So, last week was the week of No Fun as far as work goes. Serious deadlines plus lagging code drops equals Carrie doing 1 months’ work in 3 days. Oy!
But, the week was greatly improved by Anne coming to visit. yay! She was looking for an apartment for when she moves to NC next month. We did all the triangle essentials – tasties at Goodberrys, some pints at Flying Saucer and gourmet shopping at Southern Season. Well, actually, there are more essentials than that but we only had so much time, really. I should really make a “Triangle Essentials” website. Fun!
Over the weekend we took my new-to-me Toyota Corolla on a little trippy to the mountains. Up and down the twisty mountains my new car went, finally arriving at Chimney Rock park. We went to the “chimney” and then proceeded to hike all the trails. Serious stairs and heat to match meant that I was seriously buff by the end. Too bad we had some barbeque afterwards. 
It was a good thing I had my fashionable , yet practical trail sneakers. It’s amazing how much more exciting something can be when you’ve got proper attire to wear for that particular activity. haha. There were a large number of rednecks there, mostly of women complaining about being tired from walking, little kids running around like crazy, and so on. Apparently this is a big tourist attraction. I’m not sure I really see the excitement. It’s a big rock. I did like the getting buff and going near waterfalls parts, though. Ding!
Afterwards, we ventured to Asheville. We discovered downtown was the place to be. Hot stores and trendy eateries galore. My personal favorite part of Asheville was our dinner at Doc Chey’s noodle house. It was cheap and delicious – some spicy peanut noodle salad, pad thai, and assorted weird teas. Gee, I like Asian food a lot. (Maybe it’s because I never had it so much growing up in upstate NY – I don’t think we even had a “crappy chinese” restaurant until the mid 90s. shock!)
On the way home, I also had Dunkin Donuts (affectionately called “DD” by all my relatives, who are addicted to the coffee). A rarity in the South, particularly in the Raleigh area, where the closest location is in not-so-nearby Eastern Raleigh. That’s what road trips are for! Even though I had DD at least 4 or 5 times in Poughkeepsie, I felt the need to celebrate the DD-in-the-south discovery by eating a double chocolate doughnut. Yummers!
So, what is everyone doing to celebrate our country’s independence? I just realized there’s a long weekend coming up – wahoo! Time to par-tay.
June 30th, 2004 at 9:57 am
Yay!! I was waiting for an update to your log. So happy to hear your feet were properly attired when you did the hike thing. I think you need to take Oak to Niagara Falls the next time you come home…I don’t know if you remember it since you were quite young the last time we went but it is right along the Niagara River. Very beautiful scenery while getting buff as you say! hehe…Can’t understand the Asian foods thing. I think it must be Oaks influence to get you to try new things. I recall a finicky eater. Love you!