WILMINGTON, North Carolina

Any town with a commercial riverfront provides enjoyable opportunities to stroll and sidle up to an umbrella table for soothing dining. We happened to hit Wilmington's lovely boardwalked tourist area in the mid-day 95-degree heat so indoor cool-refreshments proved desirable. From our lovely digs at Jenny's house we mainly ventured out to the beaches. We spent an evening strolling at Wrightsville Beach, then returned for a day-long vigil when Hurricane Earl stirred up hefty waves that side-swiped most of the surfers, toppled a pier-beam that required attention from the Beach Rescue team, and sent a lifeguard charging into the waves to calm a swimmer in distress. We finished off the beach day with appetizers on the deck where we battened down all of our dinnerware to prevent wearing our food from flying. 

A lovely day-trip took us first on the car-ferry to Southport, where we dined on our favorite outdoor-picnic-table-right-on-the-waterfront style lunch. Then, without a map, we ventured to Caswell Beach, which is a narrow strip with houses flanking both sides of the road and sporting only the tiniest public parking area, making the beach a fairly private affair. We decided to drive back to Wilmington and happened upon Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson, a major pre-revolutionary fort on the Cape Fear River that was razed by British troops in 1776. All that's left are crumbled stone foundations dotted along a well-developed trail with lovely waterfront vistas. My favorite part of the trip was passing a swamp with a sign that read, "Don't feed the animals." "What animals?" Benedicta and I said in unison followed by, "Look, there's an alligator," again in unison. Of course, I had to stop the car and get a close-up look. The first sighting was a small alligator that scampered toward me as I made my way to the pond-front. Then she kept her head turning to watch my every step. The second alligator was much larger and fairly disinterested. For me, any travel day with an animal-sighting is a travel day well-spent!