Wednesday, March 23, 2016

A Great Day in Elizabeth City

If you find yourself in the area, you should make a trip to Elizabeth City. It's a cool little town making a big effort at revitalization. If boating, your first stop will be the FREE docks downtown.


The town has provided both slips and side ties, so any size boat can feel free to stop by. And, the view out into the harbor is lovely.



After that, find the Visitors Center. There you will get maps and all sorts of ideas for fun ways to spend the day. This is the first time I have seen little booklets of walking tours. The one for the business district, for example, describes the buildings as well as giving some history. AND, they have treats. At least they did on the day we visited- free candy and cookies.

We had already planned our day, though. We wanted to go to the Museum of the Albemarle.


This is the lobby. Hanging over your head is a full sized model of the official boat of the state of North Carolina. The best part of the museum is the hall containing the history of the area. It is done in a timeline fashion with incredible artifacts to illustrate. My favorite was the picture of an old document.


Cool! Maryland used to be a province of Virginia! Actually, there were lots of great artifacts. Elizabeth City is home to one of the largest Coast Guard stations. In fact, that station goes all the way back to the beginning of the Coast Guard. Our favorite was the early pfd on display.


It's nice to know that we have made some progress.

The museum also had a special exhibit featuring the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany. Unlike many exhibits on this man, it did not just feature a bunch of stained glass. It delved into the history of the man and all his works. Don't get me wrong. There were stained glass artifacts.


But, there was so much more. The exhibit showed how the lamps were made. Imagine stained glass by numbers instead of paint by numbers, and you have a good idea. And, yes, jewelry was on display. Not a lot, but enough to showcase the talent. The exhibit also featured some works by other artists influenced by Tiffany. It's a small exhibit, but it is so dense with artifacts and history that you could easily spend an hour just casually examining everything.

After a small break back at the boat... Oops. Let me rephrase that. I took a nap. Mike and Terry worked on the boat. Peggy and Carol passed the time by reading and doing some embroidery.

We ended up at Cypress Creek Grill for dinner. 


This restaurant was literally just across the street from us! It looked like a little storefront operation, but that was deceiving. The inside was much larger than it appeared on our approach. And, it was simply wonderful from start to finish. There are no food pictures, Dear Readers, because it is a slow food restaurant. Everything is made fresh. By the time the food arrived, I was too hungry to stop and take pictures. But, oh was it so yummy. An interesting side note- it is the first place any of us had ever been where they asked you how you want your oysters fried. Peggy's choices were light, medium, or crunchy. She's happy she ordered medium because they came out perfectly done for her. 

After dinner, we headed back to the boat. Here's a shot of LUX that I took from the sidewalk in front of Cypress Creek Grill.


No telephoto lens. LUX really is just across the street. We did move the boat to anchor out because it was going to be windy. No one wished to spend the night bouncing against the sea wall. Still, it was a beautiful - if somewhat chilly - night.


The cold air just reminds us that we are getting closer to home. Tomorrow, we will be in Virginia.









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