Moore Fun In Colorado: Southport, North Carolina, June 2022

On to part two of our June vacation! We had an early flight out of Pensacola with a layover in Nashville for a couple of hours and then on to Myrtle Beach, SC, where Nancy and Dale picked us up.

We had lunch at a place in the Market Commons community of Myrtle Beach called Tupelo Honey. It was really good. Dale and I split a spicy chicken and waffles on mac and cheese dish (delicious) and Nancy and Mike split a more mild chicken and waffles dish.

From there, we went to Huntington Beach State Park. It had an unusual "castle" called Atalaya on the property which seemed more like a prison but the grounds and the history were beautiful and interesting. It was the winter home of Archer and Anna Huntington. She was a famous sculptor and he was an industrialist and philanthropist.

We also explored the marsh area. There's a nice boardwalk and a tour guide. Same gal gave us the tour of Atalaya and the marsh. She was very knowledgeable and super friendly.

Nancy and I joked that we didn't see any alligators but we got lucky and saw a croc!

We headed to Southport afterwards but stopped for dinner in Little River and ate at a nice waterfront restaurant called Clarks. We were off to a great start!

Friday, June 10, was our first full day. Our biggest goal for this trip was to have as much beach and pool time as possible! Visiting Nancy and Dale is like a dream vacation! Beach is 15 minutes away and the pool is in their backyard. Both are bath water temperature so perfect in every way!

Nancy and Dale's Branch have a guys lunch every Friday at Bojangles and a ladies lunch every Monday at different places each week. While Mike and Dale went to Bojangles, Nancy and I went into Southport and ate at the Moore Street Market and had a nice long catch up visit. Our first evening we went to their local little movie theater and saw the new Jurassic World movie. We all quite enjoyed it.

Always a loving welcome!

Cargo ship on the Cape Fear River

Swings everywhere and I love the American Flags

Well, it's a sign for sure that Eric needs to move here!

I love this place so much! I would absolutely like to clone myself so that I could live in Southport, NC and Lehi, UT! On Saturday, we relaxed at their house. We ate lunch on the back patio, swam, read, visited. We went to dinner in Southport at Castucci's, an Italian place that was really good.

Afterwards, we got ice cream at Chuck's and ran into some of their friends from their very friendly Branch, Tony and Sue. After ice cream and visiting, we drove around St. James, walked through a house they had originally hoped to buy that is being totally redone. It's beautiful but wouldn't have really worked for them. They mostly loved it because it's on the marsh. They love the marshes there so much. They really are very beautiful and calming along with revitalizing! Hard to explain. We also stopped in at their little library and Mike was able to pick up a book, The Great Alone. He was able to read 5 books on our almost month long adventure! We relaxed with a good movie when we got back to their house, "The Secret Life of Bees."

Sunday, we attended their Branch. It's growing and they are getting a new building soon which is very exciting for them. Their Branch reminded us of our Wellsville Branch days. There is just such a sweet feeling in a Branch. Everybody knows everybody and cares about each other and takes care of each other in a way that is hard to do in a large Ward.

After church, Dale made one of his specialties, fried egg sandwiches for lunch. We worked on a puzzle, took naps and had a perfect roast beef for dinner. Nancy is a great cook! Love all her food. After dinner, we walked around one of the bigger pond in St. James. It was a beautiful evening without too much humidity.

Monday, June 13. I rode the stationary bike and studied my scriptures while I rode. Felt pretty normal and good! Nancy and I went to the ladies lunch at the Southport Gourmet (Asian) Restaurant. There were 13 of us. Such a nice group of gals. We did a couple of errands and then went to the beach for a couple of hours. Heaven on earth! I love it so much! We jumped in the pool afterwards at the beach club. So nice!

Came home and had pizza for dinner and I made chocolate chip cookies which we all agreed are the best ever in the whole world! Watched the movie "1917" about World War 1. It was a good day in Southport, NC!

Tuesday, we got to spend the day with Adam and his oldest daughter, Kiera. He took us on his boat out to Masonboro Island. We crossed the small island and set up the Shibumi (shade) and chairs and went into the ocean. It was so fun! We couldn't sit on the beach though because their were a million biting flies attacking us!

After coming back to the marina, we had lunch at Drift with them and then got shave ice at a place called Surfberry. We loved our day with Adam and Kiera!

We headed back to St. James and relaxed the rest of the afternoon. I sat in one of the bean bag chairs in the pool and read my book, Golden Girl, for a couple of hours. Leftovers for dinner, then another movie on TV. Fun day in the sun--lots of sun block!

Wednesday, June 15, 2022! Happy 50th Anniversary to Nancy and Dale! We love them so much and look up to them in so many ways. I can't believe it has been 50 years. We are so happy we could be there to celebrate with them. I'm pretty sure we celebrated their 25th with them in Nantucket/Martha's Vineyard!

We had lunch at the Seaside Pool and swam a little and read a little. Then, that night we drove up to Wilmington and met Adam and Heather and had dinner at the Port Land Grille. It was really fancy and delicious. Adam treated all of us and he went all out with appetizers, salads, and desserts as well as really great entrees. It was a perfect place to celebrate Nancy and Dale. Their big celebration, was a trip to the Dominican Republic the following week with most of their kids and their spouses.

Closeup of our delicious coconut cake! One piece seriously would have fed us all!

Thursday, June 16! Beach day! Dale made us really good tuna sandwiches and we took them as a picnic with chips and cherry Pepsi Zero and my homemade chocolate chip cookies. Dale wasn't feeling well--he's having some heart issues unfortunately, so he stayed at home. He has a couple of procedures scheduled for after their DR trip.

Nancy, Mike and I set up our spot with the Shibumi and chairs and read and swam or floated in the bath warm water for a good long time. We were there from about 11:30 - 3:00 and then the clouds started coming in so we headed home. Nancy showed us some adorable little brightly colored cottages on Oak Island on the marsh side along the Intracoastal Waterway. Wish we could buy one!!

When we got back, I took a swim in the pool. We had homemade PF Chang Lettuce Wraps for dinner and I made more cookies. They were a big hit! We watched a cute new version of "Father of the Bride." Not as good as the Steve Martin one but it was pretty entertaining.

It's was starting to get hot and the beach started getting busy!

The wind was having a hard time deciding which way to blow!

Friday was a girls day out. We go pedis in the morning and had lunch at a fun restaurant called Little Bits Burgers. We shopped at some cute shops, got Mike a sunblock Huk swim shirt for Father's day and got some things for a bridal shower on Saturday. The guys had their Bojangles lunch. Nancy made a delicious pasta salad for dinner. The dressing secret is to combine homemade ranch with homemade Italian and sprinkle with Salad Supreme seasoning. So so yummy! We had it with hot baguettes from Costco (frozen, then heated up--already cooked).

Saturday, June 18, I helped Nancy blow up balloons for a balloon garland for a bridal shower and then Mike, Dale and I went to the beach while Nancy went to set up for the shower with some of her friends from the branch. It was a beautiful beach day. The shower was lovely. Dale dropped me off after we got back and I showered and changed. It was for a gal named Tara, who is marrying a guy in their Branch, Nathan Craig. They are both finishing medical school and starting their work as doctors in the Southport area.

The shower was lovely and the bride to be was thrilled. For dinner, we went to a new (Asian) restaurant in Southport called, Indochine. It wasn't great but it was a cute place. Maybe we just ordered the wrong thing. We'll give it another try when we visit next time around.

Sunday, June 16, 2022, Happy Father's Day!

I'm so grateful for my husband, Mike, and for my dad, and for all the great men that have had a positive influence in my life and the lives of my children. Good, loving fathers are so important and needed and appreciated! I'm grateful that most of our 11 kids called Mike and wished him a Happy Father's Day! That means a lot to him.

We enjoyed going to church again in the Southport Branch. Sweet talks for Father's Day. After naps, we drove two cars to Wilmington to Adam and Heather's. We had a wonderful dinner of grilled chicken and delicious sides. We took a nice walk with their family and dogs on the golf course behind their house. They live in a gorgeous neighborhood. We drove two cars because Mike and I drove back to St. James and Nancy and Dale left from Adam's to go on their family anniversary trip to the DR. They left a car there so they could drive home after their trip and we didn't need to go back and get them.