As I had mentioned in our earlier post, our time is Vegas was great but we were ready to leave. You can only handle all the glitz and glam for so long. I was looking forward to being in NC where I didn’t have to wear business casual or talk to people I didn’t know. It was going to be a long travel day though. We got our mildly hung-over butts out of bed and worked our way to the airport in Vegas. Everything went well and we left Pacific time to head to Eastern time. That is the hard way to travel since you lose so many hours. We had a brief layover in Dallas and were on to RDU. We landed about 10pm and went to get our rental car. One smart idea we had was to upgrade to a small SUV instead of the tiny car we originally booked. After figuring out how to turn on the lights and such we were off to Brian and Carolyne’s house. They offered to be our gracious hosts for our time in NC. I love being around them. It is easy and stress free.
We arrived and chatted with them into the late night hours then headed to bed. Carolyne had to work on Thursday and Brian had to do some work from home so Jesse and I headed to Raleigh to do some visiting before we joined our beloved run club. The first stop was Jesse’s old place of employment. We were greeted warmly and everyone asked if we were still enjoying the travel life. Many people Jesse used to work with read our blog and we just love that! We assured them that we love traveling and that we would come visit whenever we were in town. Our next date was with River Run Club. They were the first run club we were ever part of and so far we have not found another like them. It is such a wonderful, fun, supportive and talented bunch of runners. We were so happy to see them, run with them and hang out at the Hop Yard for a few drinks. Many joked that they live vicariously through us and we should keep up the traveling. Don’t worry, we have no intention of stopping any time soon.
Friday was the lovely lazy day that I had been looking forward to for a long time. I slept late and spent some time with Brian and Carolyne. We went out to Hillsborough for a superb lunch from Bona Fide Sandwich Shop. We wandered down to the Riverwalk area and enjoyed our sandwiches. Brian had to head into work and Carolyne, Jesse and I were going to go hike around the Eno river. Too bad the weather decided not to cooperate and a huge storm was coming our way so instead we headed home to shower and get ready to join a former coworker of Jesse’s for dinner. We took a back way into Raleigh from Durham to avoid traffic and it worked perfectly. We had a great time catching up with Chris W. and enjoyed a nice dinner of tacos, salsa, chips and guacamole.
Saturday Brian and Carolyne took us to the Durham Farmer’s Market to wander around a bit and just check it out. They had lots of food of all varieties and other interesting sights like a guy that raises hedgehogs that you can adopt. I never thought of having a hedgehog as a pet but I guess it is a thing that can be done. They are neat little critters, a bit too sharp for my tastes but to each their own. It was a beautiful day and we decided to walk over to Beer Durham for drink on the porch to enjoy the perfect weather. Jesse and I had a date with my former boss who I love and miss. We met her at The Wooden Nickel in Hillsborough for a drink and a snack. I loved catching up with her and hearing all the wonderful news from my favorite place I have ever worked. Our time was running short and we had a dinner date to get to so we headed off back to Durham to see another former coworker of mine and see her children, one of which I had never met, her only daughter. I had met her two boys shortly after they were born so I was sad to have not met her youngest sooner but it was great to see her.
Our dinner was a date with many other people we loved spending time with when we lived in NC. Brian’s parents, Carolyne’s parents, her cousin Beth and her husband Steve and Carolyne’s sister. We had a great time eating and catching up with everyone. I had not realized how much I missed having people around that I know and that know me well. It has a feeling like being with family. It was fantastic.
Our dear friends play kickball so we went and saw them play in the morning. It was a lot of fun and they won! They went off to celebrate their win while Jesse and I went to visit another friend. One of our other favorite things to do in NC was to go to to the Upper Deck on Sunday for beer, wings and football!! Too bad they had a dart tournament going on so they were packed. How dare they not check with us first! Our first Sunday in NC in two years and we couldn’t go where we wanted. Luckily Rob had a backup plan and we were still able to watch the Bills beat the Patriots!! YAY football!! Plus spending time with Rob is always a treat. We even got to see Catherine since she joined us for a bit. We loved catching up with her too.
Jesse and I wanted to go for a run and Brian suggested a trail not too far from his house that we could try. It was shaded from the sun so I loved it. After our run we showered real quick and headed back to Raleigh. We were rapidly running out of time in NC and we still had some other things we needed to get done and one more pair of friends to visit. But first we were starved so we headed to Relish, one of my favorite Raleigh restaurants. They were just as good as I had remembered and we left there full and content as we went to take care of some chores. I had discovered by accident that we still had two SECU accounts open so we went and closed those and then visited our storage unit. I don’t know what I was expecting but when we opened that door and I saw the massive amount of stuff that was in there I was totally overwhelmed. After two years we had not touched any of it and I realized that we are just wasting money keeping it all. All I want out of there is my Dyson vacuum, my books and some pictures. Everything else can go, maybe a yard sale or big bonfire or something. I took my Stephen King book, The Stand so I would have something to read on the plane and we closed it up and went to meet up with the Ragones. It was awesome to see them and catch up with all of life’s going ons.
For some crazy reason I picked a very early flight out of Raleigh but it ended up being a good idea since the FLOTUS was coming to Raleigh and Hurricane Matthew was also on his way to NC so we got out just in time. It was rough getting up at 4:50am to get out of the house and to the airport with enough time to return the car and get through security. We said our goodbyes to Brian and Carolyne the night before so we wouldn’t have to wake them when we left. Thankfully we had another uneventful travel day and made it back to Iowa safe and sound in the early afternoon.
It was a perfect trip. Being able to spend so much time with Brian and Carolyne was awesome. I miss them so much and it was great to see them. We managed to visit everyone that is near and dear to our heart and still have a relaxing vacation. Thank you everyone that made time for us! We think about you often while we travel from place to place. You guys are special and we love seeing you!
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