Port City-Big City

The Fuzz and His Sweetie had decided to have a bit of Big City time, just for fun.

Wilmington, N.C. is not far from Topsail Island, and in comparison to Topsail Beach, certainly qualifies as a Big City.

But it is a bit of a "you can't get there from here" situation.

The Fuzz does realize that this simply means that one must first get someplace else from here, and from thence, to there.

Topsail Beach is of course located on Topsail Island.

And Topsail Island is of course, an island!

Whereas the "Port City" is in fact, not.

So  this will require either a ferry, or a bridge.

The closest actual bridge is located up the island at Surf City.

And so we have this situation.

First a drive up to Surf City and across the drawbridge over the ICW.  Then out to the highway and south towards the Big City.

The first stop was the "Goodwill" store, and then, while The Fuzz still had a bit of his sanity left, downtown.

 

The traffic in Wilmington can get a little unpleasant at times.  But The Fuzz's Sweetie grew up in a Big City and handles it pretty well.

Finding a parking spot on Front St. can be a problem.  So they just decided to bite the bullet and pay for a spot on a parking deck...

With a view.

There are a lot of shops and all in this area.  In fact it's sort of the Tourist Destination while at the various beaches.

The Fuzz's plans called for a stop at

"Old Books on Front St."

The Fuzz highly recommends a stop here if one is inclined towards these things-

But be prepared to spend some time!

The Fuzz and His Sweetie were not particularly interested in the other shops, as they had been through here during summer beach trips before.

But a bit of lunch was called for.

So they walked up the street to the Front Street Brewery, and had some lunch and a pint.

It was very good.

Besides the beer, they seem to have quite a bar going on.

The Fuzz was tempted to use this for a Mystery Pix, but managed to get over it.

After taking care of the hungries, it was time to go down to the Riverwalk for some fun.

Whilst His Sweetie amused herself with her sketching, The Fuzz got out his camera and took a walk.

Here's a look at a bit of the waterfront.

And since this is the "Port City"...

Here's a look down river toward the "port."

Wilmington is also home to the Battleship North Carolina -

Which is right across the river.

The Fuzz could have stopped here...

But didn't!

If the reader is inclined so...

They may continue for a bit below

☟

Another Early Beachwalk

It's no secret to readers of this blog, that Our Fuzz enjoys his Morning Beachwalks.
So here we go again.

The wind was unusually calm on this morning, and the seabirds were out anticipating the morning light.

And so was The Fuzz.

Of course there was still a bit of a wait.

So The Fuzz had some time to just mess around a bit.

Wonder what this guy was up to?

But by now that old Sunball was making it's appearance.

And clear!

Morning had broken.

And of course The Fuzz has a few more here.

A Breezy Afternoon

After his Sunrise Morning Excursion, The Fuzz pretty much holed up back at the Hotel.

It was cold out there.

But by the evening he was ready to give it another go.  So he bundled up, and headed back to the beach.

With all the wind, the sea was kinda rough.

But that wasn't stopping the birdies.

The Fuzz has a thing for trying to catch those guys in flight.

And they were out there right in the surf.

While he was out, he decided to check out the other side of town.

For those who might be unfamiliar with Topsail Beach...

There's not really that much to it.

Of course, that is part of the attraction - at least for The Fuzz.

The "other side of town" is the "Sound" side of the island.

It's a whole different thing.

More birdies, but less flying.

But by now it was getting late and more rain was moving in.

So it was back to the Hotel for The Fuzz.

A Street to Nowhere

The Fuzz and His Sweetie were off to another Big City.

It's getting hard to just stay out here in the woods these days.  With Holidays, and Family spread out, there's always something going on-

someplace else.

This Big City was the seat of one of the great Tobacco Empires.

Of course Tobacco ain't what it used to be.

So the city has had to diversify, and has done well, The Fuzz supposes.

But Our Fuzz does find himself drawn to the relics of the past,

some of the things left behind as progress...

progresses.

Like this street to nowhere.

How often do you find Cobblestones any more?

There was a time when even a street could be a work of art.

Oops...

It looks like this could give away the latest

Mystery Pix!

Big City Bike Fest 2

The Fuzz's Sweetie has her own interests, so they split up for a bit.

The Fuzz wandered around on his own and watched this crazy guy for a while.

The Fuzz doesn't plan on trying this at home.

Later he met up with His Sweetie for lunch.

The food was surprisingly good.

People and bikes were still arriving.

Check this out.

1 more pix.

It was time to go now.

But The Fuzz was glad to have stumbled into this. 

Big City Bike Fest

It wasn't part of the plan, but when The Fuzz and His Sweetie got to the Big City, they found that a Bike Fest was going on!

It's no secret to followers of Kinda Fuzzy (both of you) that Our Fuzz does have an interest in motorcycles.

The Fuzz was there on a Friday, so things were just getting started off.

So here's a look at a few of the bikes.

The Fuzz will get some more pix up next time.

The Fuzz's Excellent Motorcycle Adventure 4

Charlottesville Virginia.
This was to original destination of The Fuzz.  The plan was to have a visit with His Little Sister.
Sister and Husband are quite happy here in this town these days.  It is of course the Home of a Famous University.The place is crawling with college kids.  They love that too.
The Fuzz took a few moments in the morning to check and fill the fluid in his clutch again.  But it was fine - at least as far as being full.  Always expecting the worse, he was beginning to believe the master cylinder was gone.  But hey, it did get him here, didn't it?  So it should get him home, or maybe somewhere else
The Fuzz's Sister took the opportunity to take him up to Monticello, the home of the Illustrious Thomas Jefferson.

It is a pretty popular place, as can be seen by the line to get in.  Actually this is a queue, as there were several British Folks waiting with us.
They don't let you take pictures inside for some reason, so you won't see any here.  But you can use your camera outside.

Here's the stump of a Poplar Tree that the Great Man was responsible for planting.

You can also take pix of the downstairs tunnel, where all the slaves worked.

The kitchen.

The man was fond of French Wine.

A close-up

But they said he never could get his own winemaking to work out. Life's like that sometimes.