Swansboro

It was warm and sunny today, and we decided to take the opportunity to drive to Swansboro; we have not been there this year and were a little apprehensive about the hurricane damage.

Our favorite place for lunch in Swansboro is the Saltwater Grille, but they were not expecting to be open until next week.  Most of the other businesses were open, though, and we ended up having a wonderful lunch at Boro, which shares the same kitchen as the Icehouse, where we have eaten before - a restaurant located out over the waters of the White Oak River but which was damaged so badly it is being completely renovated

After lunch, Martha shopped for awhile, and I wandered through the streets of Swansboro, noting quite a bit of damage here and there - boarded up houses, dumpsters containing construction debris.

Even the Visitor Center was so badly damaged that it was closed.  And this dock down by the river looked like it has seen better days.  The proprietor of the local coffee shop, located on the second floor of a waterfront building, said they had two feet of water downstairs.  "But most of us are open," he said, and shrugged.

On Front Street, the venerable "Olde Brick Store" was apparently unscathed by Florence, and it reminded me of that fable about the Three Little Pigs.

"Let me in, let me in," cried the wolf.  "Or I'll huff and I'll puff til I blow your house in!"

"Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin" said the pigs.

Well, the wolf huffed and puffed but he could not blow down that brick house.

We returned in time to watch another beautiful sunset.  Days like this are priceless:  the warm sun, the sound of the ocean always in the background, and this daily glory of the sun sinking slowly into the wide Atlantic Ocean.