Day 24 - Charleston, SC to Wilmington, NC

First, I have added our pictures to yesterday's post, so go re-read it.

Nothing really exciting happened in the morning.  It was the usual hotel breakfast and ordinary drive.  The first stop was Myrtle Beach, SC.

The pier.  ($1 to walk on it!)

Pretty busy beach for relatively cool weather.  (70s)

Looking back to the beach.

Looked like a nice 2nd floor restaurant over the pier.

We had lunch at Mr. Fish.  I'm really enjoying all this seafood.

Snook sandwich.

Then it was off to Wilmington, NC.  We knew almost nothing about Wilmington.  It just happened to be on the way to Ocracoke Island.

A retail strip.

 What foods always go together?  Mashed potatoes and gravy?  Peanut butter and jelly?

Sushi and ice cream?

 I bet you didn't guess those two.

Downtown transportation.

An old building full of little shops.

Riverwalk.

We saw a boat cruising the river that looked interesting.

It was pulling into dock, so we bought a ticket!

The boat had three levels with all sorts of amenities.  But there was a shock when we tried to board.

This was our real boat.

The same company owns both ships and uses the fancy one in their advertising.  I felt pretty misled, but we boarded anyway for our narrated river tour.

Off we go with front row seats!

USS North Carolina.  Erin wouldn't let me go.  :(

Wood chip factory.

Container ship being loaded.

Heading back to the dock.

After our boat tour, we toured a bit more of downtown.

Eat on the balcony with your own private door!

Making waffle cones.  The employee didn't think it was as fun as I did.

Nice church.

Three legal-looking buildings.

Such a friendly city.  Pick your own speed sounds dangerous.

A great renovated building housing all sorts of retail.

The original brick and the stairway to the shops.

For dinner, we once again went to a southern restaurant, although this one had some modern twists and a few all-American options.

Salmon and black bean cake.

Duck  and Andouille gumbo.  Sort of a different version.

Vegetable lasagna.

Coca-cola cake.

Good meal at The Basics.

After dinner we saw a festival was getting underway.  In fact, there were two rival festivals going on across the river from each other.  You could stand in different places and listen to different music.

Friday evening music festivals.

Wilmington seems a little like Asheville.  There is a definite counter-culture vibe, although not as strong.  There are quite a few art galleries and trendy eateries, along with old buildings that have been converted to new uses.  Overall, we liked it quite a bit.  We disagree on exactly where we would rank it, but it's a top 5 destination for both of us.

This is a view of a bright blue bird from our hotel room.

Not sure why a talking bird was on the sidewalk, but I guess it's charming.

The Courtyard we're staying in downtown is the best one of the trip.  I've stayed in a huge number of Courtyards over the years, but this one is the best by far.  It's colorful and brand new.

Tomorrow we have to get up earlier than any other day so we can make the ferry to Ocracoke Island!