January 2024 in Wilmington
A Week in Wilmington | Wrightsville Beach | Carolina Beach State Park | Abbey Nature Preserve | January 2024
This might be my favorite week that we’ve spent in Wilmington so far. After the last couple trips being in the heat of the summer and early fall, it was so nice to come back in January and be reminded of all the fun parts of the city. On top of that, we were staying in a new-to-us area, closer to the beach and with lots of new restaurants nearby to try, and Curtis was teaching the evening classes so we had plenty of time in the mornings and early afternoons to get out and enjoy being here!
We of course made several visits to Wrightsville Beach, because in the winter the parking is free and the beach is dog friendly. Curtis would metal detect while I walked Charlotte. She likes to walk in circles and stop and sniff everything, so much so that Curtis ends up walking more than I do even with his detector. I guess you could say she’s my own little detector…except she’s detecting for food or trash that she definitely shouldn’t have, so it’s more of a keep away game
On one of our days here, we made the drive down to Carolina Beach State Park, a place I’d wanted to visit for a while but the weather was never right for it in the summer (Curtis had visited back in December of 2022 when he came down here alone). We drove a half hour down to the park and parked at the Flytrap trailhead. Here we went for a long walk, starting and ending on the boardwalk and going all the way out to the Cape Fear River. It’s called the Flytrap trail because during the summer, Venus Flytraps and other carnivorous plants can been seen blooming along the boardwalk path — I guess that’s something we could have enjoyed if we were willing to put up with the heat. Flytraps are native to this region, and they only grow naturally within a 70 mile radius of this area! Despite not seeing any, it was still a fun walk and a beautiful day to be outside.
Another day, we drove North on US-17 to the Abbey Nature Preserve for another long walk in the woods. There wasn’t anything especially exciting, but it’s always fun to explore a new place near a city we think we know well. We made a loop trail throughout the park and enjoyed the Carolina plants and scenery. There was a lake in the middle which we walked around and over on a long bridge across. Around that area were several cypress trees, and we remarked how we’ve never actually seen these in any season other than winter — even though we lived in South Carolina for 8 months and have been coming to Wilmington regularly, and have always made a habit of getting out and enjoying where we are. We’ve just always been very strategic about not visiting or hiking in marsh or swamp areas in seasons when the humidity is high and the mosquitoes are in full force!
After a great week spent enjoying the nice weather and relaxing at the hotel, we packed up and moved back into the van. Since we had plenty of time to check out and not too far to drive, we also did some errands while in the city, and enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the Vicious Biscuit, our favorite new restaurant that we tried this week. We then said goodbye to Wilmington again, until next time, and set off for another week of traveling in the van until the next assignment!
