TORREZ TRAVELS

We are still in Wilmington, visiting our son. It’s been nice to get our clothes all washed, and the car cleaned up, somewhat. Also it’s beautiful here. Sadly we haven’t spent a lot of time outside. The heat and humidity has been hard for us to take. I had a migraine yesterday. I think it was just the heat. Ever since I started peri-menopause (20 years ago) I haven’t dealt well with the heat.

They have something called “The Intracoastal Waterway” on the east coast. It’s a 3000 mile linked chain of natural waterways and man-made canals. It’s maintained by The Army Corps of Engineers as a navigable, toll-free route, designed to let vessels travel long distances without entering the open ocean. We walked from Jason’s home, across a bridge over the waterway, to an area they call Topsail Island. We stopped at the middle and took some pics.

These are some knobby trees near a parking lot. You can see the bridge in the background.

A marina on the waterway.

Our shadows from the bridge, we could see schools of little fish in the water. They had bright blue on their backs! The water isn’t very clear, so you could only see them if they came to the surface.

This is what the undeveloped land looks like here. I was surprised to see Live Oak, as they are very common in California. Apparently these are Southern Live Oak, but they look very similar.

I think this is a Longleaf Pine. There are many types of pine in NC. In fact that is where the term Tar-heel came from. In the 18th and 19th centuries, resin was harvested from Longleaf Pines and used to make tar, pitch, and turpentine. People working in this trade could easily end up with tar on their heels! Now North Carolina is know as the Tar Heel State.

Here are a couple more pics of funny things.

I know we have already shown evidence of our lunacy by starting this trip, but now we’re doing more crazy stuff. We are going to Florida during a heat wave. My brother Jim and his family are there. Jim is the one who taught me to ride a skateboard, and throw a frisbee. He also taught me a great deal about rock-n-roll. How can I resist?