Thursday, May 4 - Another Beaufort and Oriental, NC

Thursday, May 4 - Another Beaufort and Oriental, NC

A good picture of the marina clubhouse.  The facilities are very good, but there are no cleats anywhere, not on the posts or on the decking.  Who builds a deck without cleats?

This is the most laid-back loaner car set-up we have seen.  The keys are left on the sign out sheet, you just take them and go.  

 We met a fellow Looper at the clubhouse, and somehow in the conversation, Active Captain came up.  We still have not mastered this program, and Joe offered to give us a lesson.  We jumped at the chance.  He was a great teacher, but we are slow learners!

Joe persuaded us to go to New Bern for the day since the wind was too high to leave.  We had a great tourist day!

Bern translates to "bear" in Swedish, the language of the founder of the town, so there are bears throughout the town.

Pepsi was invented in New Bern.  The pharmacy is still there, but is now a tourist stop. 

Robert, the dock master, had recommended the Tryon Palace Museum, so that was our first stop after lunch.  As we pulled into the parking lot, it was very evident that this is a Pepsi town!

We started in the North Carolina History History Center which was fabulous!  We spent a long time in the adult exhibits, then went to the Family Center and took the time machine to 1835!  It was an incredible set-up, just wish we had Hudson and Lily with us.

 At the gift shop. 

The Tryon Palace grounds were next.  The palace was built in 1770 and reconstructed in 1952-1959. 

We chatted with the blacksmith, then toured the gardens. 

One of the first things we saw was a dovecote, complete with doves

The gardens were disappointing, they were very neglected.  We talked to a volunteer who said they had no volunteers for the gardens this year, and the few employees could not keep up with the maintenance. What a shame.  This one was the only one of the seven gardens that had been well maintained. 

The apple trees in the kitchen garden were espaliered on a fence.  I never saw that before. 

Of course Danny found a great tree! 

Leaving New Bern, I got turned around.  My iPhone was dead, and the car charger I brought wouldn't work in the van.  That's my excuse.  Anyhow, we went 20 miles north, then had to come 20 miles back, THEN 20 miles "home".  Long trip.

The wind had really picked up while we were gone, we had to work quickly to get everything secure.  The transient slips are at the end of T-dock, and this marina has NO cleats.  Danny managed to find places to tie 6 ropes - the wind was really fierce!