I wanted to write a quick recap of last week when I attended the NC Assistant and Deputy Clerks' Conference in Wilmington. It was my first time going, and it was a blast! The conference was held at the Hotel Ballast, and we stayed a short but beautiful walk away at the Best Western Plus Coastline Inn. Aside from all the classes and knowledge gained, let me just tell you about the grits that Hotel Ballast served us for breakfast. Ya'll...these grits were the best I have ever had outside of my aunt's house! I need the recipe stat!! Cousin Cindy and I stayed together and traversed the early-evening-nightlife of Wilmington. The first night we ate at the Copper Penny. The drinks were so strong that we thought we had already ordered our food when the waitress came round. We both had The Reuben, and it was excellent! I had their Simply Shorty's Old Fashioned made out of Turning Point Rye, seasonal simple syrup, and bitters. It was a great take on an old favorite. The next night we went to a restaurant called Bourbon St; after hearing a Durham County clerk rave about it. We had the fried shrimp with their homemade tartar sauce. We also had a round of the Oysters Lafayette, fresh shucked, on the half-shell, topped with homemade creamed spinach and bacon-jam, grilled with bayou butter...I could have eaten a dozen..sooooo amazing!!!! After we ate, we went on a photo adventure exploring downtown at Golden Hour. Below are select photos from the explorations and a few shots in the rain looking out over the Cape Fear to the USS North Carolina.

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