Bed & Breakfast on the Cape Fear River

Where's Marge in the photo below? She's on the top deck of a 45' 1966 Columbia yacht docked at the Riverwalk in Downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. The ship's name is the Sea Star and you can learn a whole lot more about her, her owners Thurman and Ayres Burgess, and the cruising, dining, and bed & breadfast services and experiences to be had at http://www.jubileesnoozeandcruise.com/.



To get to the Sea Star, proceed down the Riverwalk from Market Street along this wooden path.

Just before you get to the docking space of the Henrietta III, you'll notice a gate with a walkway down to a floating dock.

From the walkway you can see the Sea Star.

Here's Marge going through the gate down to the dock (in the background you can see the Henrietta III and the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge).

Once we boarded we spent some pleasant time talking with Ayres and Thurman.

There are several dining areas on board, this is the aft area, ready for an informal meal. Tables can also be set forward.

The full-service galley below decks is where the meals are prepared.

This is the main stateroom - there are two other staterooms and two heads.

Here's the main salon, just forward of the galley.

The huge sundeck is probably where I'd spend most of my time, with a book or chatting with passersby on the Riverwalk.

Here's the foredeck where additional dining can take place.

Here's a view of the Henrietta III from the Sea Star's starboard side.

And here is Ayres' welcoming message.

And Thurman's parting message.

Dogs and Music at Paw Jam, Crafts and Business at Waterford May Day - A Leland Spring Saturday

Saturday May 2nd, 2009 was a typical busy day in the greater Leland area. Simultaneous events ran on the western bank of the Cape Fear River at USS North Carolina Battleship Park and at the Shoppes of Waterford in front of Waterford of the Carolinas. These events played against a backdrop of the 2009 Spring Parade of Homes thoughout our whole area.

As points of "technical fact" neither of the events, Paw Jam 2009 or May Day at Waterford actually took place in Leland, though most people would think so and say so. Battleship Park is on a small slice of land west of the Cape Fear River that's actually part of the City of Wilmington in New Hanover County and the Shoppes of Waterford are in an area that's actually a segment of incorporated Belville. Whatever, we'll assert that they were in the greater Leland area and move right along.

Paw Jam is an annual event, this was the 8th year, that combines lots of dog-related, dog-fun activities and booths. It's held in Battleship Park in the shade (almost) of the battleship USS North Carolina in a grassy park that's right on the river. It's a convenient, pretty site, with plenty of parking. The first 7 years Paw Jam was held in early June but the past 3 years it was so hot for dogs and people this year they decided to try early May. It was still warm, but not hot, though it was a bit windy at first and some very light rain fell late morning.

One of the first people Pepper and I saw when we entered Paw Jam (which benefits animal rescue centers throughout the area) was Anna Platz, a young old friend.

Here's the official poster for the event (I intentionally made this the second image in this blog post so Anna and Pepper's photo would show up in RSS feeds).


As you can see, there were plenty of booths, many under trees.


Looking the other way.

There was a large tent for shade in the middle of the park and plenty of water buckets. Here's Pepper doing her best to drain a large water container. Someone soon after said, "Ew, your dog slobbered on me." LOL, not exactly, but her beard does carry a bunch of water if not wiped.

Our buddies Mike and Meredith Moshofsky had a booth backing up to the river. Meredith sells Flint River Ranch human-grade dog and cat food. See those blue tubs in the background? Those were there for dog cooling - didn't need 'em as much this year as in recent years, but great that they were there.

When the band started playing Pepper paid attention.

Some more booths on the river, with the Riverside Hilton and PPD building in the background across the river.

We had a nice time at Paw Jam 2009 but also wanted to go to the May Day event at Waterford.

This was the first time the Waterford Shoppes had an event in the spring - last year's Fall Festival was the first and it was rockin'. This season's event was a bit more laid back - possibly because the wind was so heavy in the early AM some vendors decided not to set up.

The electric bikes and scooters were there in force, however.

As was the ices booth.

Some really nice crafts booths.

Artists, businesses, and restaurants.

An animal rescue group.

King Tiger Martial Arts school, with loads of demonstrations.


Our always buddies from NBM Magazine - including Ava Williams, who was on hand but is hard to see in the photo.

Artist Ronald Williams displayed orginal coastal and landscape art.

The electric scooter guy

The ever-ebulliant Bullards of Bugsy's Cigars!

And Diane and Jay Merritt of Victory Church - good friends involved with Manna Minstries.

Overall a fine day in Great Leland!

Wilmington Sunday Riverwalk

What a great day today was. After spending all day yesterday at the Waterford Fall Festival, it was neat today to hang around the house and do some chores. Accomplished some serious garage cleaning. By mid afternooon, though, Marge, Pepper, and I were ready for a break. We hopped in the car (well, Marge and I entered the vehicle a bit more sedately) and drove downtown to see if we could find our new friend Justine Ferreri's shop at Chandler's Walk. Turned out we got there too late (Chandler's Walk closes at 4 on Sundays), but that didn't stop us from having a nice stroll on the riverwalk.

We're always amazed when we find the gorgeous Riverwalk uncrowded, which it often is on Sunday mornings and late afternoons. Pepper loves it, and immediately struck a pose, so below you'll find the obligatory "dog on Riverwalk photo".


Walking north we soon came to a fleet of good-sized boats docked in front of the condos that directly face the Cape Fear River (note the Cape Fear River Bridge in the background). There was some serious floatage tied up today, includind a newer 56 footer, a spiffy catamaran sailing vessel, and one that if I knew anything about boats (which I don't) I'd guess was a Chris Craft Connie, a long one. Still few other people in sight.


After walking for a while we decided to head home but on the way to the car (don't you love it you can park downtown for free all day Sunday) Pepper and Marge wanted to pose under the sign for the Cape Fear Serpentarium. I happily obliged, with the result below.

This was yet another nice day in lovely downtown Wilmington.

Countdown to the HoeDown - 7 Days to Go!

OK, folks, get yer costume ready, slap on some monster makeup, and party on the river on Halloween Eve. October 31st, Riverfront Wilmington, North Carolina. It's called the Halloween HoeDown and part of the Downtown Sundown Concert Series. Featured groups include The BarnRaisers with Woodwork Roadshow. Special guest appearances by the Cape Fear River, lots of cool folks, and you! So you've got to be there, we're counting on you.

Produced and sponsored by the Downtown Business Alliance with a lot of help from a bunch of other folks. Here's the official list:

Sponsors of the 2008 Downtown Sundown Concert Series: Part 2 include Coors Beer, Waterford of the Carolinas, Dish Network, MADD, 106.7 The Penguin, encore, 103.7 The Bone, The Star News, Slice of Life, Loose Lucy's, Wilmington Downtown, Inc., and Blu Zeus Interactive Marketing. Support services provided by the City of Wilmington.

Costume prizes, door prizes (which since there's no door might be hard to win), and the chance to be silly and have fun in public.

The usual rules apply: no outside booze or beverages, no coolers, no pets, no pets in coolers, like that. You can bet everything but coolers and pets will be available for purchase, so don't let that stop you.

Questions? Call Katie Lucas of DBA Wilmington at 910-343-4114 or e-mail
katie@dbawilmington.com .

Pepper Loves Downtown Wilmington

Sunday was such a glorious day! Marge, Pepper and I took advantage of the great weather to hang out in downtown Wilmington for a few hours. As usual Pepper made lots of friends. Marge and I pretty much gravitate toward Kilwins at 16 Market Street whenever we're in downtown Wilmington. Yesterday I had an excellent (and generous-portioned) single scoop cup of Turtle ice cream - my only complaint was the plastic spoon was kinda flimsy which slowed my progress. We also bought some of their nifty chocolate-covered stick pretzels to fuel our progress around town. Spent some time in Native Soul Indigena at 25 Market Street and Marge bought some very pretty pink shell earrings.

Pepper loves to pose for the camera. Ever since she was a puppy she learned to sit and stay when I would take her picture, and she still is great about that. Even though there were a lot of people around the river front river walk I put Pepper on the walkway and told her to stay while I took her picture with the river in the background and she was great about it. Pepper is a strong people magnet.