SATURDAY JUNE 19TH

We discovered that Adam and Annie Shand were same outbound flight from Minneapolis as us so we picked them up on the way to the airport.

Their destination was a honeymoon on St. Martin. It was fun having them to visit with while we waited for our flight….and crew to show up! The passengers at the gate got a bit nervous when the gate agent made several announcements requesting the crew to the gate. At least it was way too early for any of the bars to be open yet! They did finally show up, although very bedraggled looking.

In Charlotte, North Carolina we bid the newlyweds goodbye and caught our flight to New Bern. New Bern is on the Neuse River so the boat has been sitting in fresh water for the past month. Which means the spiders have moved back in. What a mess. We’re headed to salt water tomorrow, so that’ll fix ‘em. They can’t survive in the salt environment.

The heat and humidity is oppressive here. But we best get use to it, so went for a walk around the town. New Bern is named after Bern, Switzerland. The word Bern comes from the German word meaning bear. So the bear is the symbol of the town. There are statues like this one scattered around the town. Each one uniquely decorated. This was my favorite. He is carrying the Articles of the Constitution.

Remember you can click on the photo of the bear to enlarge it enough, if you care to read the articles.









We stopped in at Brandham’s Pharmacy where Caleb Brandham invented Pepsi Cola back in 1898. We enjoyed a cold one and headed on our way.











Came upon this tree with very strange looking seed pods. They looked like Chinese Lanterns.

Walked past this cemetery/playground. To quote the movie FARGO, “kinda weird”.

There are holly bushes growing near the marina. Bet they look spectacular when the berries turn red.

Too pooped to fix anything more extravagant for dinner than hot dogs and a can of beans. Ross mustered up the energy to throw them on the grill. They really hit the spot. And then it was lights out.