April 9-10

On Saturday we woke up early, the wind was blowing and the river looked rough. We were at the Farmer’s market shortly after 8:00 when it opened.    We bought some baking, soap and jewelery   We then walked over to the North Carolina History Centre, to learn about the Tyron Palace; North Carolina’s first state capitol, built in the 1770’s.  We watched a short video about the Palace, and decided to go over and check out the grounds, stables and gardens.  I’ve included a number of pictures of the grounds, flowers and canons.

In the afternoon we went and did laundry and some shopping.   I now know what puzzle I will be doing over Christmas 2016—the lighthouses of North Carolina.

That evening we went out for seafood in downtown New Bern.

On Sunday morning we followed the Gold medal curling game on the internet.  We washed the outside of the boat once it warmed up- the temperature had gone down to close to freezing overnight. After noon we went downtown in search of the hardware store, but soon found it was closed- so we went for lunch.  I took a few pictures of huge old houses on our way back to the boat.   Both of these houses were for sale-  they were asking 499,000 for this one.

Saw this old car- it was for rent for special functions.

Ralph came and picked us up at 3:30 and took us over to his place, as we were meeting up with  Paul and Denise from Zephyr and another couple for supper.

Here’s Mazel tug tied up in their  back yard.

Here’s Andy and Ralph talking boating-Nice  touch to wear a shirt  with a Canadian flag  Ralph!.

it was great seeing Linda and Chewy again.

Ralph drove us to Oriental, about a 35 minute drive, where we met the other couples at M & M’s restaurant- there were 9 of us.

The food was very good- I ordered Shrimp and Grits.   Mike, who was sitting at another table, overheard parts of our conversations—He works for Waterway Guide, which we all know well.

After dinner we said our goodbyes to Paul and Denise and Michael and Tonya—we will cross paths with them again, as we are all headed north.  Ralph and Linda as Gold Loopers will not be rushing to put in the miles like the rest of us.

Tomorrow we plan to take our boat past Oriental, about a 4 hour trip.  We will also be celebrating the Captain’s birthday!