NC Weekend Adventures

There’s something about the end of summer/early fall transitional season… that time of year when boat days turn to sweater weather, White Claw seltzers turn to pumpkin lattes, and everyday life turns a bit more comfy cozy. I live for the days and weeks post-Labor Day into middle October. The summer heat sizzles down. Football takes over. Weekend day trips pick up. There’s so much to do, so little time to enjoy it all. With my husband and partner in crime beside me, we soak up as much daylight we can get. And it never gets old. This year it’s no exception. Looking through and reflecting on all the recent photos in my camera roll, I’m realizing just how busy we’ve been exploring beautiful North Carolina in September and October. It’s a good kind of busy — a happy busy. Getting the most out of the transitional weekends I love so much. Sharing some highlights below!

One last summer beach day at Kure Beach

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Though Labor Day Weekend is ALWAYS a busy beach weekend, Alex and I bravely decided to battle the crowds for one last summer beach day. We packed the car, turned on a playlist (probably Taylor Swift), and drove out to Wrightsville Beach with plans to setup camp at one of our favorite spots. Unfortunately, it was SO busy (too busy) we got stuck in a traffic jam trying to get to the coastline. But hey, there’s nothing an audible can’t fix — we drove a little bit further to Kure Beach, found an open spot, and enjoyed our last summer beach outing of the 2024 season. It’s a bittersweet feeling wishing away sweet summertime at the ocean. On one hand, I love relaxing under the Shibumi, jumping the waves, and perusing for sea shells along the coastline. On the other hand, I love, love, love the beach in the offseason — less overall congestion, unobstructed views, and free space to roam and listen to the waves crash the shore. North Carolina has turned us into big time beach people all year long and it never gets old.

Carvers Creek State Park with Mogul

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Carvers Creek State Park is one of the few hidden gems of the greater Fayetteville area. We love to frequent this park, especially with our pup. The trails are perfect for walking and wide enough for people to have their own space without feeling crammed into one another. We always see runners, dogs, and families with kids perusing about the park, and it never feels overcrowded. This time, we walked the primary path up to the Rockefeller house and around the front of the lake. We goofed around under the big magnolia trees, replacing Mogul’s floppy ear with a fallen leaf to make it “perky” again. A fun couple of hours spent outside with my boys!

A gorgeous boat day on Jordan Lake

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The best days are boat days with good friends, good weather, and cold beer — you can’t convince me otherwise. We’re so lucky to have the best of friends who invite us out on the lake for a cruise aboard the Aquaholic every now and again. This September boat adventure took us to Jordan Lake, a beautiful local spot, especially on blue sky days. This time of year, the days start and end on the cooler side, but the peak of the afternoon still hits that dip-in-the-lake sweet spot threshold. We actually skipped the first NFL Sunday (who are we!?) to cruise the lake with good company on a gorgeous, gorgeous day. The lake wasn’t super busy, but you won’t find any complaints here. We saw bald eagles flying above us and… Alex got boating lessons!

Sunset at B Everitt Dam

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Following our boat day on Jordan Lake, Alex and I rushed over to B Everitt Dam to snap a quick picture of the last bit of sunset before dusk. B Everitt Dam is a spot I stumbled upon years ago and one I’ve been back to many times. There’s a nice long walking path down and around both sides of the dam and you see a lot of birds flying over the area. It’s not a super special place, but it’s one of those peaceful places that fills my cup. Perhaps my favorite thing about B Everitt Dam… the sunsets! The Jordan Lake sunsets are SO pretty from this viewpoint; I love when the timing lines up just right for me to catch a good one.

Cider donuts at Millstone Creek Orchard

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I’m always bookmarking new places to visit and one of those places this year was Millstone Creek Orchard. I saw a post on Instagram about their little apple farm, complete with a cider house and the most delicious cider donuts. And delicious they were! While out and about on the farm, we grabbed the classic mini donuts (of course), a cider slushy, a couple big bags of fresh apples, and some other goodies from the shop. We also tried a glass of their fresh hard cider and it was quite refreshing on a hot day.

Wine with llamas at Divine Llama Vineyard

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Continuing the adventure post-orchard, Alex and I drove another hour up to Winston-Salem, NC to visit Divine Llama Vineyard, an award-winning winery and llama farm. After visiting the winery once years ago, we always knew we wanted to get back up there. I’m glad we finally made time to do it. The best part about Divine Llama Vineyard — you can buy a glass of wine and walk all around the llama farm. You see so many cute llamas and can walk right up to most of them. It’s a unique, memorable experience with great views of the surrounding Yadkin Valley region. Plus, the wine is so good we came away with three more bottles (as per usual).

A quick stop at Pilot Mountain State Park

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From Divine Llama Vineyard, you can see the knob of another one of our other favorite places — Pilot Mountain State Park. A quick 15-minute drive through the countryside takes you right to Pilot Mountain. Of course we had to swing by on our way to dinner (Luna’s Mexican Kitchen (Westfield, NC)… a GREAT little hole in the wall Mexican restaurant). We didn’t plan to hike, but we wanted to drive up to the knob and take a few pictures out at the lookout point. Crazy story though, we had to evacuate one of the trails because someone spotted a timber rattlesnake along the path! The park rangers came up with their snake wrangling kit, but fortunately (or unfortunately), they couldn’t locate it again, so we got the all-clear to continue our walk. Nothing like a venomous snake scare haha.

Dix Park Fall Fest

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Fall isn’t fall without a fall festival — say that 10 times fast! The Dix Park Fall Fest didn’t disappoint. It was our first time visiting this particular festival and there were lots of different vendors — food, beverage, and craft vendors — selling all sorts of goodies. We didn’t come away with much, but we did enjoy a craft beer as we walked around the park grounds. Can’t say no to an Old Mecklenberg Mecktoberfest fresh out the keg on a hot fall day (it was over 90 degrees… too hot). Craft fairs never cease to amaze me — there are so many passionate, creative people in the world. As a midday snack, Alex and I found a unique food truck and split a couple chicken tender pancake tacos and some of the best tater tots ever before heading out for dinner at Bull City Burger and Brewery in downtown Durham, NC (spoiler: they had really delicious burgers).

Pumpkin lattes and Carvers Creek State Park

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Annnnd back to Carvers Creek on our way to the pumpkin patch! We recently bought a new car and Alex said no drinking anything but water inside it (I get it, I’m clumsy haha). After securing the goods (pumpkin lattes) from Morning Jump (our favorite local coffee shop), we drove around the corner to Carvers Creek State Park for a coffee walk sans dog. Craving fall weather (badly) is so hard this time of year — it’s simply too hot for sweatshirts and flannels (sigh). Still I tried to walk with my new Bucks sweatshirt, but had to take it off halfway through. Direct sunlight, high 70s, hot coffee… not the best combo for sweater weather. We walked our usual path, but also went a little farther through the woods and up to the fishing dock. We saw a lady with her cute pepper-color golden doodle (yes we pet the dog, she was adorable and wanted to be pet) and a couple guys casting their fishing poles. Out here, the cypress trees grow in the water, offering a different kind of scenic view. The leaves were more of a yellow hue already — something my fall-loving heart loves to see. Walking back to the car it hit me — I always feel so recharged after visiting Carvers Creek. It’s a happy place.

Pumpkin picking at the Gross Farms pumpkin patch

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A classic must-see, must-do fall tradition in our household. Since moving to NC over a decade ago, Alex and I have gone to pick pumpkins at Gross Farms nearly every year. We’ve missed a few years here and there, but it’s one thing we look forward to every year. It was a little different this time around. They said the seeds in the main field were washed away with the first tropical storm and subsequent rainfall early on in the growing season, so they lost a main harvest this year. Instead of being able to walk the patch, pumpkins were brought in from another field and the area was a bit smaller. Not a big deal of course, you can’t predict Mother Nature. We made the best of it, also taking time to enjoy fresh roasted corn and pumpkin ice cream too.

Lots of other moments not pictured: Meadfest, Pecktoberfest at the local baseball stadium, Fayetteville’s International Folk Festival, spontaneous date nights, and seeing the Northern Lights in our backyard.

Oh the joy of life’s little adventures. It’s my truest belief that happiness is homemade — if you seek happiness, happiness will seek you. The best advice I could ever give is to find someone who matches your strides and inspires you to get out and see the world. Near or far, an adventure is an adventure.

PS — Here’s a recent picture of my pup Mogul at Lake Rim Park a couple Fridays ago. Alex had a game duty at work, so we hopped in the car and went for a nice walk at sunset. I brought a book to read by the water, but mostly ended up listening to Kelsea Ballerini’s new album Patterns as we watched all the ducks swimming around. Very relaxing!

Here’s to living life and finding joy in the every day.

Enjoy!

JBW