Not a Boring Life

I LOVE fall.  No seriously, I could write songs about it.  Fall in NC?  Even better.  The leaves, the cool air, the fall festivals in every town.

A couple Sundays ago, my dad called (at 7am).  He wanted to know what we were up to for the day.  Considering my day hadn't even started, I projected a late start, the annual Festifall in Chapel Hill/Carrboro and a flannel shirt.  Not so.  My dad wanted us to come home and help him move some stuff and oh yeah, it was my hometown's fall festival - Autumn Jubilee. 

We quickly got dressed (it's fall, so why not flannel) and headed the 1.5 hours to Salisbury.  The moving of heavy objects only took like 20 minutes.  So we headed to Dan Nicholas Park (the top ranked field trip site in NC, folks) to hit up the Autumn Jubilee.  Now my memories of Autumn Jubilee are of a small affair with some music (the Dixie Chicks - pre-fame, of course - played here!) and meat on a stick. 

The Autumn Jubilee of my adulthood?  Is bigger with more fair food and more arts and crafts booths.  My mom came with us and she really enjoyed walking around and seeing all the crafts (she was in love with this handmade wooden outdoor furniture set by this guy in Concord).  We definitely still got our meat on a stick, provided by the new generation of organized (as in they have a club) Filipinos.  My mom went fair crazy and wanted to get peach ice cream (not as good as on the way to Laurinburg, was the verdict), meat on a stick, lumpia (definitely not as good as her own), pansit (not as good...why did we eat out of the house?) and of course, her turkey leg (to go!). 

We perused the craft booths some more.  I like buying jewlery at these kind of festivals.  People like to find out where you buy your stuff and if you say a festival, they'll probably never find anything like it.  So, I picked up some vintage button rings for me and Jen.  Mom liked picking out the rings, it's funny to see what she thinks me and Jenny will like. 

And then mom REALLY wanted Gordon and I to get our portrait drawn by this guy who could do it in, like, 10 minutes.  For the two of us, it was more like 20 minutes.  I can't sit for that long!  And I'm sure that might have been why the guy had trouble drawing me, 'cause I kept moving around and changing my facial expression.  Here's the final product.

The Autumn Jubilee was a lot of fun and I'm glad to see that it's grown up with the community (and me). 

After the festival, Gordon and I had to drive back to meet up with his brother Stephen and Nick.  We had made earlier plans to go to Festifall in Chapel Hill.  It's more of a local arts street festival.  Chapel Hill/Carrboro/Hillsborough/Durham... this is quite the little artsy area, so we figured it'd be a good place to pick up something local for our respective homes.  It's a pretty big (for around here) street festival, where they close down part of Franklin Street and artists of all mediums can set up booths.

Some highlights of Festifall:

I found a new massage therapist (she gave me a great deal on my first 3 sessions!)

Gordon and I bought a lovely painting of a tree that we'll need hang up in our apartment.  Our first local art purchase since living here!  Stephen and Nick also purchased some great local art.

It was great to be back in Chapel Hill during fall!

What a long day!  Lots of walking (but it's not hot anymore, so it's fun!), lots of talking with artisans and crafters, and food.

Here's the art we bought.

Every year, Jen, Gordon and I try to have our annual fall fun day where we go to Thurmont, Maryland to the Lawyers Moonlight Corn Maze (though, we haven't been at night), argue about which way to go in the maze and then shoot some pumpkins from a pumpkin cannon.  We've been going for at least 3 or 4 years. 

This year, we went the opening weekend which came after something like 7" of rain.  We pretty much expect the corn maze to be muddy.  Jen and I have started coming to the maze with our rain boots.  This year, though, after fair warning from the owner's daughter that it was muddy, we spent all of 5 minutes in the muddy entrance of the maze and turned around.  Here are some before and after shots.

We LOVE Lawyers Corn Maze!  I mean, Gordon and I drove up to DC so we could still have our annual fall fun day.  But you can't blame the owners for 7" of rain!  They were absolutely lovely and gave us wristbands so that we could come back another (less muddy) time.  We weren't upset at all because we know the maze is great and the farm offers such a great time.

Another stop on our annual fall fun day is a stop at the Catoctin Mountain Orchard Store.  This store is a great place to pick up fresh produce, fresh cider, pumpkins, pies (ready made and ready to bake), and jams and jellies.  We like to stock up and who doesn't like fresh fruits and vegetables!

So we took the rest of the day to explore Gettysburg, PA (a mere 30 minutes drive away).  As you would expect, we've already been to the Gettsyburg everyone knows (Four score and all that), so this was our chance to explore other parts of it.

Other parts like the Land of Little Horses.  Sound exciting?  IT IS!  Who doesn't love miniature horses (which are actually completely different from ponies).  I pretty much love little (insert animal here).  So we went and explored the Land of Little Horses which lets you get up close to the little guys and girls.  We got to feed them and pet them!  They even put on a little show.  We saw a unicorn, too... well a little horse with a little horn attached (but unicorns are actually real).  The best part was getting to meet all the little horses.  They aren't actually that soft like you'd imagine, but they are super cute.  

This farm had free range goats - one of which followed us into the enclosed arena for the horse show.  There were all sorts of farm animals there including bunnies (bunnies!), llamas, donkeys, peacocks, and so much more.  I'm sure it's a super fun place for little kids, but all three of us had a great time!  I even got to pet a horse (not the miniature type).

After a few hours at the Land of Little Horses, we drove back to Gettysburg (the town) and found ourselves in the midst of an about-to-close-up sidewalk sale/street fair.  People had random items for sale.  Gordon and I picked up a ceramic statue of a tyrannosaurus rex (he likes dinosaurs) for $5.  Why would anyone have a ceramic t. rex?  Well, now we do.  The town also has a great Victorian shop that was interesting to look through with Victorian-era clothes and antiques.  

Back in 8th grade, my class went to Town Creek Indian Mound near Mt. Gilead, NC.  I remember having a great time, but I'm not really sure what we did there.  The only activity that stands out in my mind is that our history teacher let us throw a spear with an atlatl. 

So when Gordon and I found ourselves with a weekend in Salisbury with nothing but an airport pickup for my parents in our view, we decided to go to Town Creek Indian Mound.  Luckily, the site was hosting an American Indian Heritage Festival.  Gordon and I were excited to visit as the calendar description said this:

Help us celebrate the proud heritage and rich culture of America's first settlers.  An annual event with a "Pow Wow" atmosphere, includes dancers in colorful regalia, traditional drum and song, craft and food vendors.  Raffle drawings for dancers.  Admission:  $4 adults; $2 children 4-12yo; free for children under four, adults over 65, and active duty military. 

We've started really liking the non-interstate route and try to take the back roads as much as possible.  To get to Town Creek, it's nothing but back roads.  So after a long(ish) ride, we got to the site.  We were a little early, so the drummers and dancers were still getting ready.  

When the drummers started playing, an older man came up to Gordon and me and asked us what they were doing.  Besides the obvious answer of... drumming, I didn't know what to tell the guy.  When I told him I didn't know, our conversation went something like this:

Random guy: "Aren't you Native American?"

Me:  "No."

Random guy:  "You're not?"

Me:  "No."

Random guy:  "Oh, I thought you were because you're dark complected."

Me:  "No.  I'm Asian."

Random guy (to Gordon):  "Are you Asian too??"

Gordon: "No."

Yeah, that's pretty much how it goes down here in NC when people see me.  I guess (maybe?  kinda?  sorta?) I was asking for it by going to a Native American heritage festival and being... brown.  Whatever.  I still don't get why he'd think Gordon was Asian.  Have you *seen* Gordon?

After that, we just enjoyed the heritage festival.  Rick Bird was the MC, but you might know him as Ric Youngblood - the wrestler.  He and his family have a drumming/singing band called Bird Chopper.  They did a lot of cool dances, including inter-tribal dances where they invited spectators to join in.  It was fun to watch the candy dance where they let all the little kids dance with them and then when the music stopped, the kids had to scramble to pick up the candy off the ground.

The actual Indian Mound site was interesting as well.  They have a replica burial hut where you can walk in and see what the burial process was like for the Pee Dee tribe.  The mound, during its excavation, led archaeologists to 61 human burials and funerary objects.  

I had milestone birthday this year - 30.  It wasn't scary, but it was quite a road trip.  This year, we decided to celebrate my birthday in Richmond, VA.  Richmond?  Yeah.  You've gotta give Richmond a chance... it's a pretty cool city and we haven't really been disappointed the now many times we've been there.  The plan was to have a fun weekend visiting the Virginia Museum of Fine Art, see a little mystery dinner theater and eat some crepes.

Part of the plan was that Joy was flying down from NYC and her, Gordon and I would drive up to Richmond and meet Jen who was supposed to take the train down from DC.  A good, solid plan.  

And then a hurricane happened.  Days before my birthday, the meteorologists were predicting Hurricane Irene would slam into the NC/VA coast before deluging DC and NYC.  Great.  

Not wanting to postpone my bday (you can't postpone 30!), we decided to go to Richmond anyway.  Trains and buses were canceled, so Jen was iffy on if she'd be able to make it.  We figured out she could take the DC metro and the VRE (Virginia's commuter train) as far as she could to Fredericksburg and we'd pick her up and bring her back down to Richmond.  The hurricane didn't look like it was close as it was bright and sunny the whole drive up to Fredericksburg and back down to Richmond.

We checked into the Aloft (a pretty cool and cheap hotel), got a diner dinner and settled in for the night watching CNN and the Weather Channel to watch the coming hurricane.  The next morning, it was pouring.  We went to my favorite cafe, The Baker's Crust, for breakfast of a gigantic crepe with nutella and hazelnuts.  Yay for early birthday breakfasts of whatever you want!

The impending hurricane definitely scared off most people as there was practically no one at the VMFA for the Faberge exhibit.  The exhibit was great and showed Faberge non-egg works.  The eggs, most of which were owned by Forbes, were sold back to the Russians.  This exhibit is now the largest Faberge collection in the US.  It included a 5 of the 13 imperial Easter eggs created for the Romanovs.  So this exhibit focused on the cigarette cases, picture frames and figurines.  I've been in love with the Romanovs and pretty much Russia since the animated film Anastasia came out.  The Romanovs had such an interesting history and mystery.  And when I started learning Russian in Uzbekistan, it just made me more enamored with all things Russian.  We like Russian because it's like reading a secret code.

The exhibit was beautifully laid out and included really informative signs.  The VMFA always puts on great exhibitions.  We've seen the Tiffany exhibit and the Picasso exhibit.  For Faberge and on a hurricane day, it was nice to see a family at the exhibit and see the kids excited about the art.  It was nice, until the kids starting running around and pressing their noses against the cases and repeatedly asking "HOW CAN A CHICK BE BIGGER THAN A CHICKEN?!?" when they saw the figurines of a chick and unrelated chicken.

After the exhibit, it was still raining... and trees were actually starting to come down.  The mystery dinner theater company called and let us know they were cancelling the show.  AGAIN.  This was our second attempt at going to this mystery dinner theater and each time never seems to work out for us.  I don't blame the theater company this time.  We'll probably try again on another Richmond trip.

With mystery dinner theater out, we decided to pick up some snacks and dinner and hole up in our hotel room.  We bought dvds (which ended up being pretty crappy), REALLY good cupcakes from a nearby shop and sandwiches to tide us through the hurricane.  We had already stocked up on beer, soda and water.  Between eating junk food and watching tv, we kept tabs on the hurricane as it made its way up the east coast. 

Until the fire alarm.  A guest had burnt some popcorn in the communal microwave in the lobby of the hotel (thanks).  So the whole hotel emptied out in the middle of torrential downpours of the hurricane.  The fire alarm taught us that Aloft is a VERY dog friendly hotel.  We were like the odd men out because we didn't have a dog!  It took us awhile before we were cleared to go back to our rooms and then longer for the alarms to stop, but eventually we got back in and continued our hurricane watch.

The hurricane came through overnight (and apparently hit Richmond pretty hard).  I-95 South was closed for a good bit of the night, DC was preparing for the worst, and NYC was preparing for the apocalypse.  

The next morning was clear and sunny (so it was actually a nice day on my b-day).  We drove Jen all the way back to DC and then headed back down to Durham.  A fun and surprising birthday. Thanks to Jen and Joy for braving it out!  And thanks to Gordon for putting up with all of us!  Happy Birthday to me!

This post does not mean to make light of Hurricane Irene.  It was a bad storm for a LOT of people.  We were trying to make a good weekend out of the crap that was dealt.

So Julie had given me a present for sailing for two on the Chesapeake Bay from Xperience Days.  Basically it sells activities from tours to adventure days (one was for a flying lesson which I did before moving to NC).  We waited for the weather to get warm and a good weekend to make our way out to the Eastern Shore of Maryland and get out on the water.

We made our base of operations for our sailing day Washington DC and it was a short drive to Annapolis and over the Chesapeake Bay bridge.  After passing through farmland and Chestertown on the Eastern Shore, we started to get hungry.  Luckily for us, we were able to find a cool local spot to eat for cheap.  It was part of a farm that had a small restaurant inside along with a produce stand (unfortunately, I can't find a website for it or remember the name), but believe me it was good country cooking.

Our sailing adventure was to set sail from Rock Hall, MD and the Blue Crab Chesapeake Charters was the host.  We got there early, so we had to wait around the Waterman's Crab House which was kind enough to let me use the restroom before they were even open.  Eventually about five minutes before departure time Captain Mark showed up and looked every bit of an old salty dog.  He welcomed us aboard and we got underway.  On the way out of the harbor we saw some ospreys and their nests (very impressive in person).

Once out on the Chesapeake, we learned a little bit about the boat and area.  There were two other couples aboard - middle-aged from PA and young from DC.  We just said we were from DC too, as to not confuse them why someone would come all the way from NC.  After a while, he invited people to come steer and I naturally volunteered for duty.  We just had to make sure were navigated around all of the crab trap buoys in the water.  I got to put on a captain's hat and take the wheel.  While I was steering, the good Capt. Mark got a phone call.  Apparently, he was selling one of his competition sailing boats and he was able to finalize the deal.  Once he was firmly back in control of the ship, he showed off his small cannon that shot out a shotgun sail (we were true pirates).  And so it was finally time to head back in.

Not ready to call it a day and head back to DC, we stopped off in Chestertown, MD on the way back.  This colonial town still has a charming main street and downtown area.  We caught the tail end of the weekly farmer's market and Julie bought some home-made soap and scrunchies.  We walked around the town and saw part of Washington College.  Near there we followed a line of geese and ducks until we find that a little girl had started feeding them and then thought the better of it once she was surrounded.  We stopped a the soda fountain for a drink and then had some lunch (crabcake sandwich for me naturally).  Unfortunately it was time to head back because we were all tired, but with the knowledge that we had a real Maryland experience.

So... Gordon and I were sitting around one Saturday afternoon and I said, "I'm restless!"  Gordon hears this often and usually when we haven't been anywhere for a few hours or I haven't researched anything funrecently.  This started our "Let's Explore NC - One Daytrip at a Time" adventure.  Gordon and I decided anything within 2-3 hours of where we live (or my parents live - they are 1.5 hours southwest of us) was fair game and easily doable. 

Having grown up in NC, this however-long-it-takes adventure is cool for me because experiencing a place as a kid and as an adult are two very different things.  We chose New Bern as our first daytrip because I'd never been.  My experience with New Bern was limited to coloring a picture of Tryon Palace in elementary school during our NC history unit.

Interesting facts about New Bern:

It used to be the colonial and then state capital of NC way back when we were still under British rule.

They have a strange thing for bears (sounds like my sister Joy).

It is the birthplace of Pepsi-Cola.  No lie.  Do NOT ask for a diet coke anywhere in town, they will laugh at you and bring you a diet pepsi.

A note about the bears, from the New Bern Convention & Visitor Center:

To coincide with New Bern's 300th Anniversary Celebration in 2010, Bear Town Bears, a nonprofit organization, recruited local artists to implement hand-painted designs on life-size standing and walking fiberglass bears for public enjoyment during the entire year.

Gordon and I drove out Sunday morning and started our day in New Bern with lunch.  Driving around the seemingly empty downtown area, we decided on Morgan's Tavern & Grill.  Just a sidenote about NC and Sundays - Don't worry about getting an early start on the day.  Nothing is open until church services are out.  I'm not kidding.  Nothing.  Anyway, Morgan's is a great family restaurant that has a great fish and chips for super cheap.  I make it a point to try out a restaurant's fish and chips... probably so I'll have something to report back to my fish-only eating father.  Of course, I had to wash it down with a diet pepsi. My father raised us on Coke and if you told him Pepsi was all that's available, he'd begrudingly say ok (but you'd hear the disappointment and disbelief).

You've got to forgive the town, though.  Like I said, Pepsi-Cola was born? created? formulated? in New Bern, NC.  And they are proud of it.  Not in the sense that Atlanta is Coke everywhere you go, but in a nice hometownyness way.  It started out right in downtown at a soda shop where it was known as "Brad's Drink" back in 1898 by Caleb Bradham. The shop is great and they even play all old Pepsi jingles (including that catchy one by Britney Spears).  We bought some magnets (for joymagnetism.com) and had some glass bottle Cokes Pepsi and Mountain Dew.

Next stop - Tryon Palace.  Did you know that Tryon Palace not only housed the Royal Governor, but also held the first general assemblies of NC's statehood?  Exactly.  Tryon Palace has a lot of history.  Other great facts include that the Palace actually burned down, and it took a group of forward thinking women to restore the Palace.  The house tour is great and super informative.  The gardens are lovely and the on site living history staff will answer any questions (including why onion skins were saved - they were used for dyeing).  You can also visit other nearby historic homes which gives visitors the chance to see how people of varying wealth lived in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Gordon and I are pretty much kids at heart (and we plan to stay that way), so when we found out there was an interactive museum in the North Carolina History Center, we were in.  The interactive museum?  Of course - it's the Pepsi Family Center!  It's great because you travel through time (like a TARDIS if they were real!) and get to go on mini scavenger hunts, make virtual quilts, sail a boat (in our case... very very badly) and distill turpentine.  I'm sure the museum employees got a kick out of watching 2 grown adults running around hauling barrels and yelling back and forth about which way to steer the ship.  We were the only ones in the museum given it was close to closing time.

To celebrate Gordon finally moving to NC (he was living in DC for 3 months, while I was already moved in in our place in NC), we decided our first NC adventure should be Asheville.

One of the biggest attractions in Asheville is the Biltmore Estate.  Don't know it? It's the largest privately-owned home in the US.  Built by the Vanderbilts.  THE Vanderbilts.  It's super pretty and tons of stuff to explore (and we love a good home tour).  

In our past visits to Asheville, we've ALWAYS gone to Biltmore... so this time around, we decided to do everything but Biltmore.  

Asheville is pretty cool town - very artsy, outdoorsy and dog friendly (like seriously, there are dog bowls outside every store and restaurant).  We did an awesome trolley tour (the vacation rental we found on homeaway for the weekend was owned by a local trolley tour driver) to get the lay of the land.  Just a sidenote, if you can wherever you are, get a trolley/bus tour - one that's hop on/hop off is great for getting around and seeing everything you *have* to see in one go.

Highlights from the trolley tour:

Grove Park Inn (a beautiful historic hotel that we'll never be able to stay in, but you can go in and enjoy the hotel anyway.  F. Scott Fitzgerald was a regular and even wrote The Great Gatsby there.  His wife Zelda was a patient in a nearby mental institution)

Thomas Wolfe Memorial (his mom's boarding house and his house while on breaks from UNC.  Have to say, never read Look Homeward, Angel, but this place made me buy the book because the tour and house is THAT interesting!  They should charge more for admission - it's only $1 - but it's worth a lot more!)

The Grove Arcade (Built by the same dude that built the Grove Park Inn.  It's a cute shopping/market area in downtown Asheville with a lot of restaurants.  Trolley tour says that they used to have huge parties and dances on the roof of the Arcade and even drive the fancy cars up the ramps onto the roof.  Gordon and I saw Dick Vitale and his wife eating at our lunch stop restaurant.  You can recognize his voice anywhere... even if he wasn't yelling.)

We also did a ghost tour of Asheville (we like ghost tours) that took us around the downtown area.  Our guide told us local legends and ghost stories.  The guide also gave us ghost detecting tools like an EMF reader and dowsing rods.