journey. I'm already writing book two in the Long Island Sound Handyman series, and have an outline for book three.

Do you like the cover? I took the design I'd sketched below to a very talented art student and asked her to turn the concept into original cover art.  Marissa Stanton not only produced the painting upon which the cover is based, but painted the back cover of the paperback edition, superimposed the titles, and created the electronic files I uploaded to the book producer. I had also researched the colors of book covers that really stood out and asked Marissa if she could paint in green and gold. I continue to get compliments on her work.

My Cover Concept Drawn in Pen and Ink

After studying the chaotic world of agents, big publishing firms, small firms, and sharks providing "author services" for big bucks to aspiring authors, I selected CreateSpace, an Amazon company to print and distribute the paper version, and Kindle Direct Publishing to distribute the e-book.  These companies were excellent to work with, and required no up front cash from me, or onerous contracts.

Getting to the point where the photo above was taken, a book signing at the local library sponsored by The Write Stuff writers' group, required quite a lot of work.  Much of that was after the story was written.  So far the reviews are pretty good, sales fair. This is one journey that was worth the effort. If you want your own copy, just click on the book title at the beginning of this post to be taken to the Amazon.com page for the book.