Friday, January 5, 2018

Christmas in North Carolina - Gettin' There

We spent Christmas at our son's place in North Carolina - all told, we were gone for 13 days because we drove there, which takes two days each direction.  It would have been nice to fly out there, like Allie did, but we had to take Paco, plus Sam had a lot of electronic equipment that he was passing on to Allie and us, so we needed a vehicle to bring everything back.  We had enough points to rent a car for free, which was very nice - we ended up with a Nissan Murano, fully-loaded, and I have to say, it made the drive as pleasant as it could be, all things considered.

We left Texas on the Thursday before Christmas, and drove to Birmingham, Alabama, which took us just over 12 hours.  While long, that drive was fairly uneventful; we listened to a book on Audible, thanks to our friend Cary, who shared her account with us.  We all had Happy Meals from McDonald's - yes, even Paco...he loves a cheeseburger - and I have to say, the fries that come in the Happy Meal are adorable:
Honestly, it was the perfect amount.
A retro McDonald's in Mississippi - we sat outside and had lunch, just like in the olden days when they only had outside seating.

At first, Paco enjoyed the ride and was happy in his spot in the back seat:
Did someone say HAPPY MEAL??

The next day, we woke up early and got on the road, where we encountered traffic jam after traffic jam - it was stop-and-go basically from Georgia to Sam's place in North Carolina:
Here's the Olympic Flame from the 1996 Atlanta Olympics...and stopped traffic.
Boiled peanuts at a gas station in Georgia.  Wasn't. Even. Tempted.  This was also where we got a call from our credit card's fraud department, as we tried to get gas at a station across the street from this station but couldn't get our card to read, so we left and went to a different gas station.  At least they were quick to note weird activity (two swipes at two gas stations within five minutes).
Here's the peach water tower, not in Georgia (aren't they famous for peaches??) but rather, South Carolina.  One of the few times we were actually moving at normal speed there - I swear, that entire state's highways were under construction and down to one lane.
Here's Paco, who had given up on life and wouldn't even face me.
Hey, here's yet ANOTHER traffic jam.  This was about two hours from Sam's place.  We were despairing of ever reaching it at that point.  We finally arrived at 7:45 that evening, which was about three hours later than we should have gotten there.
One of Sam's coworkers likes to bake, and he made this triple-layer cake for us, which was so nice, and a sweet reward at the end of our epic journey to North Carolina. 
 Paco was very happy to be with his boy, and especially happy to be out of the car!

Next up, Christmas day!  Yes I know I'm a little behind and should be posting about new year resolutions and all that, but we just got home on Wednesday, and I'm finally at my own computer and have time to blog.  Pretend it's still 2017 when you come here for the next few days, OK?

20 comments:

  1. Might have been long...but it was a safe trip!! :-). Poor paco!!!!

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    1. Yes, I was very happy we made it there and back safely.

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  2. Ugh to traffic. It's a way of life around here. I guess everywhere! Glad you made it safely.

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    1. We know the few roads to avoid in our town for traffic, so we live in a false sense of "traffic? what's that?" which came back to bite us on that trip.

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  3. If I was in that car that long I would have joined Paco in not looking at you anymore lol!

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  4. Poor Paco, but the happy meal was worth it. Those tiny fries are perfect!

    I hate traffic any time, but holiday traffic is the worst.

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    1. I guess we haven't really traveled so close to a holiday in recent memory, because I wasn't expecting what we encountered. Bah to that!

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  5. I'll be glad to pretend its still Christmas 2017--in fact, I'll delay putting my Christmas stuff away just to help the illusion :))

    THAT was a L-O-N-G drive!! Listening to a book is perfect for long drives. I have not done that for a while. In fact, the last time I did it, it was a box full of cassette tapes :)

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    1. While I still struggle sometimes with all the technology, I have to admit, it was really nice just connecting my phone to the car and getting to listen to an entire book that way, no tapes/CDs, just magically from the air.

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  6. I love that you chose to drive so you can take Paco! I like to drive places too if we can take Baylee.

    When I first started visiting my friend in SC, I thought it was so odd that boiled peanuts were such a big thing. Nope, I wasn't tempted either..haha.

    Your pic of the retro McDonalds reminded me of that Movie, The Founder. Have you ever seen it?

    Can't wait to read more about your Christmas. I will gladly pretend it's 2017 again!

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    1. I did see The Founder! Really interesting movie; made me dislike Ray Kroc quite a bit, though.

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  7. In full disclosure, I could not have resisted the boiled peanuts. I especially like the Cajun ones. GA girl born and bred...

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    1. I guess it's something you grow up with, because hot wet peanuts just sound WRONG to this California girl, LOL!

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  8. Those fries look like a christmas ornament! So cute LOL

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  9. It's totally okay to be "behind"! You do you! :)

    That cake, drool. What flavor was it?

    That is so annoying with all the traffic jams on day 2. I hope that didn't happen on the way back. Why was there peanut butter on the road? To go with the traffic jam! Ha.

    I like that banks notify us so fast with stuff like that!

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  10. Since I haven't read many blogs during the holidays I'm just happy you are posting this now so I don't miss a thing.

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  11. The little tiny fries are so cute! I've never seen that before.

    Ugggh, that traffic must have been so frustrating! Glad you got there safely, albeit several hours late. That was one thing I hated about traveling away from Chicago for the holidays - EVERYONE else is doing the same thing. This year, however, going into Chicago for Christmas was pretty awesome since apparently no one but us former Chicagoans actually visits Chicago then. Fine with me!

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