Yet More Fun with Friends Sept 30 - Oct 2

We had a good drive on our hands to reach our next destination.  We met John and Penny in the Keys in January of 2012 during our first year of Moonshadow’s sailing chapter.  Instant friends “back in the day”, we had only crossed paths once since as they sailed through Charleston later that spring. 

Being that our homeward path brought us down the coast, we looked them up for a rendezvous.  Once again, fate would provide not only easy and perfect homesite camping but reconnection with great acquaintances and limitless fun!

We arrived mid afternoon having broken camp early and a long, stop and go drive down the coast.  We had skipped lunch not finding the right opportunity and trying to stay on schedule.  Once again, we were able to maneuver our monster cozily along the driveway and were settled in no time.  We wasted no time catching up and, before we knew it, we were sitting in a waterside bar, drink in hand. 

The rest of the day was spent bar and food hopping through the quirky and quaint town of Beaufort.  Ever the sailors favorite, the eateries and little haunts were not hard to find and we moved about with our long time resident friends who introduced us to one character after another.  Full of food and drink, we arrived back to their home and played the night away with good conversation, a fun game of Blokus (never heard of THAT one before!) and general shenanigans. 

We weren’t hooked up to power but the quiet neighborhood and the night breezes provided a good night’s sleep.  After a lazy morning, John and Penny hit the gym sending Rob and I to hike a nearby trail.  We drove out from Morehead City to  We visited the historic fort built pre Civil War.  Built by Robert E. Lee as a project as a young army engineer, it is beautifully restored and sits on a gorgeous area of shoreline.
Fort Macon State Park.

We toured the fort then hiked the forested and swampy bay side before breaking out to the gorgeous dune trail on the return.  Appreciating the beauty of the area and soaking up the hot but healing sunshine, we were happy to return to the car’s a/c and the ride back. 

Again missing lunch, we decided on a midday main meal and headed back downtown to try out a relatively new Mexican spot.  With darn good margaritas and some of the best guacamole we’ve ever had, we filled ourselves with main   
dishes that continued to impress.  As if that wasn’t enough, we apparently needed to hit a brewery and didn’t stop until trying the local ice cream! 

Needing a break from fun and frivolity, we put our eating frenzy to rest for a short while.  Rob had noticed an open mic happening at a spot downtown and decided he had to make his debut – THAT DAY!  Of course he also decided I needed to be his backup and we found ourselves heading back to the bar hours later with guitar in tow.

We had a fun night watching the other “acts” that ranged from a novice or maybe two to a 13 year old wonderfully talented fiddle player and obviously established local bands using the time for live band practice!  There was We were second to last on the lineup so we got to enjoy everyone – with me feeling more and more like bailing on the whole idea!!  Our time finally was up and the crowd was down to our kind friends and the remaining local diehards who were taking their drinking seriously.  With a bit of a mis-start, we managed to make our way through Rob’s chosen three Johnny Cash tunes before I could jump the stage and RUN!!

John and Penny were ever so gracious to support and took a video of the whole “ordeal”.  Returning home near 11, Rob couldn’t wait to see the video as they played it full screen.  We laughed, critiqued and finally settled down from the high energy of the night and an amazing time with good friends!