Oriental is known for its dragons. Apparently many years ago someone decided to celebrate New Years with a dragon costume that he wore around town - running through businesses and houses. The idea was a hit and every year they have a dragon run on New Years Eve. Throughout town there are dragon signs, dragon sculptures, and rocks painted like hatching dragon eggs.
Thursday, April 13th was mostly an errand and chore day. We spent some time cleaning the boat in the morning and then borrowed bicycles to go grocery shopping at the little Piggly Wiggly, the Piglet. I scored a nifty tricycle for my ride!
I spent the afternoon at one of my favorite coffee shops, The Bean, using their internet to update the blog, and using blog writing as an excuse to drink a fancy coffee. I could see CORRET at the dock from the window as I was typing. We made instant cruising friends with Don and Dee on SOUTHERN CROSS who were on the other side of the town dock. The cruising world is a small world, our new friends are also friends with our longtime friends on TAMURE and STAR. In the evening Don and Dee came over to our boat for a drink along with Leslie from TANGO. We all went to dinner at the restaurant at the marina and were joined by Leslie's husband. After dinner Bill and I had a fantastic visit on SOUTHERN CROSS and enjoyed seeing all of the clever, well thought out, and beautifully crafted upgrades on their boat. We had so much fun we not only stayed up past cruiser midnight, but stayed up until actual midnight!
We have heard great things about New Bern, NC for years, but have never made the 23 mile detour up the river. This year we decided to finally visit. Friday morning we had an easy run up the river and fueled up and tied up to a slip at the Galley Landing Marina. We had a nice afternoon walking around town sightseeing and enjoying the New Bern Bears. In the evening there was a wine and beer tasting at the marina.
Saturday was a true tourist day. We wandered around town for a while and I had a chance to hang out with Elvis. We then went to the Farmers Market.
After the Farmers Market we went to the Tyron Palace for a tour. The original palace was built in 1770 under British rule and used by the governor when New Bern was the capital of NC. After the revolution when the capital moved to Raleigh the palace was used for various functions to benefit the community. Unfortunately, one of the uses for the enormous cellar of the Palace was to store hay. This turned out not to be the best idea as the hay caught fire and burned the palace to the ground. The current palace is a replica built in the 1950s. In the afternoon we toured two historic homes and several gardens.
I am enjoying traveling north following the azaleas and having a very extended spring! Our rule of thumb on the trip home is that if the azaleas have gone by we are too far south and if the crocuses are out we are too far north.
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