So I am now home safe and sound in England, and it has snowed more in the last six hours here than it did the whole semester in Boone. CRAZINESS!!!
We started out in Boone at the LLC at 8.00am on the 17th December. We left on a bus to Charlotte airport. We had to go back to pick up James and Evelien who we had left behind, but apart from that the first part of the journey went without a hitch. They told me at the airport that they would check my bags all the way to Heathrow, meaning I wouldn't have to collect them and recheck them at JFK. This made my day so much easier! A few of us went to get bagels and OJ for breakfast, then Marcella and I said goodbye to everyone and boarded our flight to JFK. This flight went fine, no problems.
We arrived at JFK, and went to Terminal 4 on the AirTrain where Marcella had to check in. She checked in on Air Lingus, then we went to have some food. We saw three creepy crawly bugs crawling along the wall which was kind of gross, but we were fine. We then took the AirTrain to Terminal 8 where I had to check in. I checked in, then by that time it was time for us to go our separate ways... We said goodbye on the AirTrain platform, then I went to find my gate and have some food before the flight. We boarded late because they hadn't finished cleaning the plane yet, which delayed us by about half an hour. I don't know if it's because it's near Christmas, but everyone was abusing the baggage policies, taking on three times their allowed amount of carry-on luggage. As a result, there was no room in the overhead bins for me to put my bag, so I had to put it under my seat which meant I couldn't stretch my legs out... Other than this, the flight was OK. I started watching District 9 and promptly fell asleep. I woke up and ate some crappy aeroplane food, then watched Band Slam. I then started watching Julie and Julia, and got about halfway through that before I fell asleep again... I watched an episode of Bones while I ate my croissant and drunk my OJ. By this time we were ready to land, , but we arrived about an hour later than planned because there wasn't a gate with a tunnel open for us to get into the airport. We had to go down the steps and into buses, which took us a very long way round and then dropped us off in an entrance where none of the escalators were working. The people with three carry-on cases were not happy about this. Serves them right for abusing baggage policies.
I got through customs fine, and picked up my luggage which came round the carousel extemely quickly. Then I walked down the pathway like you see in the movies where everyone's family is waiting for them, except my family actually WERE waiting for me. It was so nice to see them again and get big hugs :) I missed them a lot, maybe in the future they'll invent a Skype that gives you real hugs... hmm... But yes, I am back in Blighty and it is snowing and Christmassy and lovely, and we have a fire and the Christmas decorations are up and my room has been repainted and I have had three cups of tea. Everything is lovely :D
I guess seeing as my four month long journey to Appalachian State University and back is over, this will be my last blog post. It seems so sad to think that everything is over and while I'm really happy to be back home with my family, I will miss seeing everyone at Appalachian State every day... it seems so weird to think that I can't have storytime with Meagan or go down the corridor to see Liz, or hang out with my favourite internationals at Macados... I will miss everyone but I'll never forget the time we spent together and I have so many good memories that I will cherish forever :) Thanks to everyone who made my experience at App AMAZING!!!
Friday 18 December 2009
Monday 7 December 2009
The One with Sir Purr
This weekend my awesome wonderful roomie invited me home with her because they had an extra ticket to the Panthers game (her sister has finals so couldn't come home) and she wanted me to meet her parents. We set off at around 11 on Friday morning. Meagan has a Volvo and it's very nice with leather seats and nothing falling off anywhere :) It also smelled nice, unlike other Volvos I have been in previously (sorry Dad!) It only takes around two hours to drive from Boone to Charlotte, but Meagan kind of lives on the outskirts on the other side, so it took an extra half hour to get to Meagan's house.
First thing when we got in the door we were greeted by 1) her amazing fluffy soft cute dog called Casey and 2) her lovely Mum with a VERY strong New York accent. Firstly, I was shown Aisling's room which has two beds so I got the one they dont normally use (Aisling is Meagan's sister, pronounced ASH-LING). Meagan's house is GORGEOUS. It's really nice, everything is decorated nicely and she has so many awesome things. Upstairs she has a "playroom" which has a sofa and a chair which are suede and are the kind that recline and have a footrest, and a cupholder in the armrest. She has a MASSIVE tv in there with a PS2 and another console I think. She has Guitar Hero World Tour which has drums and a bass as well as a normal guitar. Downstairs is a lovely big kitchen with one of those tvs that come down from under the cupboard, and a big dining table next to french doors that lead out onto a lovely wooden deck with a chair and a barbecue. They also have a living room which they don't use much, a dining room ditto, and then a "den" which is like another lounge with comfy chairs and a big tv and a fireplace. I LOVE Meagan's house :)
On Friday we spent the entire day lounging on the awesome chairs upstairs watching TV. We had fajitas which her dad cooked on the grill outside which were delicious. We also watched Jeopardy which is like a family tradition in their house, it's a game show and it's fun because the questions are quite hard so it's a challenge. Meagan and her dad are RIDICULOUSLY fast at answering, my brain's not that quick! We went to bed after watching Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (they get it on BBC America here).
On Saturday Meagan and I got up and had breakfast, then went shopping. We went to Target, Borders and Harris Teeter (a supermarket) where we bought eggnog (I'd never had it before). Boone has no decent shops, so having proper shops was very exciting. We returned home and then watched a bit of TV. Then we went to church (I'd never been to a Catholic mass before but it was quite interesting) and then out to a really nice Italian restaurant for dinner. When we got back we watched more Jeopardy and then the 25th anniversary concert of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
On Sunday we woke up, had breakfast, then set off for the game. We were going to walk through the downtown area of Charlotte first to show me around. We saw the Bank of America building where Meagan's Dad works, and lots of other big bank buildings (Charlotte is North Carolinas financial capital even though Raleigh is the actual capital). The Christmas decorations were beautiful, and there was a cute little ice skating rink in the middle. We got to the stadium, called the Bank of America stadium, and we had to walk up lots of ramps to get up to the second tier which is where Meagan's family's season ticket seats are. They go to pretty much every game so they are always prepared. They brought seat pads for everyone (it's a thing here in America, because usually the seats are cold and hard, so you have seat cushions with your team on them). We had our Panthers seat cushions x 4, our Panthers baseball caps (because we were on the sunny side) x 4, scarves, gloves, coats, jumpers, we were really warm and snug as bugs in a rug. It wasn't that cold at the start of the game but it got worse towards the middle of the third quarter.
At the start, there was an address from a local Rabbi, then the national anthem was sung by TAYLOR HICKS!!!!! He won season 5 of American Idol and he was actually quite good. He's playing Danny in a Broadway version of Grease now. The Panthers have a mascot called Sir Purr (a panther) and their team of cheerleaders are called the Top Cats. There were lots of goings on at the beginning, the usual warm-ups and presentations of awards and stuff... I was loving it. Being so high up meant that we had a view of the whole field. This really helped me to understand what was going on even more because I could see exactly where penalty flags were being thrown down and which yard things were happening at. I feel like I can understand football quite well now. The stadium is MASSIVE, with 73,778 seats in total. Not all the seats were full, but it was still a pretty good turnout. The Tampa Bay Bucanneers from Florida were supposedly a good team, but we beat them with the final score of 16-6. Although it was quite a low scoring game, it was still REALLY exciting. I had a really good time, I didn't think I'd ever properly enjoy football but being at this massive stadium watching a proper NFL game was awesome! There's a "kickoff specialist" on the Panthers from Dover called Rhys Lloyd so I was rooting for him :)
After the game we went back to the car and went to a noodle place for food (we were all hungry by then). It was delicious. We then finished packing up our stuff and left to drive back to Boone. We knew it had snowed on Saturday, so we saw lots of snow still on the ground and the temperature dropped from around 40 in Charlotte to 29 in Boone. There is still snow on te ground this morning, and it looks very pretty :) So I had a really amazing weekend, Meagan's parents were really nice and her dog was so cute!
First thing when we got in the door we were greeted by 1) her amazing fluffy soft cute dog called Casey and 2) her lovely Mum with a VERY strong New York accent. Firstly, I was shown Aisling's room which has two beds so I got the one they dont normally use (Aisling is Meagan's sister, pronounced ASH-LING). Meagan's house is GORGEOUS. It's really nice, everything is decorated nicely and she has so many awesome things. Upstairs she has a "playroom" which has a sofa and a chair which are suede and are the kind that recline and have a footrest, and a cupholder in the armrest. She has a MASSIVE tv in there with a PS2 and another console I think. She has Guitar Hero World Tour which has drums and a bass as well as a normal guitar. Downstairs is a lovely big kitchen with one of those tvs that come down from under the cupboard, and a big dining table next to french doors that lead out onto a lovely wooden deck with a chair and a barbecue. They also have a living room which they don't use much, a dining room ditto, and then a "den" which is like another lounge with comfy chairs and a big tv and a fireplace. I LOVE Meagan's house :)
On Friday we spent the entire day lounging on the awesome chairs upstairs watching TV. We had fajitas which her dad cooked on the grill outside which were delicious. We also watched Jeopardy which is like a family tradition in their house, it's a game show and it's fun because the questions are quite hard so it's a challenge. Meagan and her dad are RIDICULOUSLY fast at answering, my brain's not that quick! We went to bed after watching Friday Night with Jonathan Ross (they get it on BBC America here).
On Saturday Meagan and I got up and had breakfast, then went shopping. We went to Target, Borders and Harris Teeter (a supermarket) where we bought eggnog (I'd never had it before). Boone has no decent shops, so having proper shops was very exciting. We returned home and then watched a bit of TV. Then we went to church (I'd never been to a Catholic mass before but it was quite interesting) and then out to a really nice Italian restaurant for dinner. When we got back we watched more Jeopardy and then the 25th anniversary concert of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
On Sunday we woke up, had breakfast, then set off for the game. We were going to walk through the downtown area of Charlotte first to show me around. We saw the Bank of America building where Meagan's Dad works, and lots of other big bank buildings (Charlotte is North Carolinas financial capital even though Raleigh is the actual capital). The Christmas decorations were beautiful, and there was a cute little ice skating rink in the middle. We got to the stadium, called the Bank of America stadium, and we had to walk up lots of ramps to get up to the second tier which is where Meagan's family's season ticket seats are. They go to pretty much every game so they are always prepared. They brought seat pads for everyone (it's a thing here in America, because usually the seats are cold and hard, so you have seat cushions with your team on them). We had our Panthers seat cushions x 4, our Panthers baseball caps (because we were on the sunny side) x 4, scarves, gloves, coats, jumpers, we were really warm and snug as bugs in a rug. It wasn't that cold at the start of the game but it got worse towards the middle of the third quarter.
At the start, there was an address from a local Rabbi, then the national anthem was sung by TAYLOR HICKS!!!!! He won season 5 of American Idol and he was actually quite good. He's playing Danny in a Broadway version of Grease now. The Panthers have a mascot called Sir Purr (a panther) and their team of cheerleaders are called the Top Cats. There were lots of goings on at the beginning, the usual warm-ups and presentations of awards and stuff... I was loving it. Being so high up meant that we had a view of the whole field. This really helped me to understand what was going on even more because I could see exactly where penalty flags were being thrown down and which yard things were happening at. I feel like I can understand football quite well now. The stadium is MASSIVE, with 73,778 seats in total. Not all the seats were full, but it was still a pretty good turnout. The Tampa Bay Bucanneers from Florida were supposedly a good team, but we beat them with the final score of 16-6. Although it was quite a low scoring game, it was still REALLY exciting. I had a really good time, I didn't think I'd ever properly enjoy football but being at this massive stadium watching a proper NFL game was awesome! There's a "kickoff specialist" on the Panthers from Dover called Rhys Lloyd so I was rooting for him :)
After the game we went back to the car and went to a noodle place for food (we were all hungry by then). It was delicious. We then finished packing up our stuff and left to drive back to Boone. We knew it had snowed on Saturday, so we saw lots of snow still on the ground and the temperature dropped from around 40 in Charlotte to 29 in Boone. There is still snow on te ground this morning, and it looks very pretty :) So I had a really amazing weekend, Meagan's parents were really nice and her dog was so cute!
Sunday 6 December 2009
The One with Spiel Stevenberg
The week leading up to Thanksgiving break was CRAZY!!! We all had soooooo much work to hand in, papers and presentations and short papers and proposals and AAAAARGHHHH!!!!! But we managed it all, even Marcella (from the Netherlands) who was still working on a paper the day we were supposed to leave so we ended up leaving a few hours later than planned... but it worked out ok :)
We (Marcella, Becca, James and I) left at around 3.00 on the POP 105 bus to the car hire place. We got our car (a Chevy something-or-other), and with Marcella driving, Becca navigating and James and I providing the music, we left down the mountain to Columbia, South Carolina. It took us around three hours (with a quick stop at Wendy's for food). We were going to drop James off with his second cousin who he had never met before and then continue on to Charleston. We got to Bill and Marge's house after a lot of wrong turns and directions from people in a dodgy gas station, but we made it eventually. Marge (James's second cousin) and Bill were really welcoming and friendly. Their house was gorgeous, really homely and warm, and they have a beautiful dog called Cheyenne. They had set out supper for us, and they had PROPER ENGLISH TEA, and TATE AND LYLE GOLDEN SYRUP and MARKS AND SPENCERS LEMON CURD!!!!! They have travelled all over the world, but they especially love Cornwall. They work with an organisation called CLC Ministries as Christian missionaries setting up Christian bookshops all over the world. They had so many fun stories to tell :)
We spent the night in their lovely extension which has a bedroom, a living room with a sofa bed and its own bathroom and kitchen area. We had breakfast there the next day (MORE TEA = YAY!!!!!), then we left James there and set off for Charleston. Our girly road trip was about to begin!!! We had a pretty uneventful drive to Charleston as it was only about an hour and a half from Columbia. We arrived and went to the visitor's centre where we picked up leaflets and brochures so we could decide a plan of action. We went to find some food and while we ate we planned what we were going to do. First we went to the slave museum, the aquarium and a few other places along the way. We checked in to our Best Western hotel and then rested for an hour. We drove back in to Charleston to eat at a restaurant called Vickery's. We then decided to have an early night, so we went back to the hotel and slept.
The next morning was Thankgiving. We had heard that there was an event called the "Turkey Day Race". It was a race which lots of people took part in, so we had breakfast at Starbucks and watched the action. We also observed a mother on the table behind us who had dressed her baby up in a turkey outfit... scary. We then decided to have a carriage ride. Our horse was called Zag, and it was a very fun and informative ride, we learnt a lot about Charleston. One of the strange things was that because there were quite a few carriage companies operating in Charleston, they had to have a way of telling them which routes to go so as not to cause a congestion problem. The way they decide this is with a little bingo machine outside a hut, and every time a carriage pulls up to it they spin it and whichever colour ball comes out is the route they take. We happened to get a blue ball. We saw some of the typical houses in Charleston called "Charleston singles", which are very narrow on the street side of the house but very long, so the square footage was still pretty high. This was just to save space. We also learnt that many houses in Charleston have spaces on the side of their houses which we assumed were porches, but are actually called piazzas. A piazza is built into the architecture of the house, whereas a porch is added afterward. Apparently Obama mentioned the "porches of Charleston" in his inauguration speech, and the people of Charleston were not amused. We saw a couple of houses with pineapples on their gateposts. These were used in the 1800s and early 1900s as a way to tell people you were back from holiday and were ready to receive visitors.
We then took a stroll in Waterfront Park. This is a beautiful stretch of park along the shore where there are beautiful fountains, grassy areas and (the best bit of all) a wooden promenade with swinging benches. We had great fun on these. We also saw some massive birds which turned out to be pelicans. The waterfront was absolutely gorgeous in the sunlight, with all the palm trees we were sure we had taken a wrong turn and ended up in Florida! Rainbow row is also a famous landmark in Charleston. It is a stretch of houses near the waterfront which are all painted an assortment of pretty rainbow colours. It was really awesome in the sunshine :) Another feature of Charleston we liked was that lots of houses had little lamps outside their doors which had flames in them (gas powered, the council helps them with their gas bills if they purchase them because they add to the charm of the city). In a pub called Tommy Condons (Irish) we had our first ever Thanksgiving dinner. We ate roast turkey, green bean casserole, candied yams (sweet potatoes - really sweet and tasted like they had spices in them) and stuffing/cornbread (we couldn't tell which it was). It was nice, but strange. We also did a ghost walk in Charleston, led by a weird woman who was talking more about the energy of people who have passed than actual ghosts themselves. She was talking about the science behind why people see ghosts, which was kind of interesting...
The next morning we set off for Wilmington, North Carolina. It was around a five hour drive, but we stopped at various places. Most memorably we stopped at a place called Myrtle Beach, which is about halfway between Charleston and Wilmington. Myrtle Beach is like a bigger, more American version of Blackpool or Skegness. It is extremely touristy, although most of the hotels had closed until March. We just wanted to see the beach really, so we wandered along it. It was a beautiful beach, with proper white sand and really blue water. The weather was yet again gorgeous, and we really appreciated the sun. We spent about an hour in Myrtle Beach, then continued on to Wilmington. When we arrived in Wilmington, we parked up and wandered up the main street, then along the pier. Wilmington is GORGEOUS. I could actually see myself living there, it seems really quiet and friendly, and everything is beautiful. Marcella happens to be a massive Dawson's Creek fan (a TV show) and I am a massive One Tree Hill fan (a TV show) which both happen to be filmed in Wilmington, so we were in heaven. Everywhere we walked, we saw places that we recognised from the show. It was AMAZING!!!
We got sheets from the tourist information place telling us the main locations from both shows, so we set about finding the main ones we wanted to see. We had lunch at a place called Hells Kitchen (from Dawsons Creek) which made Marcella ridiculously happy. We saw the bridge and the river court (basketball court) from One Tree Hill, which means my life is now officially complete :) We saw various other places including one of the shops used in OTH, the pier restaurant used in DC, and the record store used in OTH (I bought a CD there!). We also had a boat ride, which took us across the Cape Fear River to the Battleship North Carolina (one of the most haunted ships in America). We had a Hollywood location tour from a guy who called himself Spiel Stevenberg (he actually was the spitting image of Steven Spielberg). He showed us around various locations around Wilmington which were used in films and TV shows (films filmed in Wilmington or "Wilmywood" include 28 Days with Sandra Bullock and Viggo Mortensen, Black Dog with Patrick Swayze and Meatloaf, Blue Velvet with Dennis Hopper and Isabella Rossellini, Weekend at Bernies, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1&2) and Raw Deal with Arnie himself). It was a really funny yet interesting tour, with lots of interesting locations including a diner FILLED with Coke memorabilia, everything down to the napkin holders and the bar stools, but they only sell Pepsi.
We also had a ghost talk the same night from the same person (this time dressed as a pirate calling himself Captain Wilder). We walked around Wilmington (supposed to be one of the most haunted places in the US (one of the programmes I watch called Ghost Hunters has filmed there three times)). It showed us a different side of Wilmington, and we saw a lot more of the city. We ate the second night at a restaurant they used in Dawson's Creek called Elijah's. It was on the waterfront and we sat at the window so the view as the sun was setting was beautiful. Whilst in Wilmington we also took two carriage tours, one the first night and one the second night. We had the same horse both times, called Harry. The tour company save horses who were used by the Ahmish but were too slow for what they needed them for. The carriages were really cute, they even had blankets for everyone to cover up when it got cold. We had two different tour guides but they were both really interesting and we went on different routes both times so we got to see more of the city. Seeing a city at night on a horse-drawn carriage with all the Christmas lights on was pretty magical. We all three agreed that while we loved both places, we would rather visit Charleston and live in Wilmington.
We set off on Sunday morning to Charlotte where we were going to pick up James (Bill dropped him off at Carolina Place mall, which gave us a few hours to wander around the mall before they arrived). We tried out $1 massage chairs, which was a painful but hilarious experience. We ate lunch and spent about an hour in Barnes and Noble, which is a famous chain of bookstores here in America. We picked James up, exchanged gifts with Bill (they had gotten us Christmas gifts of books and we got them gifts to thank them for letting us stay (a candle holder with a Christmas tree on it, cinnamon candles and a bag of baked dog treats from a special bakery called the K-9 coastal bakery in Wilmington which were shaped like gingerbread men and Christmas trees). We drove back home, stopping at Applebee's for dinner. We were so tired that we just fell straight to sleep. All in all, an awesome Thanksgiving break with two of my favourite internationals :)
We (Marcella, Becca, James and I) left at around 3.00 on the POP 105 bus to the car hire place. We got our car (a Chevy something-or-other), and with Marcella driving, Becca navigating and James and I providing the music, we left down the mountain to Columbia, South Carolina. It took us around three hours (with a quick stop at Wendy's for food). We were going to drop James off with his second cousin who he had never met before and then continue on to Charleston. We got to Bill and Marge's house after a lot of wrong turns and directions from people in a dodgy gas station, but we made it eventually. Marge (James's second cousin) and Bill were really welcoming and friendly. Their house was gorgeous, really homely and warm, and they have a beautiful dog called Cheyenne. They had set out supper for us, and they had PROPER ENGLISH TEA, and TATE AND LYLE GOLDEN SYRUP and MARKS AND SPENCERS LEMON CURD!!!!! They have travelled all over the world, but they especially love Cornwall. They work with an organisation called CLC Ministries as Christian missionaries setting up Christian bookshops all over the world. They had so many fun stories to tell :)
We spent the night in their lovely extension which has a bedroom, a living room with a sofa bed and its own bathroom and kitchen area. We had breakfast there the next day (MORE TEA = YAY!!!!!), then we left James there and set off for Charleston. Our girly road trip was about to begin!!! We had a pretty uneventful drive to Charleston as it was only about an hour and a half from Columbia. We arrived and went to the visitor's centre where we picked up leaflets and brochures so we could decide a plan of action. We went to find some food and while we ate we planned what we were going to do. First we went to the slave museum, the aquarium and a few other places along the way. We checked in to our Best Western hotel and then rested for an hour. We drove back in to Charleston to eat at a restaurant called Vickery's. We then decided to have an early night, so we went back to the hotel and slept.
The next morning was Thankgiving. We had heard that there was an event called the "Turkey Day Race". It was a race which lots of people took part in, so we had breakfast at Starbucks and watched the action. We also observed a mother on the table behind us who had dressed her baby up in a turkey outfit... scary. We then decided to have a carriage ride. Our horse was called Zag, and it was a very fun and informative ride, we learnt a lot about Charleston. One of the strange things was that because there were quite a few carriage companies operating in Charleston, they had to have a way of telling them which routes to go so as not to cause a congestion problem. The way they decide this is with a little bingo machine outside a hut, and every time a carriage pulls up to it they spin it and whichever colour ball comes out is the route they take. We happened to get a blue ball. We saw some of the typical houses in Charleston called "Charleston singles", which are very narrow on the street side of the house but very long, so the square footage was still pretty high. This was just to save space. We also learnt that many houses in Charleston have spaces on the side of their houses which we assumed were porches, but are actually called piazzas. A piazza is built into the architecture of the house, whereas a porch is added afterward. Apparently Obama mentioned the "porches of Charleston" in his inauguration speech, and the people of Charleston were not amused. We saw a couple of houses with pineapples on their gateposts. These were used in the 1800s and early 1900s as a way to tell people you were back from holiday and were ready to receive visitors.
We then took a stroll in Waterfront Park. This is a beautiful stretch of park along the shore where there are beautiful fountains, grassy areas and (the best bit of all) a wooden promenade with swinging benches. We had great fun on these. We also saw some massive birds which turned out to be pelicans. The waterfront was absolutely gorgeous in the sunlight, with all the palm trees we were sure we had taken a wrong turn and ended up in Florida! Rainbow row is also a famous landmark in Charleston. It is a stretch of houses near the waterfront which are all painted an assortment of pretty rainbow colours. It was really awesome in the sunshine :) Another feature of Charleston we liked was that lots of houses had little lamps outside their doors which had flames in them (gas powered, the council helps them with their gas bills if they purchase them because they add to the charm of the city). In a pub called Tommy Condons (Irish) we had our first ever Thanksgiving dinner. We ate roast turkey, green bean casserole, candied yams (sweet potatoes - really sweet and tasted like they had spices in them) and stuffing/cornbread (we couldn't tell which it was). It was nice, but strange. We also did a ghost walk in Charleston, led by a weird woman who was talking more about the energy of people who have passed than actual ghosts themselves. She was talking about the science behind why people see ghosts, which was kind of interesting...
The next morning we set off for Wilmington, North Carolina. It was around a five hour drive, but we stopped at various places. Most memorably we stopped at a place called Myrtle Beach, which is about halfway between Charleston and Wilmington. Myrtle Beach is like a bigger, more American version of Blackpool or Skegness. It is extremely touristy, although most of the hotels had closed until March. We just wanted to see the beach really, so we wandered along it. It was a beautiful beach, with proper white sand and really blue water. The weather was yet again gorgeous, and we really appreciated the sun. We spent about an hour in Myrtle Beach, then continued on to Wilmington. When we arrived in Wilmington, we parked up and wandered up the main street, then along the pier. Wilmington is GORGEOUS. I could actually see myself living there, it seems really quiet and friendly, and everything is beautiful. Marcella happens to be a massive Dawson's Creek fan (a TV show) and I am a massive One Tree Hill fan (a TV show) which both happen to be filmed in Wilmington, so we were in heaven. Everywhere we walked, we saw places that we recognised from the show. It was AMAZING!!!
We got sheets from the tourist information place telling us the main locations from both shows, so we set about finding the main ones we wanted to see. We had lunch at a place called Hells Kitchen (from Dawsons Creek) which made Marcella ridiculously happy. We saw the bridge and the river court (basketball court) from One Tree Hill, which means my life is now officially complete :) We saw various other places including one of the shops used in OTH, the pier restaurant used in DC, and the record store used in OTH (I bought a CD there!). We also had a boat ride, which took us across the Cape Fear River to the Battleship North Carolina (one of the most haunted ships in America). We had a Hollywood location tour from a guy who called himself Spiel Stevenberg (he actually was the spitting image of Steven Spielberg). He showed us around various locations around Wilmington which were used in films and TV shows (films filmed in Wilmington or "Wilmywood" include 28 Days with Sandra Bullock and Viggo Mortensen, Black Dog with Patrick Swayze and Meatloaf, Blue Velvet with Dennis Hopper and Isabella Rossellini, Weekend at Bernies, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1&2) and Raw Deal with Arnie himself). It was a really funny yet interesting tour, with lots of interesting locations including a diner FILLED with Coke memorabilia, everything down to the napkin holders and the bar stools, but they only sell Pepsi.
We also had a ghost talk the same night from the same person (this time dressed as a pirate calling himself Captain Wilder). We walked around Wilmington (supposed to be one of the most haunted places in the US (one of the programmes I watch called Ghost Hunters has filmed there three times)). It showed us a different side of Wilmington, and we saw a lot more of the city. We ate the second night at a restaurant they used in Dawson's Creek called Elijah's. It was on the waterfront and we sat at the window so the view as the sun was setting was beautiful. Whilst in Wilmington we also took two carriage tours, one the first night and one the second night. We had the same horse both times, called Harry. The tour company save horses who were used by the Ahmish but were too slow for what they needed them for. The carriages were really cute, they even had blankets for everyone to cover up when it got cold. We had two different tour guides but they were both really interesting and we went on different routes both times so we got to see more of the city. Seeing a city at night on a horse-drawn carriage with all the Christmas lights on was pretty magical. We all three agreed that while we loved both places, we would rather visit Charleston and live in Wilmington.
We set off on Sunday morning to Charlotte where we were going to pick up James (Bill dropped him off at Carolina Place mall, which gave us a few hours to wander around the mall before they arrived). We tried out $1 massage chairs, which was a painful but hilarious experience. We ate lunch and spent about an hour in Barnes and Noble, which is a famous chain of bookstores here in America. We picked James up, exchanged gifts with Bill (they had gotten us Christmas gifts of books and we got them gifts to thank them for letting us stay (a candle holder with a Christmas tree on it, cinnamon candles and a bag of baked dog treats from a special bakery called the K-9 coastal bakery in Wilmington which were shaped like gingerbread men and Christmas trees). We drove back home, stopping at Applebee's for dinner. We were so tired that we just fell straight to sleep. All in all, an awesome Thanksgiving break with two of my favourite internationals :)
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