This is a Google Earth picture of the spot on the beach where Lolo and I sat for hours on Saturday, July 22nd. The longer arrow points to our spot on the beach. The shorter arrow to Buddy's bar, and the lone red spot to where we parked (and we shouldn't have, but we got away with it). The weird thing about this satellite picture is that it was taken in the middle of winter with snow on the ground. The odds that the satellite people happened to pick a day to photograph this site when there was snow on the ground seem very slim. But it is what it is. And what it is is Topsail Island in North Carolina.
The flight out of DFW was uneventful, which means everything was good. The quick stopover in Charlotte, NC was just long enough to hit the bathroom and hit the bar for one beer and one cigarette. And may I say thank you to the Charlotte airport for having smoking bars (DFW does not). The quickie hop from Charlotte to Wilmington did not start out well. Some fratty-looking guy was in my seat and the flight attendant didn't seem to care and just told me to find a seat. I got VERY lucky and ended up next to a guy on the emergency exit row (aaaaah stretch those legs out!) and he was not only friendly, but laughed at EVERY joke I made. I told him that he could do the physical removal of the exit door and I would tell everybody what to do (in case of emergency). Well then they said no beverage service, but it really was a very quick flight. I almost tumbled head first out of the plane, because I was not expecting a ladder to the ground. It was really funny to me at the time. Mom was RIGHT THERE when I stepped into the terminal. It's been years since anyone has met me at a gate. I didn't even think that was legal.
Mom had cold beer for me in the car and I was certainly ready for one. The ride wasn't too long. Of course she was pointing out all sorts of stuff to me (like "that's the road to your Aunt Shirley's house") that I knew I'd never remember. We finally got to the campground and pulled up to their camper and of course it had the nicest "yard" around. I dropped my suitcase inside and looked around and then we sat on the screen porch and yakked away. I called Lolo when I first got there and she was just leaving Raliegh. Mom started getting antsy about eating so I said, "Let's go to the beach and get an appetizer." Well somehow time passed in a blur and Lolo called for close in directions and somehow got there before we got back. I felt bad that we weren't there to welcome her. It was weird getting back to the camper and Lolo is sitting on the screen porch! More yakking ensued. We went back to the same place we had been for dinner. It's actually on that map up there. The building just to the right of Buddy's.
On Saturday, Mom left to make her every-other-day trek to the nursing home, and Lolo and I went to the beach. We had GREAT weather. The hours just flew by. We didn't realize how late it was until we got to the car. We were meeting Lolo's friend Angela in Wilmington for dinner. We got ready as quickly as possible and headed out. Mapquest didn't mention that we were to take business 17, so we stayed on 17 and got a little lost. A quick phone call fixed all that and we finally ended up here: http://www.indochinewilmington.com/index.html There were six of us altogether. Afterwards the three girls went to a Dave & Buster's type place. And then to Angela's house. Somehow we made it back to the campground. Unfortunately it rained steadily all day on Sunday, but we did eventually make it out to Rick's http://www.eatatricks.com/ where the three of us pigged out on crab legs. Poor Lolo was driving and it began to pour on the way home from the restaurant. Between the pouring rain and my Mom serving as navigator, well I was just glad I had lots of beer.
Monday was Lolo's day to head back to Raliegh, and Mom went to the nursing home. They both left before noon. I watched my soap (well mostly listened to it - the reception was awful) then spent most of the afternoon trying to get a signal on Mom's wireless laptop. It was very cozy out on the screened-in porch with the stereo playing and lots of cold beer. About mid-afternoon I realized I had not seen Mom's cat Maxie all day. I went into the camper and looked everywhere. The camper is not THAT big, so I thought I would find the cat right away, but I didn't. I remembered that Mom does let him out, so I kept an eye out for him, but sort of forgot about him. Around 4:30 or so, Mom drove up and retrieved a cat bed from her trunk. She said she kept forgetting to get it out. I said, "Well I don't know if you'll need it. You don't seem to have a cat anymore." I then told her how I had noticed the cat missing andhad looked everywhere. She said, "Do you suppose when you closed the sleeper sofa, he was under it?" I couldn't see how there was enough space in there and it seems he would have yelped or something when I closed it. Besides that was about 7 hours ago at this point. We were sitting on the screen porch and she was telling me about her visit to the nursing home and I just jumped up and said, "I have to check the couch!" I ran in with Mom on my heels and we started pulling off the seat cushions and we both heard a small cry. I tipped the bedding part up and there he was. Maxie was NOT a happy camper. At least he wasn't broken. We still can't figure out how he even fit under there with the couch folded up. He must have been as flat as a pancake!
On Tuesday we blundered onto a set for "One Tree Hill" and met with VERY OLD friends. I'll cover that next time.
1 comment:
I'm so glad you had a good time... that poor kitty. I'm struggling between laughing and feeling sorry for him. I really don't know how they fit in half the places they seem to.
I'm sorry about your loss... what you wrote on my blog.
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