After the I led the morning reading and we had our daily dance party, I tried to get a hold of Dave so we could go out for our date day. While everyone else was waiting for the evening to go out for Date Night, we wanted to drive 45 minutes to historic Wilmington for a date day. When I didn't immediately hear back, I of course donned my bathing suit and went for the beach. I joined the group and watched 8-inch fish leap out of the water every few seconds all along the beachline. Dave was on the beach shortly after, and we waded out into the water, watching Gordon's raft get smaller and smaller. Schools upon schools of fish shimmered and leaped around us, darting between each other and even between our legs, the girls shrieking in terrified laughter. Regardless of the temptation of such a fishing situation, we left shortly after and got cleaned up for our day out.
After a lunch at Hardee's, we crossed the Cape Fear River and wandered into historic downtown. Across the river was the enormous USS North Carolina battleship, but the anchor was left by the riverside boardwalk on our side. The ferry and its live music passed us while we were on the boardwalk. It was a perfect day for leaning together on a railing by the river.
More recently, Wilmington is famous as Michael Jordan's childhood home and the city where A Walk to Remember and Dawson's Creek was filmed. But this city has deep roots. During the Civil War, the city served as a major Confederate blockade port, but was far enough away from the action that the old houses are untouched. Dave and I spent a couple hours walking around the residential area near downtown before heading for dinner. Almost every house had a historical plaque, most built in the 1800s and even a handful still standing from the 1700s, their large southern wrap-around porches shaded by big old trees. Mines were turned into plant decoration and fountains meant for horses were now little more than historic charm. And judging by their choice of art, Confederate pride is still quite strong.
It was a quiet day spent together, which is exactly what we wanted. While beautiful and historic, there isn't a whole lot of interaction available with said history. Original buildings are still there, and most of them are now modern-style bars. After getting lost in a small bookstore whose owner had a puppy named Edith Wharton, Dave and I ate dinner in the Front Street Brewery, which was decent enough. We then went to a small sweets shop we had scoped out earlier. Everything was wooden and it smelled of sugar; full of a locally-brewed IPA, I went light and got 2 half scoops each of lemon and raspberry sorbetto. We went down and ate together by the river as the sun set.
I've missed him.
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