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The rains had ended and it was a windy but pretty day at the beach. We checked out of The Sand Dunes and headed down to spend a few last hours with our toes in the sand. Don had heard that there’s a storm brewing off the coast and sure enough the red flags were out and the lifeguards were keeping everyone only thigh high in the surf.
The old battleship standing in front of the USS North Carolina.
So after a few hours on the beach and a picnic lunch we loaded up and headed off to Wilmington. A pretty port city on the Cape Fear River, it is home port of the USS North Carolina.
A view of Wilmington.
This battleship was commissioned during WWII and got hit by a torpedo in the Pacific Ocean. It was brought to Pearl Harbor and repaired then sent back into action. It was decommissioned at the end of the war and was to be sold for scrap. The people of North Carolina weren’t going to let that happen to their namesake and an effort ensued to bring the ship to Wilmington. School kids were donating their pennies and the whole state seemed very committed to the project. They purchased it in the 1960s and through the efforts of many different groups it has been restored.
Kids and their toys!
There is an extensive tour that takes you down below decks and up into the superstructure giving you a glimpse of what it must have been like living on this floating target.
The JFK it’s not. Only one plane.
Being a little claustrophobic, I had a harder time enjoying being 4 decks below the main deck particularly when there were several people trying to occupy “my” space. Don & Damian had no such issues and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
Tight spaces!
Stowaway?
The ex-firefighter finds the firefighting equipment.
Once back above decks I was a little more comfortable. That is until we saw the multiple alligators circling the ship. Honestly, I am the only person who had no idea there were alligators in North Carolina??
Those stupid video games are good for something. Damian actually knew a lot about WWII ships.
When our tour was over we headed north and after about 3 hours in the car we were hungry, tired and stiff. We sought out a hotel with a hot tub & eased our tired old bones into it. Damian, of course, hit the pool. Sometimes the best adventures are totally unplanned. Now home I go to do a mountain of laundry.
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