July 2023 in Wilmington
On July 9, we arrived in Wilmington, NC. For those keeping track, that means that in the span of 2 months, we drove from Philadelphia, PA, to Hyder, AK, to Wilmington, NC — almost 10,000 miles. We’re so thankful our van handled all that so well, and as a “reward” we gave it a few weeks of “vacation” in a hotel parking lot. We hope to not make a habit of doing this much driving, but this summer is the exception since it’s our 10 year wedding anniversary. If Curtis only had to be in NC for a week, we wouldn’t have driven all the way, but since it was for 3 weeks, followed by some more time in the Midwest afterwards, we thought it was ultimately worth it.
In short, our 3 weeks in Wilmington was a great reminder of why we don’t want to live in the South, especially in the summer. It was hot and humid almost the entire time, with the only relief coming briefly after rain or at night after the sun went down. Not only that, but visiting the city is a whole different experience in the summer than it is in the winter. Hotels are much more expensive, so we couldn’t stay in our favorite place downtown on the river walk. Everywhere is busier, and the closest beach, Wrightsville, isn’t dog friendly and parking isn’t free in the summer.
But we can’t complain, especially after 2 months of time to ourselves. Our 3 weeks here were mostly spent relaxing in the air conditioned hotel, going out to eat, and planning for our next season of travel. We visited a couple different parks when it was tolerable outside, and walked around the nearby university. The best part about being here in the summer is that the crepe myrtles are in bloom, so the streets are lined with bright pink flowers. Since we couldn’t stay downtown, we had to find new restaurants, so our favorites this time around were Michelangelo’s Pizza, Peno Mediterranean Grill for gyros, Mizuki Japan for sushi and poke, and pad thai from Big Thai. During our time here, we also celebrated Charlotte’s 9th birthday and our 10th wedding anniversary, which were both great days spent together.
Our one “day trip” that we took while here was up to Topsail Beach, where we drove all the way to the Southern end and parked for free, and were able to bring Charlotte. I don’t think she enjoyed it that much though, because it was just too hot and the sea breezes don’t really cool her down. But we easily won back her love by getting hot dogs and ice cream in Surf City on our way back. Maybe getting a big beach umbrella or tent for shade would help her enjoy it more, but we go to the beach so infrequently that it hardly seems worth the investment or space in our van.
3 weeks sounded like a long time when we first arrived, but time went by quickly and soon it was time to prepare for our next trip. It was easier to settle here because I knew it could be awhile before we found ourselves in one spot for 3 weeks again. We planned a road trip to get us back to the Midwest where Curtis needed to be in 2 weeks, and then moved back into the van and set off on our journey — only to have both the trip and the scheduled time in the Midwest fall apart. More on that, coming up next!
