The weather was supposed to be amazing today (sunny and 80 degrees), so we decided that a 2-hour drive to the beach near Wilmington, NC was worth doing. The only down side of the weather forecast was that it was going to be a windy day, with a strong wind from the Southwest. Still … 80 degrees?? Gotta go.
The two-hour drive was uneventful. When we got to Wrightsville Beach we had an “interesting” time finding a place to park. Lots of other people had the same idea we had, so there was a bit of competition for parking. We found a spot that was vacant, but it really wasn’t clear that it was a public parking space. There was an odd sort of numbered post by it, and it almost looked like it was reserved for the condo that was right there. I didn’t feel confident about taking it, so I moved on. (As soon as I did this, someone else swooped in and grabbed it. Oh well.) I did find a spot that wasn’t too much of a walk, but there was a big sign stating that it was pay parking and that violators would be towed. At this point I didn’t mind paying, but … there was no system set up to enable any sort of payment. No meters, no pay stations, no nothing. I asked a couple other beachgoers about it, and they didn’t have a clue either. So we parked.
The first thing we noticed on the beach was a massive construction project that involved three huge bulldozers and a gigantic pipe. The pipe was spewing seawater in a big geyser-like spray. A fellow told me that they were moving sand from one location to another to undo the damage from a hurricane. It was an amazing project to watch. I felt like the guys doing this work were like little kids – only their “toys” were grown-up toys. I can imagine them going home at the end of the day and telling their wives or husbands that they spent the day playing in the sand. It would be true!
continualsunsets 