Road Trip

This weekend Heather decided to get me up very early (about noon) because she wanted to go on a road trip. Well...after 6 pots of coffee and some time trying to figure out where to go we finally decided on a Mum festival. (We were not sure if they meant the flowers or mummers). So off we went to New Bern, NC (a town about the size of Wilmington) about 2 hours northwest of us. On the way I saw this cool building so I thought I'd take a picture of it.

An hour or two into out "trip" we came across a festival in the very small town of Faison. (Faison's version of Wal-Mart.)

I'm not sure what kind of festival it was or what it was for, But they did have the North Carolina, small town version of a rock concert...Enjoy.

Finally we get to New Bern and are looking forward to the Mum Fest. Unfortunately the weather was a little under itself so it looks like we were the ONLY ones looking forward to it.

So, after getting rained on a little, we thought we would go look for the mysterious Mums. Well we found them...

Dad, this photo is just for you. It is a small collapsible, one seat, rear propeller plane that does not require a pilot's licence to fly. Ahhh, to dream.

In closing, you can add this festival to one our Love-It, Hate-It NC lists, (pick one).

Things We Love About the N.C.

Guess what? We have lived in the NC for an entire year now. Can you believe it? Early on we did a post about the things we hate about NC, so we thought we’d do an anniversary post about the things we love about our new home.

1) The beach. The beach. The beach!

2) My mother, who cooks us dinner every Sunday. It’s hands down the best meal Scott gets all week.

3) The thunderstorms, which are frequent and violent and can last for hours. (Scott wanted to make a joke here about my PMS, but I don’t think that’s very funny.)

4) Our vote, which actually counts, because NC is considered a swing state. Unlike in Utah, where voting is as effective as pissing in the wind. Not that I know anything about that.

5) Political television ads, which are (unintentionally) hilarious. Senator Elizabeth Dole calls her current rival “fibber Kay Hagen” and has also referred to her as a “yapping dog.” It’s great fun.

6) Our little house. No upstairs neighbors, no downstairs neighbors…ah, the quiet! And windows! And a yard for Tara Bull to pee on!

7) Scott’s job, which is a tremendous opportunity for him. And he actually enjoys it. (He watches people sleep…creepy!)

8) Pig pickin’s. What’s a pig pickin’ you ask? It’s basically a Southern pot luck featuring an entire barbequed pig. (Scott forced me to include this. There’s nothing about pig pickin’s that I like. At all. North Carolina bbq sauce is 90 percent vinegar with, perhaps, a little bit of tobasco sauce tossed in. And the side dishes? Cole slaw and potato salad: blech. Collards: double blech. There’s nothing about pig pickin’s that I like. Except Pig Pickin’ Cake, but that goes without saying.)

9) The central East-coast location—we’re six hours away from Washington D.C., maybe eight hours from New York City, and a good day’s drive from Florida. Not that we’ve been to any of these places.

10) The yearly possibility of widespread natural destruction. Okay, Tropical Storm Hanna turned out to be a bust…but there’s always next year!