Day 4 - the mini trip - The ride home

So I just realized that I was so excited to get home last night that I didn't post the final day. We got up about 9am. I think that is the latest I ever seem to sleep these days and packed up the car. We went to City Center Books in Fayetteville, the ad in the visitors guide made it sound huge. Deb and I were both disappointed with the selection, or should I say the lack of selections available. We had a little time to walk around downtown, so we went into a shop that was open and window shopped at an antique mall. Then we were off to Fullers for lunch. Of course we had to go to the one in Lumberton again since it is further south and Deb had band practice to get back for. Lunch at Fuller's didn't disappoint and we got back to my house by 5:20 so Deb had a full hour and a half to get to practice. All in all the trip was a blast but one thing we have learned is that it is better to plan than not to, since we missed out on the two biggest reasons for the trip the Columbia Temple and eating at Fuller's in Fayettesville. But we had a great time, the Morrocans have a saying choose your travel companions before you choose your journey. Hopefully we will have many more adventures together, my bosom buddy and me. We listened to half of Anne of Green Gables on the way home :)

Day 3 of the mini-trip

Well today was slightly disappointing. We got up and went to church at the Fayetteville 1st ward. Everyone was nice and friendly asking us if we were new to the ward and chatting about Florida. After church we decided to have a light lunch, so as to be hungry for dinner at Fuller's yes I know we ate there yesterday, but that was the Lumberton location and we are in Fayettesville. After lunch at Subway we ran into a huge Flea Market and just couldn't resist stopping to take a look eventhough it was Sunday. I think Deb was trying to make up for me missing all of the Antique stores yesterday. After the Flea Market we tried to go to a local bookstore, but they are closed on Sundays. So we went back to the room and played some more go-spel.

I tried to get Deb to leave the room as early as 5:30 to go eat dinner, but she wasn't ready yet, so I snacked on some popcorn from the Lobby. The hotel has a popcorn machine and at anytime of the day or night you can go in to get popcorn. By the time we left to eat it was after 6pm and apparently Fullers is only open from 11am-4pm on Sunday's. So that means we won't get to eat at the Fullers here in Fayetteville at all :( We finally decided on a place for dinner called the Sandpiper Seafood and BBQ Buffet because the person we asked for a suggestion said:
1.) Subway - we had that for lunch
2.) Fullers - I wish, they were closed
3.) Sandpiper - "it's like Fullers"

What he must have meant is that it is also a buffet, like Fullers. The food was about half as good. I am in no hurry to come back to eat there. I will try to stop by Fullers the next time I am passing through though and Deb has promised we will go back to the one in Lumberton tomorrow on our way home :)

I think we will play a few rounds of go-spel and then hit the hay. Check out this puzzle it is cool. You get extra points if you use words from the New Testament.

Day 2 of the Mini-trip

So we started out the day headed towards the temple. But my stomach started rumbling and we came accross this place and it looked cute so we

ventured inside. I managed to get out of this adorable store without spending any money, but Deb was not so frugal. Actually she insisted on buying me the one item that I was considering purchasing. A Peach and Vanilla salad dressing. I am excited to try it, it looked so good. Deb got a few gifts for her parents and a book about I 95 and what is found at each exit, well according to the author that is. I would do a few things differently if I were the one writing the book :) So the girl at the shop reccomended a place for breakfast and it was in the book that Deb bought so we thought that we would give it a shot. I think there was probably something better out there. We ate at the Old House cafe. Deb ordered something called the hungry man's platter and I had the buffet. The restaurant was very picky about no substitutions, which we didn't like. For example the breakfast buffet came with Coffe or Sweet Tea, and when I asked for

a different drink they looked at me like I had grown horns and said we don't do

that. So I drank water and still ended paying the full price for the buffet, which was $8, kinda pricey for breakfast and the food wasn't spectacular. I wouldn't send you there if I was from around those parts and you asked me where to go. Deb said hers was ok, but nothing impressive and it cost almost as much as mine.

So after breakfast we headed towards the Columbia, SC temple. We had a rude surprise when we got there and the gates were locked. Apparently the temple is closed this week, there was a painting crew working on the outside of the building doing some touch up work.

Just because we couldn't go in didn't stop us from taking pictures. We also went to an LDS bookstore across the street from the temple called Nephi's Books, it was a really big store. Bigger than Boyds in Orlando. You can order online if interested at www.NephisBooks.com

After leaving the temple we decided to head towards Fayetteville, NC and the reason for this trip, to eat at Fuller's Old Fashioned BBQ. Of course it was 1:30 in the afternoon and only a 2 hour drive, so we had to find a few things to fill in the gaps. Looking at the Atlas I found a State Park and went on Deb's Iphone to find that it was a swamp with cypress trees and a canoe rental, how could we pass that up. Here are some pictures of our 40 minutes in the canoe :)

The website for the park even had directions from the interstate that we were currently on, it was like it was meant to be. After almost crashing a family reunion we found a Park Ranger and rented a canoe. The best part was that Deb said if she tipped me I wouldn't have to pay for my half of the $7 rental. What she didn't know is I would have been glad to pay for the whole thing, too bad she kind dumped me in the swamp so I guess that means I don't have to pay? In her defense she was trying to pull the canoe to shore so I wouldn't have to get out in Knee deep water. However she wasn't pulling evenly on both sides so I got half in the swamp water.

So after the swamp, we decided that we wanted to kill a little more time, so we stopped at South of the Border to play Putt Putt Golf. We both agreed that it had been so long since either of us had played that we decided to give it a shot. Deb slaughtered me by 10 points. Of course we could have played another round, but it was hot and we were starting to get hungry since we had only had breakfast that morning. Here are some pics of our really bad skills, or should I say lack of skills at Putt Putt Golf.

So I know what you are thinking. I thought this trip was about some Good Eats and so far it has only been eh eats. Don't worry we made it to Fullers. We decided to give the Lumberton location a try and just like the location in Fayetteville last year we were not disappointed. It was fantastic.
We ate a little too much, if you know what I mean, it was so good. After dinner we drove the rest of the way to Fayetteville and got a room for 2 nights. At the bookstore earlier today Deb had purchased a game called Go-spel. It is the New Testament edition, making me think there may be other editions. It is kind of like Scrabble in where you get points for the letters and you form words like a crossword, but unlike Scrabble you are working on a seperate puzzle from everyone else you are playing with and the point values are completely different. The point of the game is to complete your puzzle before the other players. Which let me tell you is not easy, especially when playing against Deb. She finished first in both games we played, which means that whatever tiles I hadn't played had to be added up and subtracted from my score. She won the first game, but I managed to get more points than her in the second game we played. It was a lot of fun.Check back tomorrow for more of the adventure.

The Mini Roadtrip

So for my 31st birthday my best friend and I are going on a mini trip. I say mini because we only have 4 days. For anyone that knows us, this is not very long at all. Our last trip was 2 weeks which was 20 plus days shorter than the one before it. Oh dear I do hope that there is not a trend going here.

So on our way home from Maine last year we stopped at a place called Fuller's Old Fashioned Barbeque in Fayetteville, NC. Now I know that people think I am crazy wanting to drive 800 miles to eat some food, but let me tell ya it was good southern cooking. Everytime we are together we talk about it and say I wish we could have Fuller's for dinner tonight, tommorrow AND Sunday night we plan to make that wish a reality. Of course we will find a few other things to do along the way. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

We left my house about 4pm today. Our first stop was the Old Navy by the Airport. I know lame, but they had a $2 tank sale going on who can pass that up? Next we needed ice, so we ventured into the evil empire (Wal-mart) for some treats for the movie and some ice. Yes you read correctly MOVIE. Deb found a Drive-in Theater in Beaufort, SC. Here are some pictures of us before the movie started. We got to the theater at like 9 pm and there was still a line of 2-3 cars ahead of us.

The movie was scheduled to start at 8:45 it was closer to 9:15 before things got started. But they only charged $6 each and if we could have kept our eyelids open and had a hotel lined up for the night we would have stayed for the second feature as it was included in the price. Pretty sweet. We saw Cars 2 and missed out on the new Pirates of the Carribean movie but it was over 2 hours long and it was after 11pm when Cars 2 ended.

It was a cute movie about staying true to your friends even if/when they act embarrassing. It was pretty good. I still can't figure out why all of the cars in the race looked like stock cars but one. There was a formula one car in the movie. Strange.

We decided to stay in Beaufort tonight and got a room at the Quality Inn, set us back $56, but all in all it is a nice room.

Check back tomorrow for more of the adventure.