In North Carolina

Hey everyone,

I'm currently in Chapel Hill spending the night here until tomorrow morning when I can go see the UNC Basketball Museum (!!!!!) and get some new UNC paraphernalia.

The drive down here was pretty good. I went from Rochester to Nazareth, PA, where my friend from RIT lives. She's been my friend for all four years of college, so it was kind of a sad goodbye, but I'll see her again. I spend the first night there, then the next day made my way down to Front Royal, VA to meet up with Dan (friend from HS in malaysia) and found him in a grassy area next to a gas station. I guess that's what people that are hiking the Appalachian trail do. oh well.

we met up and then found our way to a FREE hostel. yes, there are yet a few good people left in this country. we got there, and this house was gorgeous! drove uphill, about 25-30% grade for 10 minutes. it was this entire community engulfed by the forest, which was totally awesome. you couldn't see this place from the town, so it was nice and quiet. we had one of the biggest dinners i've ever had, and likewise for breakfast the next morning. and yes, it could have all been free, but they asked for donations for the food (i kindly donated 15 bucks). note, between dan, nate (dan's brother) and i, we counted about 10 countries that we'd lived in. the husband and wife have probably livedin 5 DIFFERENT ones and been to numerous others that we hadn't been to. it was extremely interesting to be able to talk to someone who had and hadn't been to placed you had and have them give you recommendations on other places to go. it's not everyday (or even year) that i have this type of conversation. quite refreshing.

This morning i dropped dan and nate off at a trail head and proceeded to make my way down the Blue Ridge Parkway, a two lane highway that runs straight through the state park all the way down to Roanoke. those 150 miles, with my windows down, music and occassional rumble of a motorcyle and obvious fantastic view was one of the most relaxing, refreshing 2-3 hours i've had in yearrrrss. I am going to do this again on a motorcycle, guaranteed.

on my way to NC from VA i stopped in Winston-Salem, my old home from when i was 3-10 y.o. it was interesting to talk to the people that live there now (knowing that they still get advertisements for us 13 years later!) and seeing how small the yard actually is (opposed to remembering it from when i was little munchkin). so then i finally made my way down to chapel hill, and made it to the dean dome, finally saw it in person! but it's closed for renovation and will go to the basketball museum tomorrow morning and then making my way to memphis for some amazing BBQ!...

i'll post pictures next time i have internet since i forgot to bring my card reader up and i'm too lazy to go get it. i'll have pictures to post for everything i talked about so it'll be a big post. check back in a day or two