Katie and Dan's Travels

Driving into Wilmington you pass through the now expected miles of commercial strip that surround most old towns in the US; at least in cases like Wilmington (or Beaufort, or any other you can name) they didn’t gut the original town to build these strips, but it likely isn’t because it wasn’t considered at the time. … There is block after block of splendid wood, brick and stone houses, brick-paved streets and nearly every one is in good condition. While there are some closed store-fronts the town has a feel of, if not booming prosperity, at least of thriving: lots of young people, interesting shops, very good restaurants and well-maintained civic infrastructure. … It mentions the beach areas of Wrightsville, Carolina and Kure Beach, but having driven down there we can say that they are just as horrendously overbuilt and crowded as every other beach town we’ve seen in North Carolina. … We took the afternoon of a cold, grey windy day to look at the North Carolina aquarium at Cape Fear ; note the paragraph: “It is the fifth-oldest surviving English place name in the U.S.” – who knew there was such a classification?