Hello August

So in case you were wondering. I got sick again on the flight from Atlanta to Seattle. It was an hour late getting in and then Deb couldn't figure out how to find me at the airport. Eventually I told her to stay put and I would come to her. It worked and I finally got to bed about 12:30 Seattle time, which is 3:30 EST in case you were wondering. Not good since I got up at 4:15 to take my Dad to the airport.

Today was an awesome way to welcome in a new month. How could it not be great to start off the month on vacation. We first took a trip to what was supposed to be a Dunkin Donuts with vegan options. It turned out to be a greek place with donuts. Deb got a few but I walked away empty handed. She stopped at a Mc Donalds to get something to eat, so I got a hashbrown and an oatmeal with no cream.

Then we headed off to the Seattle Temple, it was amazing and beautiful there were so many flowers in bloom on temple grounds I think we picked a good time to visit.

Leaving the Temple we hit a little bit of light traffic on the way to our lunch reservation at Sky City, the revolving restraunt at the top of the space needle. They had a salad on the menu that was vegan, but I decided to splurge and get the king Salmon. It was really good and I haven't had any seafood in a few weeks, so i figured why not.

Then back to the car to get the bikes and some jeans for me since I was still wearing my dress we took off to Pike Place Market for some shopping it was only a 20 minute bike ride. The market flowers were so beautiful and not overly expensive it made me wish I lived here so that I could take some home and at these prices I could almost always afford to have fresh flowers in the house. Small bouquets were $5 the largest ones were only $15 and they were beautiful and very diverse. I settled for some fruit and a really cute bag ( you can see it in the ferry photo).

Next we took a ferry to Kingston.

Once off the ferry we drove on to Port Angeles and had dinner at a place called Bella Italia. I ordered the Pasta Primavera with no dairy and a small salad. It was really quite good. Then we went hotel hunting, or was the hotel staff hunting us? We stopped at this place called the Flagstone Motel to see how much the rooms were. Deborah went in and I stayed in the car. She was in there a few minutes and then came back and started the car. We had already been on our way to a different hotel which the online rates were $32-55. I asked "how much?" Deb's response was "$90, but she said she would come down to $80." She puts the car in drive and starts to pull out when this little Korean woman in a night gown and slippers comes out the front door. She hits the brakes and rolls down the window and the lady leans in the car window and says, "oh hello (looking at me) ok for you I do $65. Deborah trys to explain that we had another lead on a much cheaper hotel and the lady says its a very nice room. I give you the single rate even though there is two of you and I give you two beds also.  Deb hem haws a little and looks to me for an answer, so the lady says ok $60 and Deborah caved. I mean this woman was working hard not to let us leave and it was like 60 degrees out and she is in a thin t-shirt material night gown trying to persuade us to rent a room.

For the record it is a really nice room. Hope you'll come back tomorrow for more of the adventure.

First Flight

I have been packing for weeks piling anything and everything that I thought I could want or need. I missed one very important thing. I won't forget it next time I fly. I got to the airport with plenty of time. Security was fairly painless. I was leaving seat assignment up to fate, bonus was a cute guy was seated next to me that actually wanted to have a conversation. The downside was since neither of us picked a seat we were placed in the absolutely last row of the plane. Before I tell you anymore I think that the turbulence must be worst in the back. It is definitely louder back there. So we are sitting there having a nice conversation about competitive swimming and how he did it for 15 years. I was impressed I only lasted 6-7 years. And then came some nasty turbulence. I must have turned white as a sheet since he got serious, up til then we had been kinda laughing and almost flirty, he was like are you ok? I said no, I am seriously trying not to puke right now.
Too bad my stomach and my brain were unable to communicate. Yes I am horrified to admit I puked. Luckily I was in an aisle seat, so I didn't puke on him. Eventually I made it out of my seat belt, put the tray table into the upright position and figured out how to work the lavatory door. After cleaning myself up a little I was able to make it back to my seat. Unfortunately my body was not finished. We hit more turbulence during landing. This time I realized there was a vomit bag in the back of my seat, so I was able to use it. Once I stopped this time he offered me gum. What a sweet guy. I said well at least the flight was interesting, no dull moments and he said except when you were in the bathroom, that was kind of boring. I am grateful that I met Andrew he was not just nice to look at but a genuinely nice guy. As we were exiting the plane the lady sitting in front of me offered me some motion sickness pills which I gladly accepted. Wish me luck on the 5 hour flight to Seattle.

Almost time!

It hit me today that it is almost time for vacation. I only have one and a half work days left before I leave. This will be a hybrid trip of sorts as this time I am flying to Seattle and then the road trip part of the adventure begins. I hope that Deborah and I will have a good time and you will enjoy following along.

I bought a new laptop just for the trip since my old one got stolen 2 weeks ago. The upside to being robbed of all your goods before vacation is there is nothing to worry about while you are gone. Except for the cat. But I have someone checking in on her to make sure she is good.

Only a four more days :) This weekend is going to be a busy one. I better get off here for now and get some laundry done so I can start packing. I know what you are thinking.... I did start packing earlier. I gave a bag of clothes to Deb when she left with the car, but I need more. She calls me a compulsive over packer and it is true I admit it. I want anything and everything that I may want to wear in my possession even if the mood to wear it never strikes. The adventure begins on August 31st :)

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.