Tag: basketball

Blue Ocean Market

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I knew Guy Fieri had ties to North Carolina, and that he was a “good guy,” but I didn’t expect to feel this good about him until this morning. I happened to start watching his 2nd Family Reunion which occurred at Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, but I haven’t checked to see how long ago. And not too far into this show, he became “family.” Not related by blood, but related by the love and memories of a special place.

It didn’t take long before he was reminiscing about his trips to Morehead City and how excited it made him feel when he saw the name “Morehead City” on a sign. I might not get that excited about seeing the name “Morehead City,” but I know those warm, homey feelings that I get when I think of all the good times my mother & I had down that way.

We would visit the old Civil War fort, “Fort Macon,” and I would be allowed to roam those grounds by myself. This was before certain areas of the Fort were restricted to the public, because they were dangerous. Pitch black rooms and corners, and uneven broken & worn floor bricks. No electric lights in those dank, dark rooms. Looking through the small gun port holes across the muddy moat. This was long before several rooms were renovated with wooden plank floors, the windows encased in plastic, and air conditioning added. But still long after the Civil War ended.

The reunion group visited Guy’s grandparent’s old house. Someone else owns it now, but Guy had a picture from years ago, and I know where the house is located because you go near or past it, if you are either going over the bridge to Atlantic Beach from the Morehead City side, or heading on to the business district of Morehead City and on over the bridge, and the new bridge to Beaufort. “Bow”fort is North Carolina, and “Bew”fert is South Carolina.

I love ice cream. How about visiting “El’s” Drive-In for a banana split? So many years ago, it seems like it was a Sunday afternoon and mom and I might have just come from Fort Macon. We stopped at “El’s” and I ordered a Banana Split, but it seems by the time I started to eat the split, I must have had a hamburger or hotdog because I was already full.

I see that the first reunion was in 2012 so the second must have been in 2022, a couple of years ago now. Morgan is buried in California.

I went down to Jacksonville/Hubert on Saturday, January 18, 2025 to celebrate Mary Ann’s & my birthday. I was born on her 16th birthday, so she is now 87 years old and I am 71. Amazing!

After breakfast at Helen’s Kitchen and a quick stop by the Onslow County Library on Doris Avenue, I headed up to New Bern with the intention of going on to Minnesott Beach and taking the ferry across to Cherry Branch. I have done this numerous times and it is a short (maybe 20 minutes total, one way) trip. But this time, as I approached New Bern, I decided instead of making the ferry trip, I would head down to Morehead City and drive by Guy Fieri’s grandparent’s home, near the Atlantic Beach bridge.

As I drove through Havelock, I looked over at the abandoned Lidl Grocery building. It’s claim to fame is that I once bought a gallon of milk more cheaply than the jar of dill pickles I purchased at the same time. I think the pickles cost $1.37.

I think eventually they will complete a Havelock By-Pass for US Hwy. 70.That might cut from 15 to 20 minutes off the trip between New Bern and Morehead City. *I just checked Google Maps and sure enough the new by-pass is under construction. I am not sure how long ago the aerial view was made, but many of the overpass bridges were already built, just very little pavement laid.

As I neared the off ramp to the Atlantic Beach bridge, I knew the street I wanted to turn on was probably the last street before the ramp, and it was. The possibility was always that I might pass the right street and have to do a U-Turn, but I didn’t. There it was, just to my left as I turned and slowed down. There was a bunch of “stuff” around the house. Sure enough the street next to the Waterway was a dead end as it neared the bridge on ramp.