OtherGoose: aturay SUnday 29-30

Saturday Nov 29/ Sunday Nov 30

Today was a very lazy day...well not lazy because we walked for 45 minutes to the grocery store, and then 45 minutes back! It was quite a hike! But I digress... The Carolina Beach State Park marina is great. We had power, water, showers, fuel and snacks! Unfortunately it was so cold this morning that there was frost on the dock...a little bit slippery! But it warmed up enough that by the time we were ready to go shopping , we were in t-shirts!

Carla, the Park Ranger was a great information source and very pleasant to deal with. When we walked out to the main road we passed a visitors center with lots of cool information about the area. Did you know...

They have all the species of meat-eating plants in one area: the pitcher plant, sundew, Venus flytrap, and butterwort. They all need acidic soil, the occasional fire and moisture to grow but the pitcher plant and the Venus flytrap are becoming endangered.

The park is a national wildlife refuge so you can’t take ANYTHING out unless you bought it in.

The whole Carolina coast is made up of a conglomerate rock called someting that sounds like quinoa, containing shells, sand and limestone and when it erodes it crates humungous sinkholes,

I talked to Carla last night about the fallen pine needles. I forget what they are but there are two trees with long needles like a Norfolk pine. In Oriental, in the Art gallery there were woven baskets made of these needles, so me being me thought when I saw them here....but I asked Carla first and she said to walk out to the end of the park and collect them. They have to stay in the park to make the soil acidic enough for the plants.

I did up the laundry and we went to bed fairly early, so we could get a good start on Sunday morning.

Sunday morning dawned another bright sunny WARM morning. NO rost on the dock

Carla brought me two big bags of pine needles this morning that she gathered on her way to work, just outside the park boundary!!! See? Awesome people! I will have fun with them for a while.

We are about 5 miles from the South Carolina border We are going to try to get there to an anchorage tonight.

The houses are still getting bigger. There is one that I want! It is a 10-room granny suite attached to a 45 room house with a second floor walkway. Let’s see what we can do, Liz!

The ocean is calm today. We have passed several inlets and it’s tempting to go out there because of the complete morons driving power boats up and down here. And I know they’re not doing it because we’re Canadian; because C-Soul behind us is having the same problem. I am referring to the sport fishers who have 3 -100 horse engines on a 15 foot boat and slalom around us. And wave as they watch us pitch back and forth!

The temperature is supposed to go down to 50F tonight ...that’s about 12C. No socks, no heavy blankets, no sleeping in sweater! If tomorrow is as predicted it will be 70F...not bad for December 1.

I am stating to realize that I am not going to see anyone I care about this Christmas [besides Rick]. I hope this trip will be worth the sacrifice.

So we are anchored in Little River Inlet South Carolina...only just! We went over to the bank and got completely muddy in the water and shells. Not much to see and it was getting dark. We can go back tomorrow. As we pulled in and dropped anchor with C-Soul, the BIG M Casino Cruise ship came up the inlet and turned towards Little River... glad we didn’t have to try to pass him! Although he probably isn’t as stupid as the rest of the power boaters!!

We will see what happens tomorrow. The forecast is for 60+ rest of the week on our route so we want to start slowing down and LOOK at stuff now that its’ getting pleasant.

So talk to you tomorrow! ANd the cruise ship left in the dark to go up the river...all lit up but too dark to photo.

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