North Carolina: a state in review

This past weekend was my cousin Scott’s (Mom’s side of the family)wedding. In North Carolina, a state I have never set foot (ditto Virginia and West Virginia, see below), but which is conveniently the state my girlfriend Sarah is from. Obviously road trip time!

Things I liked about North Carolina:

Beautiful state. I only saw the interior (Greensboro, Charlotte, Chapel Hill) but came away impressed. Terrain wise reminded me of the upper peninsula…only with much more population/development.

Chapel Hill is a gorgeous campus. Think Kalamazoo College meets Ann Arbor.

Sarah’s family was really cool, and seemed to like me. Alas the same cannot be said about their Wii. I lost 2 heartbreaking cups in a row to Sarah’s sister Emily in Mario Kart. Literally on the last race at the finish line both times. F*#$ing bull$%&t red shells. I tried Wii Fit for the first time, which was disastrous when it told me I am 10 pounds over weight. WHAT!?! I’m 5’10” (almost 11”, shut up Greg) 163 pounds with clothes and just ran a marathon. I must assume the Wii cannot take into account muscle mass or I’m going to develop a complex.

Sarah’s dog Bruno did not bite me.

The most amazing farmer’s market I have ever been too. Absolutely huge, it was the size of Meijer, buildings and pavilions everywhere. Spicy peanut butter, triple heat goat cheese, homemade lemonade, venus fly traps, this magical place had it all!

Things North Carolina could get better at:

It was so f*&^ing humid! The heat was alright, but unholy Voldemort was it awful to discover that I had in fact NOT experienced real humidity before. I take back every complaint I’ve said about Michigan’s humidity. Michigan I love you the way you are!

You have to drive through Ohio to get to it. Hey Ohio welcome to Sturtevant, Wisconsin and Gary, Indiana status as awful places that are dead to me. Screw you and your highways of lies; a highway does not drop from 65mph to 25mph for 10 miles through a freaking town. Also you have a funny smell and I hate you. F Ohio.

Hey West Virginia, your mountains were beautiful and almost worth the 12 hour drive just to see them. Keep up the good work, I hope to explore you some day!

Hey Virginia, you are West Virginia’s awkward cousin. Nothing jumps out to me as being wrong, you seem so similar to West Virginia. But if someone asked me if I wanted to go to West Virginia I would yell, “Absolutely!” If I was asked if I wanted to go to Virginia my response would be, “Eh, I guess. Unless you want to watch Lost reruns instead?”

Here are a quick couple of pics:

 

 

Sarah and I at my cousin’s wedding in Charlotte.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah teaching Ty how to dance…or the most hilarious part of the weekend!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pilot Mountain, North Carolina is impressive. And no, it is inconclusive that this photo was taken from the driver's seat while the passenger slept.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An example of Virginia: Welcome to the "Virginia Technological Highway" I don’t get it either.