Beyers in Wilmington

Did these adventures really happen? Did we really meet up in Wilmington, North Carolina? The very day Duke was playing UNC? Did we really go explore the fringes of the Orton Plantation? Did we really go to Myrtle Beach? (what an unBeyers place, it could hardly be more unBeyersy, and yet he was sort of enthusiastic!) The conversation with the antiques guy in Southport, did that really happen? Did the woman really warn us not to swim in the Cape Fear River? (we won’t!) The night wanderings and laughings?

Some of these scenes feel like a dream, a bit of magical realism, and yet these weren’t even in the top twenty of our explorations. The other day Mat reminded me about the whale watch in Tofino. We went on a whale watch? I didn’t even remember. I remembered the hike to the crashed plane, and the raccoon of course, and Port Alberini.

I remember what we were talking about just before the photo above: I was saying that places that serve both beer and coffee kind of drag on me because the vibe and effect of each beverage is quite contrary to the other, so that a place that serves both will be caught in liminal territory, it’s inevitable that such a place will feel kinda like a WeWork or something rather than forming a strong identity. Beyers was more charitable. He’d had firsthand experiences with the realities of running a coffee shop. His attitude was always to approach with openness.