Southern Hospitality: North Carolina Trip

So, I am writing this from my friend's house in Cary, NC.  Why am I in Cary, NC?  Why not?  Since I am finally done with school, I want to do some traveling.  I was having a conversation with my friend Foxglove where he stated he would be home alone for a week and I playfully replied, "I should come and keep you company."  Well, here I am!  Kind of a spur of the moment decision (finding last minute flights was fun!), but I was planning (and still am) to come and visit in June.

A little back-story then on how Foxglove and I first met.  You know, you meet some of your best friends in the strangest of ways, but this one is quite the interesting (at least to me) story.  You see, I never expected to meet many furs being active on car forums.  It just goes to show that everyone has their interests.

I post over on a large IS community board and posted up some new pictures of my car.  I have Fur Affinity tagged on my hood, and while no one took notice, one person did.  I received a message from Foxglove asking about that tag, and I was really quite surprised.  well, after a few messages, we're talking online, and before we knew it, I'm on a plane heading for North Carolina.  Yeah, not as fancy as you would think, but hey, I thought it was pretty darn cool!

I arrived yesterday and he picked me up from the airport.  I had never been to the Carolinas, or this part of the country before, so I was looking a bit curious.  First impressions?  I like it!  Reminds me a lot of Minnesota, but a lot warmer, haha.  Really, the scenery is not so different.  One thing he heard me comment on a lot was the style of the houses.  They are very...southern!  Sorry for the lack of a better description.  I like seeing how housing design changes in different parts of the country, but something about these houses, I just really like.  He showed me around Cary, taking me to some cool car dealerships.  Also checked out downtown Raleigh which was really cool.  Minneapolis and St. Paul are very old, so it was quite exhilarating to see a "new" downtown.  I will bring the camera and tripod next time out!

Today, when he gets home from work, we are planning to visit a good friend of his with some cool toys, including a st165 rally car.  Apparently, I will be given a ride against my will, haha.  I love rallying, but you could not get me into one of those cars to go ripping down a tree-lined trail.  Expect pictures and most likely a video of this husky screaming for dear life.  Oh, and we're going to go to dinner at a place called Bojangles!  Seriously, BOJANGLES!  Yes, I like the name.

No pictures to add right now, I didn't bring the camera with last night.  It's going to be a fun trip and the second round in June will be equally as good.  I like it here, and with a good friend like Foxglove to hang out with, I don't need much to come and visit...although he pesters about me bringing my IS300.  I should though.  Two friends, two of the same car, and a passion for two unique lifestyles.

The picture that sparked a friendship

AZ Trip: Final Installment With Vegas Trip

Whew!  Long trip, a lot of driving, but well worth it.  I'm back home in MN and already miss my lovely boyfriend, but that is the nature of long-distance relationships.  Didn't have the internet for a few days so that is the reason for the lack of updates, but here is the final installment (I know the suspense has been killing you...okay maybe not, just a writer's aspirations...).

our room at the Sahara...excuse the messiness, haha.

view just outside of our window on the 21st floor.  Some very high-class apartments across the street.  Definitely did a lot of site-seeing and acting like tourists.  Did a lot of walking too, which we both like and it's good for me since I have been losing weight (shameless plug).  We visited the Luxor, Excaliber, the Bellagio, the Aria, the Encore, and the Wynn hotels.  Vegas has really changed since we had been there last.

The Riviera, right down the street from where we were staying.

I believe this is the Palazzo.  New hotel by the Encore and the Wynn.  Excuse the blurry pics.  I decided not to bring my tripod with as we walked the strip.

Entrance to the Encore.  All I can say about this place and the Wynn is WOW!  Stunning hotels, very high class.

Inside the Encore.  Like I said, amazing.  The garden/pool area was beautiful.  Too bad it was closed by the time we got there.  The walkway between the Encore and Wynn had a lot of high-end shops and a pretty swanky club that we didn't check out.  A lot of fakes wannabes lined up, mixed in with a few real big-spenders.  When we got the Wynn though, my heart skipped a beat.

Yep, there was a Ferrari store and museum.  The museum was closed, but the store was open so I had a giddy, car-guy moment while my boyfriend laughed.

They had an actual F1 engine on display.  This is an automotive masterpiece.  I could have admired this piece all night, but they were getting ready to close.

Also the front wing from the 01 car (I believe).  Sweet store, wish I brought more money!

After checking out the hotels, we found a Korean BBQ restaurant and got our grub on.  I love authentic places and love my oriental food.  My boyfriend didn't seem to mind one bit!

Great food, we both liked it!

Outside of Circus Circus.  Of course we hit up the arcade!

Funny billboard down the street from the hotel.  Looks like a dollar can go far!

Back in AZ, just before leaving.  =(  It was a great time.  The trip was worth it and of course it was nice to see my boyfriend.  Dracul on the left, me on the right.  A Firedragon and a Husky in love.  =)

AZ Trip Part I

Thank goodness for free, public, w-fi at hotels.  Let's see, I'm about 20 miles south of Colorado Springs en route to Arizona.  I figure, what better way to start off a blog than with a trip!  Haha

Anyways, I am on my way to Tempe, AZ to visit my boyfriend.  Yay for long-distance relationships!  Once I am done with school though, we will move in together, and I finish in May, so it's not too long of a wait.  However, I have been given the opportunity to drive west again, something that I have not done in about 8 years.

I left Minneapolis around 12pm with the truck loaded up and filled up with 36 gallons of diesel, and started on my journey.  I used to not look forward to driving through Iowa until earlier this year when I had started seeing someone in Ames.  We are the best of friends to this day and it felt kind of awkward to keep driving past his exit and not stop to see him (he was at work anyways, so even to grab a bite or a cup of coffee would have been out of the question!).  A phone call would suffice but we plan on grabbing dinner or something on my return trip.

Okay, so why a pic of a wind farm in IA?  Well, I figured I would snap this shot since in my chemistry class, we have been talking about alternative energy sources, and wind energy is something that has been brought up on many occasions.  Plus, they are kind of cool to see.

After heading into Des Moines, I headed west-ward into Nebraska.  Longest drive of my life (no offense to any Nebraska-dwellers, but seriously, 7 hours in one state...).  Pretty uneventful other than smelling manure at various places along the way.  Stopped in Kearney for dinner, which was Quizno's, yum.

The truck was clean when I left Minneapolis!  Hit some rain in Iowa.  After trudging along through Nebraska, hit the Colorado boarder at around 9:45pm.  It was odd seeing snow on the ground again.  I thought I left it all behind in MN(even though it's mostly melted back home)!  I guess Denver got hit with some snow a few days ago.  I saw more than a few cars off road, stuck in snow banks.  Actually, as we got out of Denver, heading south on I-25, we saw a Jeep flipped over in the middle of the freeway.  I wanted to grab my camera and take a pic, but figured the authorities on the scene wouldn't appreciate it, so I kept on going.  Driving through the foothills at night was still very beautiful.  On the return trip, I should be passing through during the day so I will take some pics.

 
Filling up at a Love's somewhere in Colorado, I think just outside of Denver.  Yeah, no artsy shots of the truck.  I don't feel like finding a nice spot to snap a pic since I am trying to make decent time to AZ.  So far the truck has been doing great, averaging about 16.5-17.5mpg cruising at 75-80mph.  Not too bad for a bolt-ons 6.0 Powerstroke.

Okay, so why the pic of a MicroFridge?  Another school related thing.  Just finished a case study for my ENTR 450 class on the MicroFridge company, then I see it at the hotel I stopped at for the night.  Kind of cool, I guess.

Well, that's it for now.  It's 4am and I am waking up at 8:30am to hit the road by 9 so I can get to AZ at a reasonable time.  I still have a 6 page essay to type for school that needs to be emailed to my professor by 4pm on Friday.  That should turn out to be an interesting read after driving for another 10 hours on minimal sleep, written the night before it's due.  Oh well, c'est la vie.  Stay tuned for Part II when I arrive in AZ.