Charlie getting some air as he comes in first in the second moto…

He had quite a fan club there to cheer him on last Friday night 🙂

Our beach getaway with our church ended Thursday morning.  Before we left, though, Meg and I wanted to explore the old Fort Caswell Buildings.  It was pretty wild.  It wasn’t exactly deserted, but this was the only plaque of any kind that we found while we were checking it out.  Other than that we really had no idea what we were looking out or when it was built.  The fort was actually first built in 1826, and then used during the Civil War, Spanish-American War, WW I & WWII, and there were changes made all along.  I actually bought a book that tells about it, but haven’t really had time to check it out yet, which I’m looking forward to doing.

I can’t wait to see when this lovely brickwork was installed.  We had just walked down a tunnel just like this, but when it turned the corner and went further in, we decided to turn around and go back.  We had already heard a critter of some kind in another building we walked past – we didn’t go in to see what kind it was – and weren’t sure what we’d encounter if we kept going.  We’ll leave that for another day.

Wednesday of our trip with Forever Young, we spent the day at Oak Island.  After breakfast we headed to the lighthouse there near the fort where we were staying for a tour.  We only went up one ladder to the second floor, although I’m thinking someday we may need to go back with grandkids and go all the way up.  This is the view from the boardwalk across the street.  One very interesting thing they told us was that it was next to the newest lighthouse in the US – Sullivans Island is the newest – and in trying to save money during construction they opted to pour concrete instead of making it out of brick.  The colors are not painted on, but actually they colored the concrete.  And they had to pour it continuously to keep the integrity of the structure, and a rate of 12″ an hour.  Pretty wild.

People from church – actually Suzanne Thompson’s cousins (she was the coordinator of this trip) had us over to their house for lunch, and then Meg and I avoided the rain long enough to go check the beach out at the western end of the island, at the junction of the inlet. It was beautiful.  I was trying to get a picture of how the edge dropped off in the water – not a gradual slope like I was used to, but a very steep slope.  Interesting – and beautiful.

After our ferry ride, we made a visit to the NC Maritime Museum. Of course I love pretty much all museums, but this one was so interesting. Of course I especially loved the pirate section :-). This story of a pirate that made Southport his home base was really interesting.

Then it was off to visit the old city cemetery – Southport was originally called Smithville after Benjamin Smith, who was from there and who became governor.  I could’ve spent a much longer time there, but the bugs were starting to come out, so we cut our visit a little short.  Next time!

We finished up the visit with supper on the patio at Provisions, the oldest seafood restaurant in Southport. The food was great, and the view even better. Loved it!

Tuesday of our trip to Oak Island was spent in the town of Southport.  We had a scheduled tour that morning, but other than that the time was our own to spend however we wanted, and Meg and I took full advantage of that.  Before the tour started we spent time just walking around this great little oceanfront town.   Like most towns on the ocean it is very old and has lots of history, and they have done a great job of preserving and presenting that.  We started out walking along the waterway, where there were signs about all kinds of different things, including this one about river pilots.  Southport is right at the junction of the Cape Fear River and the ocean, so river pilots were in huge demand there – and, we found out, still are.  I thought these pictures on the sign of the old river pilots and the modern day ones was cool.

The town canon was stored at the library – I like that.  And knew my little ones would especially enjoy its name 🙂

After our tour and a yummy sandwich at a little local sandwich at a little local shop, we decided to ride the ferry across the river to Fort Fisher, and then back again. I love a ferry boat ride – just so peaceful, and love just looking at the water.  And as you can tell from this picture, it was an absolutely gorgeous day.

This past week – Monday through today – I have been with our Forever Young group from church on an outing to Oak Island, NC.  It was just so, so much fun.  Meg and I rode down and roomed together – our room was in this building that was officers’ quarters during WWII.  It was great – just so much more personality than a plain old motel room.  Very cool.

We were at the beach, so of course there was all kinds of amazing scenery.  I’m not sure I’ve ever seen so many live oaks – maybe they really grow unusually well in this particular area.  Just very neat old trees.

One really fun thing about spending the weekend at the mountain house was watching my grandkids with the little ones in Renee’s family.  Charlie has always been a baby lover, so he had a great time with Banks 🙂

We had so much fun last Saturday night when we headed to the mountain house to celebrate Zol & Ren’s 30th anniversary.  We saw people we hadn’t seen in way too long, and met some new folks, too.  Renee’s best friend from her childhood, Kelly, was there from Indiana – I hadn’t seen her since she was in their wedding all those years ago!

This was a trio of trouble back in the day, and if they spent too much time together I don’t feel like that much would change:  Red, Zollie, and Andrew.  What a fun evening.

Catching up on over a week’s worth of pictures!  Last Wednesday Sherry brought Will over, and we made a big batch of granola.  So much fun – and yummy, too!