Taking Steps Through History

Last night, as mentioned before, we stayed in New Bern, NC. When we drove into town, we were a little frightened. Old, dilapidated shacks huddled on the sides of the roads and long gone businesses leered with their dusty windows and broken signs. Was this really the fabulous New Bern Nicholas Sparks is always writing about?

It was and it wasn't. The outskirts of New Bern weren't so pretty, but as soon as we turned down Pollock Street, it was like a completely different city. Old houses still lined the streets, but they were old and beautiful, pieces of American history. The Stanly House down the street even hosted George Washington for a few days. We found a little downtown area for dinner and had local seafood from Captain Ratty's. They even let us put "The Rover" on a little flag to put on the wall with the other million from past customers ("The Rover" is my dad's boat in Alaska for those of you who don't know).

The front porch of the house where we stayed

New Bern is the birthplace of Pepsi-Cola

Jim was really interested in all of the civil war history. One of the major battles was fought in New Bern and many of the confederate soldiers who lost their lives during the battle were burried in the cemetary at the top of town. It was kind of an erie place, more so than most cemetaries. I got the same feeling when my mom and I went to New England a few years back and visited a cemetary in Plymouth, MA. It was just old and filled with so many people who gave their lives for freedom...or in this case, the lack of it I guess. Plus, I've never actually seen that whispy stuff hanging from the trees in real life. I thought Disney made it up for the Haunted Mansion. It's really creepy!

We left New Bern after walking around for a while, soaking up the history and enjoying the cloudy cool morning (it didn't last long). Then we drove to the coast and visited Fort Macon State Park. It was another piece of civil war history, another confederate defeat. The fort itself only saw battle for 11 hours, but was used later in WW2 to keep an eye out for U-boats along the coast. It was an interesting thing, pentagonal in shape and filled with tiny rooms, almost all the same shape and size used for numerous different things. The whole exterior was green, too, completely covered with grass.

The hallway connecting the rooms in the fort. I thought it looked cool

Jim and the small cannon

We got to our hotel in Stafford, VA late last night and we're heading to the Smithsonian this morning. We stopped at Cracker Barrel to eat on our way to the hotel and were quite disappointed despite Tricia's rave reviews. Jim thought his meal very well could have come out of a Hungry Man box and he said my catfish tasted a lot like the fish they use in the sandwiches at Jack & The Box. I don't know that I've had the fish sandwich there, but my apples and mac and cheese sure could have come from a Hungry Man box! And the corn, well, I didn't even go there. I couldn't identify the oily ooze it was soaking in, so I figured I probably didn't want it in my body. I don't think I really wanted any of it in my body because my stomach is still kind of squirly this morning. Oh well, try everything once, right?