March to the Sea - Battle Stations!

 

Aboard the USS North Carolina

After two full days in Charleston, South Carolina, it was time to head home. The last of our tasty breakfasts at the 1837 Bed and Breakfast that morning was a sausage quiche:

As we were in no particular hurry that Thursday, I plotted a course northeast that would avoid any freeways. We left Charleston by way of the 13,200-foot (four kilometers)-long Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge:

After a couple of hours of leisurely driving we reached Myrtle Beach. "Tacky" is how my guidebook describes the summer vacation destination, and sights like this one did little to change that description:

We decided to take a break at Broadway on the Beach, an entertainment center and shopping complex designed to liberate visitors' wallets from the weight of the cash contained within:

My wife was fascinated with Wonderworks, an interactive museum/amusement zone, but didn't want to spend any more money than was necessary at the mall, so we didn't go inside:

Yes, it really is called "King Kong Sushi", and no, we didn't eat there. We had lunch instead at Extreme Pizza:

Can it be safely assumed that the TV chef's past remarks on race haven't negatively affected her image in South Carolina? Bring on the butter!:

At the Beef Jerky Store we picked some tantalizing flavors - alligator, antelope, elk and kangaroo. Good eatin' I hope:

A reminder of where we were:

Stopping for gas along the strip mall (aka Highway 17) that cuts through town:

Trying to get to the beach in a summer destination was a frustrating experience. The shore is lined with an endless string of condos and hotels blocking access to the surf. We finally located a small public parking lot, and had a look at why people flock to Myrtle Beach during the sunnier months:

Eventually we got back in the car and continued our drive, crossing into North Carolina, where the GPS had us cruising along a number of isolated rural roads where the only people we saw were rifle-toting, orange-hat wearing hunters, much to Shu-E's distress. And then all of a sudden, without any suburban housing tracks to ease us back into civilization, we found ourselves in Wilmington, and checked into the Embassy Suites by Hilton Wilmington Riverfront.

As dinner time approached, we headed off onto Front Street, a stretch of bars, restaurants and shops, like this one selling arts and crafts from Bali and other Southeast Asian locales:

We went to the Front Street Brewery for dinner, where I paired the Scottish Ale Pulled Pork Plate with a, um, Scottish Ale:

I could've upgraded to a room with a river view when we checked in the prior evening, but instead this was the view that greeted me on the morning of the last day of 2021:

The similarities between our stay in Wilmington, North Carolina, and our visit last month to Wilmington, Delaware were almost unnerving. On both occasions we stayed at a Hilton located alongside a river (the Christina in Wilmington, DE; the Cape Fear in Wilmington, NC). And on both occasions, while the girls were in the room getting ready for the day, I went for a stroll along the waterfront:

On the opposite bank was moored the USS North Carolina, which we would soon visit:

Looking toward the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge:

A memorial to the U.S. Merchant Marine, the mariners of whom played a key role in keeping supplies flowing to the United Kingdom during World War II:

Front Street on a Friday holiday morning:

The battleship North Carolina has been moored in Wilmington as a museum since 1962. I didn't think the girls would be too interested, but they were fascinated by the self-guided tour through the decks of the venerable warship:

Amber, a budding baker, was particularly enthralled by the materials and manpower it took to keep a crew of nearly 2000 fed:

The interiors were cramped. Someone of my height and build wouldn't have been too comfortable on a U.S. Navy ship during World War II:

SOS - Shit on a Shingle:

Not the part of the battleship I would've wanted to be assigned:

My daughter thought the dentist's chair looked like a medieval torture device. That was dentistry in the 1940's:

During the Okinawa campaign in April 1945 the North Carolina was accidentally struck by a shell from another American warship, resulting in the deaths of three crewmen:

The gun turrets were such a tight fit that I asked my wife to take some photos of the interior while I waited outside:

The marshy reeds next to the battleship are home to alligators, but we didn't see any. We did catch sight of some wading birds looking for their next meal:

After a couple hours exploring the North Carolina, it was time to leave. As we headed north towards Virginia, we made a brief stop at a rest area in Warsaw, "home to the oldest, continuous Veterans Day celebration in America" (since November 1921):

The photo below requires some explanation. We wife is addicted to a loyal customer of Papa Murphy's, a take-and-bake (as in they prepare the pizza, and you take it home and bake it) pizza chain that started in the Pacific Northwest. Unfortunately, Papa Murphy outlets aren't as commonplace on the east coast, and in the past we've had to drive a couple of hours (or more) in order to visit one from Falls Church. When Shu-E discovered that there were several locations in North Carolina, our itinerary was jiggled so that we could stop in Goldsboro, North Carolina and pick up a couple of pies:

Judging by roadside billboards, North Carolina can best be summed up in three words - fireworks, guns and Jesus:

The drive north on I-95 back to the Washington, D.C. area was much easier than the numerous traffic jams we had encountered on the trip south a few days previously. It helped that we returned on New Year's Eve, and not on a Sunday. It was also to our benefit that we returned a few days before the snowstorm yesterday that left motorists stranded overnight in freezing conditions in the Fredericksburg area.

The last sunset of 2021 as seen from a gas station in Petersburg, Virginia:

Our final meal of the year was at a Huddle House at the same location. Ribeye steak, mashed potatoes, green beans, Texas toast and lemonade - a last bite of Americana before returning to the Beltway:

And with that our brief sojourn into the South was over. I'm not sure what the girls made of it all - Amber was confused with the socially conservative religiousness of the Bible Belt, while Shu-E was dismayed (again) by the relative emptiness of the American countryside (when compared to her native Taiwan). I enjoyed virtually everything - both the stereotypes (like the guy selling "Let's Go Brandon" and "Trump 2024" shirts by the side of the road in a small town in North Carolina) and the surprises (like the progressive college town atmospheres of Charleston and Wilmington). Most of all I enjoyed the driving, especially once we got off the freeway and onto the highways and byways of Murica. I'm looking forward to the cross-country drive we're planning this summer.

The girls, I'm not so sure of...