We drove from Carolina Beach State Park, over to Aurora, NC today.

We wanted to take a stop at the local "Five Under" shop.  This is sorta like a "Dollar General".  They claim things for "$5 or under", but of course only some things fit this category.  Kelly had seen a cute little Hello Kitty lightup sign and talking to the owner, she was told she could get one at "5 Under".  So, we went there and, indeed, she did find the sign she wanted.  Getting  back out was a nightmare, however!  Horrible traffic, every intersection backed up, hard to follow directions from the GPS, etc.!  We finally made it out, but the entire trip probably cost us about an hour!

The rest of the trip was relatively uneventful.  When we arrived at the campground ("Nature's Trace"), there was no one here!  I walked into what looked like the office and there were lots of papers on the desks, two computers with screens just left, as though they had left for only a few minutes.  Walking back out, a worker driving a some construction equipment saw me, asked if I was looking for Brian, and said he would send him over.  After a little while, Brian drives up in his truck.  He tells me that our site ("B6") probably has this other guy in it, but we can use "B5" right next door.  They're all pretty much the same.

The place looks very new.  They're still building some cabins on the site.  It's quiet in the evenings, however, and has full hookups.  They actually only have 50 amp circuits, so Brian furnished us with a converter for 30 amp (I'll have to buy one of those at some point).

Kelly immediately started wandering around the place and finding fossils of oysters and coral in the gravel!  We met the guy next door, "Cliff", who showed us pics of his cat.  He was out looking for him.  He says his cat is really good about going out all afternoon and wandering, but always comes back for dinner.  He''s had the cat for a few years now and they both seem to get along.  Cliff is also interested in fossils and Kelly talked with him for quite a while.  He gave her one of his really nice oyster fossils.

So, it's 7pm now and Kelly is still wandering around picking up rocks, etc., while Richard is writing this.  The WiFi here is working really well and we also have a good cellular signal as well.  Maybe we can get caught up with some older pages of this trip while we're here.

Day 2:

We woke up a little late, had a slow morning, and then went out to the Fossil Museum.  Here's a quick pick of downtown Aurora, NC:

Here's the City Hall!

Everyone there was very friendly and helpful and the museum was interesting, displaying many types of fossils along with a lot of information about them!

After the museum, we went to one of the 2 places where the local mining company had dumped debris from the mine such that people could look through it for fossils and shark teeth, etc.  Kelly and Richard spent the rest of the afternoon, until sunset, sifting through lots of dirt and having a great time.  Kelly found loads of shark teeth! (Notice the dime for scale)

We finally returned "home", fed the kitties, and went to bed, preparing for the long trip to Charleston tomorrow.

(If you are still reading this blog, please either send Richard a note <raj@mischievous.us> or leave a message in the comments.  I'm thinking of discontinuing this, because it's a bit of work and I'm getting no indication at all that anyone is reading it!)