Although I am definitely parked in Arizona right now, here is one more story about my NC visit. Valerie persuades me to join her for a weekend stay on the riverfront in Wilmington, NC. She cunningly promises a gourmet lunch and free wine tasting at Duplin Winery on the way down to Wilmington to entice me.
In addition to her awesome company, the sweet wine and the most incredible pimento cheese sandwich I have ever eaten are a fabulous reward for taking this trip. Just to keep me entertained, she signs us up as directional cheerleaders for a Ironman Race through downtown Wilmington on Saturday. I have never attempted an Ironman race, but she has triumphantly completed a few.
She assures me that the runners appreciate lots of encouragement and cow bell ringing. I love to scream and yell at people as they run past me so this works for me. It helps that someone at the State Fair was giving away free cowbells and I absconded with a handful while I was there.
Cheerleader Sunny at Work
Inexplicably we both develop a craving for charcuterie on Friday night. We spend an abnormal amount of time trying to find a restaurant where we can order this savory dish in this seafood oriented town. Most of the problems with our search center around the fact that neither of us knows how to properly pronounce or spell the word “charcuterie.” Google offers up some wild guesses that are not helpful then washes its hands of us. Our youthful waiter at the “Platypus and Gnome” receives an extra large tip for his efforts to teach us how to order this dish.
Times They Are A Changing
As we dine, we discuss the fact that the hostess at the restaurant is wearing only a slip over a turtleneck sweater and nothing else. I can’t imagine how this happened. It is as though she started out planning for a turtleneck and skirt over a slip. Somehow she got confused apparently and put the shirt on first and forgot all about the skirt.
The end product results in a combination that does not leave much to our imagination below her waist area. I remark that when we were younger if we forgot to put on all of our clothes, one of our friends or relatives would have undoubtedly mentioned our wardrobe faux pas to us before we even left the house.
I can hear my Mom now, “Darlin’ it appears that you have forgotten to actually finish dressing. Now go back upstairs and put on a dress over that slip!” Guess given the present day free spirited manners, a person might go all day with something as embarrassing as a tag sticking out at their neck and no one would say a thing.
Battleship View
Val uses her points to get us a great 7th floor, riverfront room with a view of the USS North Carolina. From here we can walk to our volunteer gig at the race. Afterword a short stroll delivers us to the awesome river side restaurants nearby. We probably spend more time in those than we should. I sure hope I don’t have to run an Ironman race to atone for my calorie consumption this weekend.
Battleship views from our room
More Wilmington Memories
Loving the tutu and mermaid pants! Merry Christmas ?
I was lucky Valerie had a spare pair of Mermaid pants to loan me (LOL) – Merry Christmas to you too!
Hey guys. Looks like you’re having fun. Merry Christmas.
We are! Hope you are doing great and so glad to hear from you. Happy Holidays!
John and I have eaten a wonderful meal served by a very adept server at ‘Platypus and Gnome’
John’s son Jaime lives in Wilmington.
Good to hear from you. Happy Holidays and very Merry Christmas.
Well what a small world!! So glad you guys got to visit this wonderful city too. Love to all in Delaware – Merry Christmas!!