The Russian Bear, April 26th, 2008

Tonite, April 26th, 2008, I had the pleasure
of meeting Ivan "The Russian Bear" Koloff. He
was performing at an ICW show here in Wilmington
against Marc Ash in a Russian Chain Match.

He was very approachable, considering he is a
legend. This is the man who beat Bruno Sammartino
for the WWWF title way back when. I used to see
him wrestle at the Greensboro Coliseum back in the
early to mid 80's. He was always a top draw and
one of the top heels everywhere he went.

I approached him with caution, not wanting to insult
him with my petty wish to have my picture taken with
him. He was extremely welcome to the idea, stood up
beside me, and said something to the effect of "How's
my hair look?" Really a nice guy. It was great to
see a true legend and have a photo taken with him.
I have more pictures of the show but none are more
important than this one. Thank you, Ivan.......

April 21, 2008: USS North Carolina

Today, we went to the battleship USS
North Carolina, the famed tourist
attraction here in Wilmington. It is a
challenging, self guided tour thru an
true World War II battleship. It was
cool and a bit of a work out. It has
numerous tight staircases and
corridors and, from what I've heard,
is miserably hot in the summer. Take
a bottle of water. Definately worth the
admission if you think you'd want to see
a battleship up close. I've only uploaded
a few pictures here but if you go back
to Channel Zero, there is a video playing
on the Photography channel.

April 19th, 2008: Carolina Beach State Park and the Zoo

Today, we hit the road and went south, towards
Carolina Beach. The first stop was Carolina Beach
State Park. Below are a few pictures of the place.
They offer camping, a boat ramp, fishing, and
hiking. And it's FREE, a rarity around here. It's
a pretty big park and grab a map at the visitors
center. Even with that, you'll probably get lost on
the trails, though it is a pleasant hike along "Snow's
Cut". To get there, upon entering Carolina Beach,
across the bridge, look for the signs to the right.
It's right there....easy to find and a decent way to
spend an afternoon.....

Next, is this Zoo that is off of 421, headed towards
Carolina Beach. You can't miss it; going South, it's
on the left, just before the "Snow's Cut Bridge".
The admission was just $8, which compared to
all the other places we've spent $8 on, it was a
pretty good deal. A surprisingly varied collection
of animals, alot of which I've never seen, even at
the Asheboro Zoo. The thing I hated about the
Asheboro Zoo was that it was so large, and too
few animal sightings between all that walking
you do. This place offers many sightings of
creatures (Giraffes, alligators, Lemurs, Tigers,
Monkeys, Bears, reptiles, and a lot more..)
all within a very short walk. It only covers about
10 acres and is open from 10 am until 5 pm.
For the money, well worth it. One of the better
Zoo experiences I've ever had.
Below are some pictures.....

April 12th, 2008 Orton Plantation

Today, we travelled to Orton Plantation. It's about 3o minutes
outside of Wilmington, going towards Southport/Oak Island.
It costs $9 to tour the gardens. Is it worth the admission?
Nope, but if you were to travel here, you could also visit
Brunswick Town, which is pretty much a neighboring
attraction which is free and then the price doesn't seem so
bad. The gardens are nice, though, it only took roughly 45
minutes to tour. Below are pictures I took of Orton Plantation,
there are no pictures of Brunswick Town.

To get there, take Highway 74/76 West from Wilmington and then
exit onto Highway 133 towards Southport. Keep going until you see
the signs.