Captain Mike got the word that a bridge ahead of us was closed for repairs, so it was necessary to lay up for a few days. We looked at the charts, and decided Wilmington looked good. We headed twelve miles up the Cape Fear River for Wilmington's river front dock. Arriving, we found a thriving farmer's market in progress. And here, I thought fresh food might be problem! We met Shirley, the peanut brittle lady, the "pasta wench" with homemade mushroom ravioli, and, don't you know, a fisherman who raised goats on the side. He had a picture album of photos of his goats! We bought goat cheese and the goatherd/fisherman convinced Mike he HAD to try preparing soft shelled crab. A delicacy I fondly refer to as "roach on a plate". You fry the animal in its complete and natural state and eat the little buggers shell and all. Now, Mike had tried this once before in a restaurant, and not been thrilled. The experience did not improve the second time! Also that Saturday, Wilimington had a large arts and craft show for ten blocks along the main street. We viewed the booths and then found an outdoor establishment that had a bar directly on the street. We ordered beer and wine and followed the rules posted on the wall to a "T". We kept our drinks on our coasters so our elbows did not get wet, we kept our drinks on the inside side of the bar, and we did not say unkind or provocative things to passersby. We did have a delightful conversation with a gentleman in a Cincinnati Reds tee shirt who was a history teacher relocated to Wilmington from upstate New York who had been a dedicated Reds fan for forty years. Go figure!
We attended the light opera, "A Secret Garden", presented in the recently restored 1858 Thalian Hall. In the morning, I walked up town to church and the Captain of my Heart took the ferry across the river to tour the battleship, North Carolina. In the afternoon, we both visited the US Coast Guard Cutter, Diligence, which was soon to be deployed to the Caribbean to check out any suspicious activity. There were 17 symbols displayed on their vessel each one representing 500 pounds of confiscated drugs, so we assume suspicious activity abounds.
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