Hello.
It is really easy to get around here.
You could kill a little bit of time walking around the downtown area, which is quite simple to get to. Since there is only one Howard Johnson here as far as I can tell, you will be on Market Street. Take Market Street eastbound until it ends and whoopie, you're downtown by the Cape Fear River.
Since Wilmington's downtown area is only a few blocks x a few blocks, it can either be really boring or densely fascinating.
Stop by CD Alley and check out a crappy selection of used vinyl but an excellent selection of new, as well as a great new/used CD selection.
Cd Alley : 8 Market St., Wilmington, NC, 28401
On the corner of Front and Market, there's a used instrument shop called Finkelstein's. I always found it to be a waste of fucking time, but who knows.
If are facing the water, make a left and walk down Front St. until you get to where it goes from stores to houses. There will be a hookah bar called the Turkish Corner. Amazing coffee and teas. The owners are incredibly nice. The big burly black guy is named Mr. Newton. He's a singer.
As you walk from Turkish back towards the heartof Wilmington, you will pass a place on your left called The Big Dipper. It's a fondue place.
Then, after you cross Market Street, there's a fuckton of little shops that are useless, a really nice restaurant called Circa 1922, other little places.
Daughtry's Old Books is across from a coffee shop called Port City Java (you will see a dozen of these). Tons of books, always something there, always very cheap. Gwenyfar is the owner and she's kind of a hippie who will make conversation, the more you talk the cheaper your books get.
Keep walking down Front St., the water being down one street and on your left. You'll eventually get to the bar streets, where there is a bar every six feet. The Soapbox is where you're most likely to find the "hip" crowd of indie rock nerdos. Get a drink and do some laundry (The Soapbox Laundrolounge...get it?). Play some billiards.
www.soapboxlaundrolounge.com There may be some rock and roll in town when you are. Maybe not.
If you leave the Box, make a left, you'll get down to a coffee shop called Java Dog. Good coffee, nice people. Walk further down and there's a college, CFCC. You've gone much too far. Downtown pretty much ends there.
Go down to the water. You're very close to it. It is nice. There is a battleship. It is big.
When driving away from downtown on Market Street, make a right on Kerr and then a left after about half a mile into a little strip mall place with a Weight Watchers. There's a good record store there. Gravity Records. Check it.
Make a left out of the parking lot back on to Kerr and drive until you see Wilshire Blvd. Make a right then an immediate left. McAllister's Used Books. Excellent shop most of the time.
College Road is the main drag through Wilmington. Stop in anywhere for directions, most people are friendly and very used to tourists. Grab a burrito at Flaming Amy's on Oleander. Vegetarian. Then there's the Tidal Creek Food Co-Op, also on Oleander, heading towards Wrightsville Beach. Full of vegans.
Here's the trendy magazine all the kids read
ENCORE.
There's probably a lot I am forgetting. Will get back to you. Enjoy it here, it's not bad at all.
PM me if you want my phone number in case you're stuck while trying to get around.