I had a good little trip to and from Jacksonville, Hubert, Swansboro, New Bern, and Havelock last Friday. I like to get back down to visit with my cousin Mary Ann on the Carolina Coast every couple of months. I might like to make the trip more often, but at 70 years old, the round trip is taxing to me. Two hours each way.

It has been a couple of weeks since I made a quick (very enjoyable) trip to Asheville, and I still see evidence that the energy I spent making that trip has not completely returned for use in my daily life. *Not just the use of energy, but “packing up” all the necessaries for daily life (even on the road) are a hassle to return for use in daily life. What? Hearing aid recharger not where it needed to be. The nightly mouth guard still packed in the suitcase.

One note, among the many, is that I made the trip to Asheville and forgot to bring along either my Windows laptop, or my Chromebook. Fortunately, my smartphone will do most of what I need done while on vacation. I can pull up Google Maps and get a “best route” to various locations. I can check opening & closing times for restaurants and other businesses. Heck, as I was sitting in El Catrin restaurant waiting for Mary Ann to arrive, I was able to google on my smartphone about the name “El Catrin.” I pulled up its menu (looks as good online as it does in the restaurant – why not? Its a PDF document.) on my phone.

The good points of the Asheville trip: pleasantly cool morning mountain air as I cruised about downtown Asheville (saw two copper colored turkeys in a neighborhood), enjoyed a short ride up the Blue Ridge Parkway (seeing two Black Bears cross the road), a wonderfully pleasant stay at the (remodeled) Quality Inn, “looking good, feeling good.” Enjoyed my trip to the WNC Farmers Market, and even found and bought Dulse at the Earth Fare Market. Unfortunately, the East Village Grille no longer has a Pastrami Reuben on its menu, but I had a good Philly Cheesesteak there this time. Also on this trip I meandered on the way there, and I meandered on the way back home. I refreshed my memory of many places (Maxton Airport, Laurinburg Library, Gibson, Seaboard Station Restaurant, Hamlet Library, Rockingham Library, passed near downtown Charlotte, Weaverville & the Mangum Gallery, the New Morning Art Gallery, Food Matters) and I added several cities/towns that I’ve never visited previously (Morganton, Mocksville).

My visits to Hubert usually start with breakfast at Helen’s Kitchen for a country ham (biscuits, sliced potatoes & egg over medium, with coffee). After a two hours trip down, I’m ready to eat. They usually give me more than enough country ham so that I am able to slice one of the biscuits open and make a ham biscuit for later. I ate that biscuit for dinner, after stopping by Hwy. 55 in Kenansville and finishing off an order of onion rings (with ketchup) and a Diet Dr. Pepper, while driving. *After breakfast I normally drive over to the Onslow County Library to see if there are any books I want to buy. I think I bought six or seven hardback books this time, a couple of cook book for Mary Ann and more Connelly novels that will go to the Little Lending Libraries that I visit.

After my OCL visit I will usually try to drive up to New Bern and then on to Minnesott Beach and get on the ferry there to cross over to Cherry Branch (and then either back to Havelock and probably Hubert, or on the Beaufort & Morehead City – the back way). I was running about 30 minutes late and although I made it to New Bern (the back way, for the second time recently) I realized that I couldn’t get to the ferry to make the 20 minutes crossing, so I went directly from New Bern to Havelock and then back to Swansboro to meet Mary Ann for lunch at El Catrin.

I had never been to El Catrin before, but Mary Ann had said they had really good food, and this was directly across the road from the Bamboo Asian House, which I knew was also a favorite eatery of hers. I got to the restaurant shortly before Mary Ann and Ray arrived and had time to look at their menu and to google for the name “El Catrin” while I sat waiting. As I picked up the menu. I was immediately impressed. It was a vivid purple, and inside were several magazine quality menu pages with color photos of some of their dishes. I didn’t pay much attention to the prices, although later I might say, they are “a little pricey.” But I justify the higher prices because of the extra attention to their environment. Purple is one theme and the El Catrin character is displayed on the welcome rugs, the walls in drawings, logos, and large wall photo murals. They have a bar area and several large screen TVs playing various sports events, etc. We ended up sitting in a half booth/half table setting near the bathrooms. *I think the place looks great, but it is too small for the number of customers I think they are going to generate. There may be other good looking restaurants in Swansboro, but this place is “inspired” and successfully “accomplished.”

I enjoyed my food as did Mary Ann and Ray, and they both had a Flan dessert, which they said they enjoyed. Flan doesn’t “float my boat,” and I didn’t need a dessert (Type 2 Diabetic).

I had books for Mary Ann, and flavored olive oils & vinegar, & pepper grinders and Dulse for Ray and Jacquelin. I also had a couple of books for their kids. The C. S. Lewis Space Trilogy (in one book) and an Inventions book that was a pictorial on how things work.

I left after 6 pm for my trip back home and it began to rain, and got progressively heavier rain as I continued & there were several instances of impressive lightening. The rain stopped completely before I finally arrived home.

I had an order of onion rings and a Diet Dr. Pepper at Hwy. 55 in Kenansville. This is a normal stop, although I rarely go further and stop at Smithfield’s Chicken -n- Barbecue where I40 and Hwy. 24 cross. *There is a State rest stop at this crossing and if I need, they always have clean restrooms. I even had an unexpected play date one time when there were a couple of vans of young children on a field trip. They were from Rocky Mount (a church group I think) and I playfully interacted with them as they were getting ready to board their vans after their bathroom break. I asked in an animated voice, “Are you all from Rocky Mount.” They gleefully affirmed that they were from Rocky Mount. But the really special part of this trip happened at the end when the last little girl in line was waving at me, and I am glad that I saw her. I waved animatedly at her. She hadn’t been close enough during the earlier playtime for me to address her with any attention, but she was appreciative enough to be waving at me as I left. I hope my waving back to her was special to her also. She was just as important as the rest of those kids & their teachers.

---

Mary Ann mentioned later that there were other restaurants in the Swansboro area that had just as much flair as El Catrin. “Flair” was my word and interpretation of what she was trying to say. I do not go out to eat a whole lot, and those places I go to are “old standards” for me. Still, El Catrin was the flashiest restaurant I have been to in a long time, if ever. For its size, no other restaurant has been as impressive. Maybe Miami Vice meets 2024?