I've never been a beach person - nor much of a water person for that matter - there are only lakes and rivers in the land-locked Prairies scoured out of the ground by the glacial action of the last ice age and the meltwaters of the Rocky Mountains .
But, I think I could be... Place name links like Carolina Beach, NC go to Wikipedia. Place name links like Carolina Beach use the local tourism or government website.
| 2012.12.03 |
Surf City (and Beyond), Here We Come! |
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That's enough Christmas for now. November was the 3rd-coldest in Wilmington's history, and now that it has become unseasonably warm, it seems essential to drop the convertible's top and get on the road somewhere. When we went to the Outer Banks we had hoped to take the long way back south, but Hurricane Sandy and the week of northeaster storm after had washed out the road to all but 4x4 and emergency ferry traffic. It's still washed out and a week or more from being passable, so that's not an option anymore.
South | |
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The Surf City pier,
shot on an earlier
trip by myself | |
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North | |
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Odd formations in the
intracoastal waterway
on the way out | |
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Surf City was established in 1949 as a resort town and there's really not a lot to it but a main street of tourist shops and restaurants, and beach houses, mostly for rent. |
Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune gets in the way of following the coast. It's most of the reason why anyone is here at all. Nothing to see here, but a lot of hair salons and tattoo shops. And along the way, on fences there are sheets with welcome messages for deployed service people. There's not a whole lot in Beaufort either, but quaint shops and restaurants, and I didn't find anything worth photographing so you'll just have to look it up.
| On we went as far as we could go along NC Highway 70. Not a lot there, but a small marina and this fellow probably wondering who we were and what we were doing there. We drove around a bit and marvelled that even people far from anyone's passing-by eyes still make an effort to decorate their homes and yards for Christmas. |
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The end of NC-70 | |
Finally, we made our way to the northern end of NC-12, to the terminal for the Cedar Island, NC ferry. There's a little campground there with a few campers, a defunct-looking motel, and some boat launches. The water was pretty quiet there, enough to make the fighter jets practising off MCOLF Atlantic (Military Command Outlying Field - Atlantic) especially noticeable. Something to keep the critters in the Cedar Island National Wildlife Refuge on their toes. The little group of houses just before the ferry sported the strangest DOT-issued warning signs for a place so unlikely to ever see much traffic through it - one for a deaf child, and one I couldn't resist snapping. Not to disparage anyone wanting to protect their child but.... Really? Out here?
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