North Carolina Coastal Cities

Last month, we spent a week in North Carolina.  The bulk of the time was spent in Raleigh, where hubs attended a conference.  I toured some of the surrounding towns and we managed to take a quick trip to the coast.

Our first stop was Wilmington and Carolina Beach.  Wilmington seemed to be a very industrial city and reminded me of Green Bay, Wisconsin.  The downtown area appears to be starting a 'comeback;' however, there is still room to grow.  After a quick walk on the boardwalk next to the Cape Fear River, we drove to Carolina Beach.   What a lovely area!  The sandy beach is great for walking...unlike Cancun beaches where each step results in sinking about 8 inches!  A few pictures from Carolina Beach...

 

We also made our way to OBX, the Outer Banks.  North Carolina has some wonderful beaches. I think I managed to find no fewer than 5 homes that I wanted to buy.  Homes on stilts with beautiful sand dunes and soft sand beaches are absolutely lovely.  Here are a few pictures from Nags Head, Kitty Hawk and Cape Hatteras National Park...

Sunset near Kitty Hawk

 Sunset near Kitty Hawk

 Nags Head beach

Sunrise in Kitty Hawk

 Sunrise from our hotel balcony in Kitty Hawk

Weekend getaway to Door County

One of my favorite places in Wisconsin is Door County.  Perhaps I am a bit spoiled as it is a mere hour away from where I grew up, so I was fortunate to spend a considerable amount of time there.

The downfall with being so familiar and comfortable with a particular location is my tendency to forget my camera, slow down, and capture my surroundings.  The pictures below are from the town of Ephraim.  Perhaps next summer I'll remember my camera :-)

My favorite store is Wood Orchard Market; a cute roadside barn that carries everything from dried cherries to various jams, jellies, dressings to homemade cherry crisp and fabulous fudge.  This year we were there for the amazing Sweetango apples.  These hybrid apples are sweet, crisp, and given the price per pound you would think they were dusted in gold!

A few of my other favorites...

In Fish Creek
Cooper's Corner for lunch
Fat Louie's olive oil and balsamic
White Gull Inn for amazing stuffed french toast and their Candlelight Dinners (the White Gull House Salad is wonderful!)
Shopping at Beach People and On Deck clothing store
Wild Tomato grilled pizza

In Egg Harbor
Shipwrecked Micro Brewery for lunch and a beer (also a stop on the haunted pub trolley)

Surprise Weekend in Galena, Illinois

As always...I'm a tad tardy in posting....but I'm going to do my best to get back on track and catch up with travel posts.

I've already gone on record stating that my husband is a pretty good travel-planner.  It might have something to do with the fact that he knows what he wants to do and just whips out the plastic; whereas I go through this painstaking process of finding the best 'deal.'  In any event, hubs planned a wonderful trip to Galena, Illinois.

Here is his itinerary.  I won't comment.

In the event that you cannot read his lovely handwriting.  His itinerary includes the Galena Farmer's Market, an Alpine slide, the Irish Cottage hotel, wine tasting at Galena Cellars, possible dinner at Durty Gurts and a balloon ride.  Not too shabby.

While living in Europe, we found an alpine slide on our travels in Switzerland.  It was a.maz.ing!  We each hopped on a sled and made our way down the hillside surrounded by big brown Swiss cows, complete with huge bells hanging from their neck.  Our second encounter with the alpine slide was at the Great Wall of China.  Sooo much fun!  Chuck found an alpine slide at Chestnut Mountain just outside of Galena.

We made our way to Galena Cellars on the north side of Galena.  After a wine tour and tasting, we bought some wine and sat on the covered porch for a few hours.  It just so happened that the bike race route went past the winery, so we also cheered on the participants.

A few pictures from our trip.