Back from my trip to North Carolina. I really wish I could have stayed longer, I think we tried packing too much into not enough days and the amount of driving was ridiculous. Oh and by the way, Google, you all need to go and do another survey of N. Carolina for Google Maps because your directions are way off. Seriously, the theme of the trip was getting lost thanks to Google, and if you consider the amount I have driven around this country with no problems ever — that is an achievement.
I stayed with my brother and his wife down in Greensboro, where Southern Lights has to be one of my favorite restaurants, and the main focus of the trip was my husband doing his cross-country championship race. He did pretty good, but I think his shoulder injury from a few weeks ago got in his head and he wasn’t as pumped as he would have liked…
Here are some race pics below, but my brother took better ones.
I’m so super bummed I didn’t make it to visit Nancy Baker as I was looking forward to checking out her studio and seeing her work in real life. However, in keeping with the logistical and time problems I was having this trip, a gasoline truck exploded on the freeway causing the police to shut down everything and direct me off the freeway altogether. What are the chances? Ah well, next time.
One thing we did find time to do while out was go to a plantation. Husband has a thing for them, even though he’d never been to one. We soon discovered it was a rather eclectic plantation as the owners were obsessed with all things Asian. How many plantations have a pagota that serves as a tea house/bath house in their front yard? We also did a wine tasting while there (not so good btw) and walked around a bit….
Next was a drive down to Charlotte, where to the horror of many of my friends we may move someday. Because of time constraints we were only there for the late afternoon and evening, but I think we packed quite a bit in there for such a short visit. Next time, we are spending a few nights for sure. I was VERY fortunate to have hooked up with an awesome posse down there — in part thanks to this blog — and so it was really cool to hang with people that were my speed. We ate dinner at Penguin which is indeed a rockabilly diner with yummy hot dogs, and were taken to the most awesome clothing store called Boris & Natasha, which was like a less snooty-celebrity oriented version of Maxfield in L.A. I thought. I’m saving some money and so is husband for a shopping spree…
We all met up at a cool downtown place and also got a look at our friend’s new bar they are opening. It is still under construction, but all I can say is there will be an awesome peacock focal point, a little artwork by moi, and a great view…
One thing we noticed about Charlotte that was rather cool was all the underground stuff that seems to happen. Seriously, everywhere we walked, “and that’s the deli with a backroom club” “that’s the thrift store that screens movies in the back” “that’s the biker looking bar that has drag queen shows” and so forth. But there was a definite yuppie element in certain areas, which I’m fine with, and husband and I decided to go drive around aimlessly for a while in those parts too.
It was a good trip all and all, but I wish we had more time, everything felt a tad rushed. If you know me, I’m a maniac when it comes to keeping with intineraries and being punctual, so perhaps I was a bit stressed in that sense. But other than having to bag on visiting Raleigh, I think we accomplished quite a bit given the circumstances.
Arty Farty 
