CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/35097
t ravel Photos courtesy of Wilmington/Cape Fear Coast CVB T here are only two ways to get to Fort Fisher, and they’re both beautiful. You can cruise the 17-mile stretch down U.S. 421, past Carolina Beach and Kure Beach, taking in the funky beach town vibe along the way. Or you can drive onto the ferry that leaves 14 times a day from Southport and ride over, enjoying the views and the breezes coming off the water at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. However you get to Fort Fisher, your first glimpses of the windswept coastline are bound to set the tone for a restful vacation. If you drive in from the Wilmington area you’ll appreciate how in recent years home owners in Kure Beach have collectively decided to paint over the muted gray tones that were once prevalent in the coastal community, electing instead for bright Caribbean colors. Motorists these days are far more likely to pass bungalows in bright green or pastel purple — the colors of the tropics — than the stormy grays and blues of yesteryear. Even the Fort Fisher Air Force Recreation Area, where cottages are available for military ID holders to rent at very reasonable rates, has gotten in on the trend, painting all of the cottages on the installation in different and very bright colors. You’ll also pass dozens of kitschy mom and pop-owned seafood restaurants and gift shops, ice cream stands aplenty and dozens of places to stay that seem worlds apart from the big city of Wilmington. Eventually, after you’re well past the souvenir shops and ice cream stands you’ll come to Fort Fisher, where nature dominates the vista. Approximately six miles of unspoiled beach provide all the sun, sand, sea and sky you can soak up in a day, far from the trinket shops and carnival rides found at other popular beaches. An elevated boardwalk from the recreation area parking lot leads over the sand dunes to the beach, CityViewNC.com | 73