Well, after a week of "back to reality," I thought it would be best to get the details of our most recent adventure in writing so I didn't forget. Our travels this time around weren't out west, but back east with family and friends! Cari and I had the opportunity to take some time off of work and away from Albuquerque to travel "home" and spend time with many people near and dear to our hearts. It started with a fantastic wedding in southern VA (Martinsville). Cari flew home mid-week on Wednesday and spent a couple days with her best friend Amanda and a few other ladies getting ready for Amanda's wedding. I flew into Raleigh the next day and spent the evening/next morning with my family before driving to Martinsville to join Cari. Friday was the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner, and both went great. The dinner was lots of fun, as we enjoyed stories about Amanda and Nic from their friends, gift giving, and a great performance by Reverend Rat L. Snake! Afterwards, we hung out in the parking lot of our hotel, playing cornhole and drinking beer. True southern fashion. The wedding seemed to go off without a hitch, with the only exception being the long rainstorm that happened after the ceremony (during outdoor picture time!). Otherwise, the reception was great, including some amazing BBQ and great conversation/dancing with friends and family. Afterwards, Cari and I hung out with a couple good friends at our hotel, had breakfast with some MORE friends the next morning, and then left for Harrisonburg.
We spent the next 3 days in Harrisonburg with Cari's family. Sunday afternoon was spent hanging out, catching up, and enjoying some good food. On Monday, Cari and I went to spend time with Cari's grandparents (and great grandmother). It was at their house that we saw Cari's uncle and two cousins (5 and 7 yrs old) and informed them of our plans to go camping that night. They thought it sounded fun and decided to join. Monday afternoon, we packed up the cars and went out to Natural Chimneys to camp. The afternoon was spent setting up the campsite, playing cornhole, playing by the river, and hanging out. As night fell, we started a fire and made some burgers, dogs, and corn on the grill. Cari's aunt and one of her cousins started getting more and more nervous the darker it got, and when a bobcat screeched in the middle of the night, they made Sean take them home. I slept through most of it, but apparently it was pretty entertaining. We packed up camp Tuesday morning, went to the pool when we got home in the afternoon, and then took a walking tour of JMU before enjoying some Anthony's pizza Tuesday night. It's amazing to see how many changes the campus has gone through, especially the quad and the football stadium!
On Wednesday, Cari and I spent some more time with her grandparents and ate lunch at El Charro before heading down to Richmond, VA. We planned to stay the night with Jon and Megan, and met them at their house Wednesday afternoon. We ate dinner at Asian Galaxy, then came back to hang out, watch soccer and Toy Story 3, and enjoy some tasty wine! We got up too early Thursday and drove through Wake Forest, NC en route to Chapel Hill and got to see our good friends Jill and Seth (and their newest addition, the sweet Airlie).
We finally made it back to Chapel Hill, NC on Thursday and enjoyed lunch at Allen Bros. BBQ (my favorite) with my family (including my sister and beautiful niece Stella!). After lunch, we hung out by the pool before enjoying a great home-cooked meal. On Friday, we went to Southpoint Mall, did a little shopping, ate lunch at the Cheesecake factory, saw X-Men, and again hung out at home for dinner. Saturday was BEACH DAY! We got up, packed the car, and left for Wrightsville Beach, NC. We arrived around lunch time and had some great seafood at the Oceanic, which offered amazing panoramic views of the water. Afterwards, we changed and hit the beach, where we stayed for a good four or five hours and just relaxed/read. We went into downtown Wilmington and ate dinner at Elijahs (more great seafood) before heading home. Finally, Sunday was spent simply relaxing. We went for a walk, watched tv, read, ate, and played Taboo.
Monday came too early, as we boarded our plane back to Albuquerque. The good part was that we got to see Belle again (for the first time in almost 2 weeks), but we already miss everyone back east. We're so grateful to get the opportunity to travel and extremely happy to get the chance to see as many people as we were able to. Other than a few day trips or fun experiences with friends around Albuquerque, our next tentatively planned trip is this fall to the Grand Canyon and southern Utah...so stay tuned!!
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