Quick Carolina Beach Getaway!

Dan has been travelling a lot for the last few years and thankfully, has reached the end of it for a while.  He has no work trips on the books for the foreseeable future! So, to celebrate, he took last Friday off and we went to the beach, just the two of us.

I found an affordable ocean front condo at Carolina Beach. We've never been to this particular beach, so we were excited to see what it had to offer.

We arrived around 1:30 and had a late lunch at Sunny Daze BBQ which was located on the boardwalk.  We both enjoyed delicious brisket sandwiches with an ocean view!

After lunch we checked into our VRBO and hit the beach!

The beach will always be my favorite.

Dan didn't realize the sunscreen I handed him was white and wouldn't rub in!  I didn't realize it either so he spent the afternoon looking like a lifeguard from the 1970s!

After several hours on the beach we headed to dinner.  We chose a place called The Spot and got flatbreads.  We were still full from our late lunch.  The were quite tasty and left us room for ice cream at Squigleys.

Since it was our first time there, they gave us stickers.

Beach hair, don't care!  

The next morning, we enjoyed coffee and bagels on the porch. 

After our relaxing breakfast enjoying the beautiful scenery, we got ready for the day and then headed  to Carolina Beach State Park. Fun fact: Carolina Beach State Park is home to the Venus Flytrap.  Another fun fact:  Venus flytraps are native only to North and South Carolina and they are carnivorous!  We had one growing up and I remember watching one trap and consume a fly.  So cool! We spent a long time on the trail trying to spot one. 

Thankfully we bumped into some other people trying to do the same thing.  They weren't successful either so they found the ranger and he told them exactly where to go so we followed them.  And we found some growing in the wild!  In our defense, they were very tiny as they are just starting to come out and don't reach full size until mid May.  And even when they are full grown, they are still small.

After that we headed to Fort Fisher.  Fort Fisher was a Confederate fort that protected Wilmington's port from 1861 to 1865. They have a great museum on site that just opened last year.  We looked around the museum and then toured the grounds.

One thing about Dan - if we go to a museum, he's going to watch the video!

After touring the fort, we grabbed lunch at Island Burgers and Bites. Their specialty is smash burgers and they were delicious!! Then we headed to the beach where we enjoyed the sun, the waves, some music, some reading and an adult beverage or two.  It was the perfect afternoon!

The temps were in the mid to upper 80s, there was a strong breeze, and the water was chilly only for a minute after you hopped in.  We were in heaven and didn't come off the beach until well after 5:00.

We went to dinner at K38 Baja Grill and it was quite tasty!

On Sunday morning we enjoyed another bagel and coffee on the balcony and then got the VRBO cleaned up, packed, and the headed to Mass on our way out of town.  

It was the perfect little two-day getaway!  The weather was beautiful, it wasn't crowded yet, we had plenty of time to relax on the beach but were also able to visit some local sites.  And now, I'm ready to go back!!!