Beaufort
Odd for us this year has been that sunrises have been more interesting than sunsets. Once again, the best view of the day was in the warm glow of dawn. The waning gibbous moon was still perched high in the sky, a few hours away from setting. The full bridge reflection on the eerily calm water proved to be the shot of the day. After our regular morning chores and activities while waiting for the day warm, we bundled up and began our walk into town.
We once again walked the length of Front Street, admiring the window displays. We had noticed the watermen figures before, but for the first time we both commented on being in the "Beau Zone." Cute. We'll remember that. At noon we ducked into Clawson's for lunch. We had yet to visit here this year, so we almost had to stop in on our last day. Memorabilia and photos from the building's origin as a grocery store in 1905 is displayed throughout. Needing to walk off lunch, we continued on our waterfront loop down to the Town Hall. The sun was shining brightly through the trees at Grayden Paul Park. We looked out across Taylor's Creek to the Rachel Carson Reserve with hopes of seeing a few wild horses. None were grazing along the shoreline. The park bench displayed our current lat/long coordinates. Comments were quickly made by both of us concerning the high latitude. The tune of Jimmy Buffett's "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes" raced through our minds. By our calculation we need to drop over 11 more degrees to reach our destination. A lone sea gull seemed unsympathetic to our conversion of not being south enough.
We had wanted to stop in for a visit to the North Carolina Maritime Museum, but it was closed for construction. Oh, well. We continued our walk noticing a vibrant green paper plant with its sputnik-like blooms. In the past few days, merchants have turned their marketing toward Valentine's Day. On our final trip over the Town Creek Bridge, Barry paused to check out the crystal clear water. The wind had picked up and the flags were once again flying stiff.
Our late afternoon was full of small preparations for tomorrow morning's departure. We removed the covers from the windshield. Barry took out the trash and filled up the two gas tanks for our dinghy. The sun departed cloaked in another simple orange glow. We will leave early in the morning for a 30-hour offshore trip to Charleston. We are extremely excited to be moving further south than we made it all of last year. Unfortunately, it will not be south enough. The next big winter blast will hit us in South Carolina. We'll stay warm and start watching for when and how we can continue south to the lower latitudes.
