Wilmington, North Carolina (Wilmywood!)

After a brief overnight stop in Raleigh, NC we boarded our old friend the Greyhound bus and arrived in Wilmington, North Carolina quite late last Wednesday afternoon. Our apartment was within walking distance of the Greyhound station so we trundled our bags along the streets, much to the interest of the local residents who, at that time in the afternoon, were all sitting on their porches in their rocking chairs! Maybe nobody had ever wandered through their neighbourhood with luggage in tow before, or maybe nothing else of any interest had happened that afternoon but either way we distinctly felt we were something of a curiosity as we passed by! There are some beautiful historic houses in Wilmington, some of them split up into separate condos and others preserved as museums like the one in the photo. The town itself is on the Cape Fear River and we spent some time wandering along the board walk, admiring the houses and condos along the waterfront. We also came across a battleship - the USS North Carolina which is a permanent fixture on the Cape Fear River. Able seawoman (only on a wave piercer vessel!) C.J Kerr insisted on having her photograph taken in front of the ship! Changing the subject now completely onto one of our favourite topics - food(!) we don't usually eat out all that often (due to budget constraints!) unless we spot a good bargain - and one such bargain was the Pink Pig Cafe here in Wilmington! They served everything from breakfast to salads, soups, sandwiches and light meals. We went in for a late brunch and just about everything on the menu was under $5! We were served by a lovely lady (the one in the photo with CK) who kept us well entertained, once we tuned into her southern accent! CK ordered a stack of pancakes (no mean size either as you can see!) and I ordered bacon, eggs & homefries. It was a great place for observing the locals and getting used to the whole 'southern' experience! Being in North Carolina (and probably other places we will visit on our journey south) felt a bit like being in a scene from "Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe" if any of you have seen that film(!) or "The Green Mile" or any other film made in the South! It's a one of a kind experience and not to be missed! Wilmington is also known as 'Wilmywood' because it's considered to be the Hollywood of the East Coast with hundreds of film credits from TV series to movies being filmed here. When I looked it up on the internet we hadn't heard of most of them(!) but a few of the more well known ones which were shot in Wilmington (and nearby Wrightsville Beach) include "Sleeping with the Enemy", "Message in a Bottle" and "Cape Fear". We had a bit of stormy weather for a couple of days but as soon as it cleared up we went to see Wrightsville Beach for ourselves. One side of the beach faced the Cape Fear River on the intracoastal side, all the houses having their own little jetty. Then we crossed the bridge over to the beach itself and what a beach! White sand stretching for miles, not to mention the fabulous beach front properties perfectly positioned above the dunes. You can see CK contemplating re-starting her property portfolio with a rather impressive beach hut! It was a lovely place and easy to see why it's heavily used as a film location. We enjoyed our stay in 'Wilmywood' but move on we must so we now go further south down to South Carolina to spend some time in Charleston! We are actually there at the moment (arrived yesterday!) and are comfortably housed in a little basement studio. You can see CK in action on the laptop talking online to Maggie, Iain or possibly both simultaneously! The studio is in a huge, rambling historic house run by a lovely warmhearted, generous lady and her professor husband. As well as having her own family at home she rents out various parts of the house to different people. She did say that her husband was almost scared to go away to a conference for a couple of days for the fear that he would return to find their bedroom had been rented out! She not only gave us this room at a bargain price but has been constantly plying us with food since the moment we arrived! She is just SO kind! When we arrived she left bagels, butter & cream cheese in our fridge along with lots of teabags. Then today she insisted we take some of her freshly baked biscuits (similar to scones as we know them!) and this evening she knocked on our door with 2 slices of homemade cheesecake topped with cherry sauce - Mmmmm! We went up to give her the plates back when we had finished and came back with an apple each!!! I think she is worried that we are not eating enough! We certainly appreciate her generosity anyway! Well, that's about all for now - more from Charleston in our next blog ...!