NC Day 6- Steamed Oysters, Specialty Coffees, and Seaside Towns
Today was a pleasant but overall pretty uneventful day. It was mostly jus spent driving and listening to music and Norm Macdonald, all things I enjoy quite a bit but which don't necessarily make for the most captivating of reads.
I started the day off by saying goodbye to my dad's friends, Sam and Sharon, who had hosted me for most of the week. It was really very kind of them to let me into their home, and I really liked having my morning coffee and a light breakfast with them each day. I wish I had had a chance to spend more quality time with them, but I was always running off trying to create all this primo sightseeing, greasy eating, and occasional comedy content for you guys.
My first actual stop on the road was for coffee in Raleigh at a place called Sir Walter Coffee. I was immediately drawn to the place for the way the name really commits to being not quite a pun. I loved it, and it actually turned out to be a super hip and fairly hipstery cafe and bar with a really open and sleek aesthetic. Unfortunately they didn't have anyone getting you at the door by putting their coat over a puddle for you, which would have really taken their commitment to the name to the next level. They specialized in craft coffee "cocktails" so at my barista's suggestion I tried their Espresso Old Fashioned. It was made from a combination of Ethiopian Espresso, orange bitters, simple syrup, and an orange garnish. It tasted amazing, but I always find something slightly unsatisfying with the size of any espresso drinks. I know intellectually that it actually has roughly the same amount of caffeine as one of my normal iced coffees, but I feel like my brain needs a certain amount of time spent drinking something before it associates it with being substantial. I feel like I prefer beer over shots for the same reason. Maybe that's common, or maybe it's a me thing. It definitely did make me want to try more of their specialty concoctions so I guess if that's their real end goal then it was a roaring success.
The caffeine was much needed though because the next leg of my day's travels was quite long. I had been told by a friend that while I was in NC I had to try their special steamed oysters and that the best place to get them was in the little seaside town of Elizabeth City in the northeast corner of the state. It was roughly a three hour drive, and fairly rainy and overcast so it wasn't as scenic as I feel like it would normally be. I did drive along a fairly long bridge to get to Elizabeth City so that was actually really cool.
I did kind of second guess myself as I made this long rainy drive wondering whether my desire for these good oysters had become an Ahab-like obsession and perhaps I should have been using my last day to go for a greater quantity of things in the state as opposed to quality. I had completely overlooked the NASCAR museum for christ's sake, but I soldiered on in my singular mission and I felt like I made the right choice when I arrived in Elizabeth City. It allowed me to see a new chunk of the state as a whole, and as the rain started to clear up and the sun set over the misty ocean, I was treated to a really beautiful view.
The supposedly best Oyster Bar in the area wouldn't open until five so I had a little bit of time to kill, which I spent in Muddy Waters Coffeehouse. I got one of their special drinks called the Scottish Conquerer because I couldn't resist the name. It also happened to be delicious because it had white chocolate, English toffee, and Irish cream syrups blended together perfectly to provide a nice robust flavor without being too sweet. I don't know if those combination of British and Irish traditional flavors are supposed to approximate a Scotsman who is a conquerer or imply that the English and Irish are conquerers of the Scottish, but when the drink tastes that good and warms you on a rainy day who cares about the ethnographic meaning of its fun name. It was also a nice coffee shop to just hang out and do some writing and the baristas were really nice and friendly with me.
After warming myself, I started to head to my car to get to the oyster bar when I received a very cryptic notification. I think it's from a dating app and that was someone's name who was near me, but I'm choosing to interpret this as a sign from the universe that I am somehow now on a Hero's Journey.
With newfound heroic vigor, I went to C & H Oyster bar to have some of the best seafood I have had on the east coast, which is honestly really saying something. I mentioned not being super impressed by the raw oysters, i had earlier this week, so I was stunned by just how much more amazing these steamed ones were. They were salty, flavorful, meaty, and most importantly of all, not a disgusting snotty texture. I ordered half a peck. I'm not sure what that means in non-oyster measurement terms, but it was probably a little more than a dozen or so steamed oysters and they shucked them right there in front of you so all the hard work was already over and you could just enjoy them. I also ordered a bowl of clam chowder. It was more similar to Rhode Island style chowder with a clear broth and a bit more bacon in it, but it also had it's own distinct flavor. I think I still prefer my beloved creamy New England Chowder, but honestly on a crummy day like this, it was kind of nice having something that was just warm and light. More like a chicken noodle soup with seafood. It was an absolutely fantastic meal, so the destination did prove to be worth the journey.
After my meal, my next destination was another long drive essentially down the coastline. This time instead of staying with my dad's friends, I'd be staying with my mom's friends in Wilmington. This was a kind of three birds with one stone situation (one more bird than usual!) because I got to meet people my mom really loved, I had heard that Wilmington was a super cool town, and because it was pretty far south all this driving today would make my ride into South Carolina tomorrow way easier.
My mom's friends, Michael and Catherine, were super welcoming to me, and we actually ended up chatting a good amount into the night because they made the mistake of asking me to try to explain what I'm doing, and I tend to ramble if you couldn't tell by now. My mom met Michael pretty soon after she graduated college when she was living in Germany and teaching elementary school students on an American Air Force base. It's such an interesting part of her life (especially considering this was still when there was an East and West Germany), and Michael actually stayed in Germany teaching for a while after my mom had already moved back to the states so it was fun getting to talk to him about my parents in the 70s and also more generally about traveling. His wife, Catherine, was also really interesting and while she hadn't met my parents until after Germany she still had some fun stories about their last visit, and also her years doing therapy which I really liked both because of my interest in psychology and also my generally kind of dark sense of humor. It might not have been a terribly exciting day, but it was a really nice one, and those are good to have from time to time.
Favorite Random Sightings: Which 'Wich; Reynolds Coliseum; "7 Days Without Prayer Makes One Weak"; The Tax Lady; Just Ash; Barley Chicken (I read it as Barely Chicken like three times before registering the correct name); Someone at a gas station saying "I saw life sized cardboard cut out of Danny DeVito and I've never wanted anything more in my life"
Regional Observations: I think North Carolina might be the state (north and south) that I've seen the fewest confederate flags in. I'm looking at you New Hampshire.
Albums Listened To: Live in New York City by Black 47 (just Funky Ceili); Live in Toronto Canada by Ween and the Shit Creek Boys (a group of incredible Nashville session musicians that played on the album 12 Country greats join Dean and Gene); Live in Ypsilanti by Vic Ruggiero
People's Favorite Jokes:
What three kings have made the world the happiest? Drinking, Smoking, and Fucking (A customer dropped this one on me in a coffee store and then walked away into the sunset)
Songs of the Day:
One of my all time favorite songs, simple but layered
