We went on our first family vacation in July to visit my parents in North Carolina.
In their backyard they have a beautiful man made lake, Mia loved looking at the water and ducks with her grandma and grandpa.
Everyday, I teased my dad that I wanted to go see more attractions that North Carolina has to offer.
And here are the attractions we visited and I recommend you check out when you visit:
The first stop we visited was the USS Battleship North Carolina. From the road you can see this huge ship parked when you are across the river in downtown Wilmington.
“At one point during World War II there were over 2,300 men aboard.”
This is one of North Carolina’s most visited attractions and you can see why:
When you travel to the other side of the river to downtown Wilmington and walk the Wilmington RiverWalk.
You will see the U.S. Coast Guard Diligence stationed there.
As you can see from the picture above, Mia was not into taking pictures that morning.
We had lunch at Elijah’s (which is located on the Riverwalk) not only was the food delicious and the staff incredible.
It was a great place to eat with your family while enjoying the amazing view of the Cape Fear River.
Along the Riverwalk is a little marketplace to buy souvenirs , crafts, art and jewelry.
Located in the marketplace is a store that you must check out called the Carolina Country Store.
Tim the owner is wonderful and he has a great market that supports artisans with disabilities, and has the greatest local products!
Our favorite was the variety of nuts… you can purchase them online as well!
Just up the road located at 116 Orange Street is the Children’s Museum of Wilmington
This is a great place to take the kids and there is a lot to do there… Mia had a blast!
There was so many great places within the museum, a favorite was the Wilmington children’s size play market.
Mia shopped for her groceries, put them on the belt to be rung up and she rung it up all by herself. A woman of many trades! : )
She even pretended to be the local weather woman with Pluto by her side.
Overall we had a great time at the Children’s museum and I recommend paying them a visit. There was a lot to see and do there for young and older kids.
One place we wanted to visit and did not get a chance to was the Cape Fear Serpentarium.
It is a must see attraction with the most rarest and dangerous reptile species all under one roof.
Downtown Wilmington is a fantastic place to visit! I highly recommend it as a great place with lots of entertainment and spectacular views being alongside the Cape Fear River.
The next day there were more attractions to be seen and we went to the Tregembo Animal Park.
This place was great I definitely recommend visiting here with your family.
They had a large variety of animals at the animal park (pictured below are just a few):
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Great post! We lived in Raleigh for 5 years. Going out to Wiilmington was always great. The activities by the water, getting ice cream and seeing the old historic era homes. Thanks for sharing – excellent writing
Thank you so much.. it is so beautiful down there and the people are so nice! We had a great time