My fabulous friend, Ashley, came to visit me for the long 4th of July weekend. We've been great friends since elementary school, and we'd been talking about and looking forward to some quality girl time for a while. It's been even harder for her to sneak away than it is for me with her 3 little boys. Our hubbies were great, however, and took over kid duty so we could have this special time together!
After picking Ashley up from the Raleigh airport, we headed to Cowfish for an early dinner. I'd heard nothing but great things about this sushi/burger fusion, and it did not disappoint! We shared several dishes, though we had a hard time deciding with so many great options on the book-size menu. Everything was delicious, but our favorite was the bbq sushi combo (pictured on the bottom right). Very unique and super yummy!
The next day, I took her for a tour of Goldsboro and stopped in a few shops downtown. Afterwards, we headed to New Bern for the rest of the day. We had so much fun exploring and browsing in the little shops downtown. Usually I'm with the kids so I'd never been in to most of the stores before (too many fragile things!).
We had to stop for a pepsi from the soda fountain in the birthplace of Pepsi!
Beautiful outdoor church downtown...
Saturday, we headed to Wilmington, with our first stop being Carolina Beach. The weather had threatened rain, but it ended up being perfect. We brought books to read, but we ended up talking and catching up the whole time.
We had a great lunch at The Sea Witch. I can't wait to bring Phil and kids back for more po-boys and crab cake sandwiches!
We took some time to walk the boardwalk and even stopped into a beach bar for the adult drink of the day (mostly so we could use their non crowded bathrooms). While inside, they had shark week playing on all the tvs...needless to say, we were extra cautious as we played in the waves afterwards. Yikes.
Our first stop in downtown Wilmington was The Peppered Cupcake. They were super yummy! So many unique combinations (even a pancake one with maple syrup), but our choices were fairly tame. We agreed that these fancy cupcakes were more for adults to enjoy than for kids. They wouldn't properly appreciate the $5 and up special creations. ;)
Battleship view!
After checking into the downtown Mariott (thanks, Hubs, for letting us use your reward points!), we went for dinner at the Copper Penny. It's a very uniquely decorated (all old sports memorabilia) bar/restaurant. It was super busy, but we managed to sneak in with only a 10 minute wait. We really enjoyed our sandwiches and the people watching.
After dinner, we took a carriage ride tour of the city, the last of the day. Our guide was a little tired and grouchy (picture Walter Matthau), but it was still nice to take a break from all our walking around, and see the city from a different angle. Also, the weather was much cooler in the late evening- a big plus!
On our last day, we walked to breakfast at Jester's Java. It was a little bit farther than we expected, and we were super sweaty and thirsty by the time we got there, but at least we got our exercise! The food and the atmosphere were great, and it was worth the walk. It was nice to see so many older homes on our way to and from and imagine what it'd be like to live in them.
The Bellamy Mansion is one of the prettiest historic homes in Wilmington and one of the 3 that offer tours. This is not something we'd do with the kiddos, so we were excited to check it out just the two of us. Having just missed the guided tour, we opted for the self paced, headphone option...
It was really cool to explore the home, read about/listen to its history and involvement in the civil war, and see the original/intact slave quarters on the property.
We had so much fun over our girls' weekend, and the kids and husbands did just fine without us. ;) I can't wait to plan another one!!
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