After a wonderful time in Savannah we headed to Wilmington. As always, a ‘6 1.2’ drive turned out to be 8 hours. Looking at the distance and time required to get somewhere on a GPS map only applies to the hours you spend behind the wheel. There are bathroom breaks, gas breaks, and food breaks that all have to be added in. For that reason we won’t do a road trip again without adding a couple more days so that we don’t spend more than 4 hours driving. Live and learn.

The Drive North: Coastal Georgia into the Carolinas

Leaving Savannah, the route north along the coast is a different experience than the inland drive down. US-17 through coastal Georgia and South Carolina is older, slower, and richer in atmosphere than the interstate. You pass through small coastal towns, cross tidal rivers, catch glimpses of marsh grass stretching to the horizon. It’s the kind of driving that reminds you why people took road trips before the highway system made everything faster and flatter.

If time allows, the stretch through the South Carolina Lowcountry repays attention. The landscape here is haunting in the best sense — wide, quiet, shaped by water in ways that make the land feel provisional, like the marsh is always negotiating with the shore about where exactly the boundary should be.

Wilmington, North Carolina: Port City with a Lot Going On

Wilmington occupies a particular sweet spot — large enough to have real culture and energy, small enough to feel navigable and human. Sitting at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, it has the easy confidence of a port city that has been doing its own thing for a long time and doesn’t feel the need to explain itself.

The downtown riverfront is genuinely lovely — a walkable stretch along the water with the kind of mix of old buildings and new energy that a city gets right when it’s paying attention. The historic district holds its own against more famous Southern cities, with antebellum architecture and tree-lined streets that feel lived-in rather than curated.

Wilmington is also the gateway to some of the best beaches on the East Coast. Wrightsville Beach is minutes away, and even if your trip isn’t a beach trip, it’s worth a morning walk along the shore before you head north. The Atlantic here is warmer than you’d expect and the stretch of coast is uncrowded by the standards of the mid-Atlantic.

The city has a creative undercurrent — film production has been based here for decades, and there’s an arts and music scene that punches above its size. Give it time and it gives back.

Must Eat

We had what I consider the best meal of the trip at Sugo Italian Steakhouse, rightly considered one of the best restaurants in Wilmington,

Tucked inside the Hotel Ballast on the downtown waterfront, the restaurant is the creation of Ace and Jamie Alfalla, who relocated from Long Island to Wilmington in 2021 carrying decades of hospitality experience, and their New York roots are evident in every dish. The kitchen is led by Chef Thomas Calhoun, and the house red sauce — sugo being the Italian word for sauce — serves as the philosophical and culinary heart of the menu, anchoring everything from homemade lasagna to pollo parmigiana. The menu also features dry-aged steaks alongside Italian specialties like veal Milanese, carbonara, and an aragosta pasta with twin lobster tails. Guests can choose between the lively bar lounge with communal seating or the more formal main dining room with sweeping views of the Cape Fear River. Worth every penny, and it takes quite a few.

By Mark McNease

The backstory on this is a little long, so I’ll just say the genesis of the trip was to meet up with two other couples in Savannah, John and Robert, and Jean and Cindy. I don’t like flying unless I have to, and doing it for a three-night stay wasn’t appealing. I suggested instead that Frank and I drive and turn it into a long road trip. Our travel companion Michael, who often goes on cruises with us, joined the fun, so last Saturday we packed up the car and headed off for an eight-nighter that included a stop in Winchester, VA, to have lunch with Michael’s cousins and his wife, then Roanoke, Savannah, Wilmington, Baltimore, and finally home. This part I: Winchester for lunch, then on to Roanoke and Savannah.

Lunch in Winchester

This looked like a really cool town and I wish we’d have more time to spend there. A fair was going on, and the central walkway was filled with vendors. I saw a tarot card reader I would have loved to get a peek at my future from, but we had to eat and get back on the road. It was a quickie, but worth it.

Water Street Kitchen

Water Street Kitchen sits right in the heart of historic Old Town Winchester, Virginia, where Chef Dan Kalber turns classic Americana into something worth going out of your way for. Drawing on locally sourced ingredients to ground the menu in the region rather than the generic. The setting is informal and relaxed, with a large menu at reasonable prices and generous portions, and a vintage interior and patio that make it equally good for a leisurely lunch or a full dinner.

On the Map: Fonthill Castle, Doylestown, PA

Our friend Kathi Hill was here for her annual two-nighter. On Sunday we went to Fonthill Castle in Doylestown, a large imposing castle you can see from the road that we’ve passed a zillion times and never gone to. It’s a must! It’s the kind of place that makes you want to book two nights in an upstairs bedroom, light a candle, and write something a horror story by the light of the moon. Built in the early twentieth century by Henry Mercer — archaeologist, Arts and Crafts visionary, and the obsessive genius behind the Moravian Pottery and Tile Works next door — it’s a concrete labyrinth of rooms, hidden staircases, and ceilings encrusted with thousands of his own handmade tiles pulled from the kilns just steps away. The gothic atmosphere is not manufactured. It grew here, out of one man’s magnificent strangeness. He was also a lifelong bachelor, which adds a little fill-in-the-blanks to it all.

We walked through it on a guided tour and I and immediately started thinking about the horror stories I could write there. The ceilings are all low, the rooms are small, and everything is concrete. If you’re anywhere near Bucks County, put it on your list.

Tours run regularly and can be booked through the Mercer Museum website at mercermuseum.org. Fonthill Castle and the Tile Works are both on site.

We made another two-night trip to Philadelphia, this time with our friends Phil and Jim. Since moving from New York, I’ve come to see Philly as my city, given that it’s only an hour’s drive or train ride away. And we can ride the SEPT trains for free as seniors!

There are cities you visit and cities you inhabit, even briefly. Philadelphia is the latter kind, at least when you do it right. Two nights isn’t and days aren’t nearly enough to explore everything there is to see, including the reknown murals you’ll see as you walk around, but it’s exactly enough to fall into a particular pocket of it and feel you’ve touched something marvelous.

Where We Stayed: The Morris House Hotel

The Morris House Hotel sits at 225 S. 8th Street in the heart of the city’s historic district, and it announces itself quietly — no marquee, no lobby spectacle, just a Federal-era townhouse that has been standing since the 18th century and knows it doesn’t have to try very hard. Our large bed had a mattress so soft and sinking that it’s possible George Washington really did sleep there. The staff is terrific, and we don’t say anywhere else when we’re there overnight.

The original family who built it in 1787 was part of Philadelphia’s colonial gentry, and the remnants of that world are still there: period details, a walled garden courtyard, and rooms that manage to feel both old and comfortable.

By Mark McNease

Another early morning, another cup of coffee, my laptop, and the Harp & Horn Pub, my quiet writing refuge aboard Quantum of the Seas. Most mornings I settle into a table at the empty pub on the fourth-floor promenade. The coffee is available 24/7 right next door, the restaurant is silent, and for a couple of peaceful hours it’s the perfect place to work. I’m not someone who can travel without writing; it’s how I stay productive and keep that creative momentum going.

As our Mexico cruise winds down, I’ve been thinking about how quickly this sailing has gone by. This trip has been one of my favorites, and the only real drawback is its length. Six nights just isn’t quite enough time to visit two ports and fully settle into the rhythm of cruising. Ten days feels right. Twelve is even better. Six feels like we’re just getting started and want more.

The sea days were relaxed and restorative, the kind that remind me why I love cruising in the first place. Add in good meals, unexpected conversations, and moments of quiet routine, and it all reminds me why I enjoy this kind of vacation more than most.