A Comedy of Errors- A Trip to Beaufort

A band Matt likes was playing in Beaufort, NC (Bow-Ford, SC is pronounced Be-Yew-Ford) on his birthday and he said he wanted to go.  He gave me free reign to plan the trip, we just had to go to the show.  Deal.

He had been working in Charleston that day and had to drive home so we got started a little later start than I had hoped for which changed our dinner plans.  Our whole trip ended up like that, a comedy of errors.  But it was still a blast and we just rolled with the punches.

We decided we would eat along the way and Matt suggested eating in Kinston, a little more than half way, so that was our first destination.  While we were cruising down I recognized a symbol for a beer company (look at me!!) and pointed it out to Matt.  I did a quick u-turn and we stopped in for a drink.

The inside rustic and cool, we got a flight and a pint of Thrilla in Vanilla Porter that had been brewed with coffee.  It was yummy. 

Handsome man of mine.

We headed down the road a bit further and grabbed dinner in Kinston at the Boiler Room.  The Boiler Room is a sister restaurant of the super 'famous' The Chef and the Farmer.  I would recommend shelling out the extra dollars and eating the fancy dinner, or just somewhere else. It was fine, but just nothing special.  We got a pimento cheese and sausage dip that was pretty much just grease.  Then we got a burger with pulled pork, gravy, and french fries that was pretty good. We also got fried oysters which I thought were yucky, but I also don't like oysters- I just always try them for Matt.

My favorite part about the boiler room was the ambiance.  The bathroom had wood planks and then postcards that people had written on. 

They also had really cool wood on the bar. I'm such a nerd, but I LOVE this stuff.

We made it to Beaufort around 11:30 and crashed out. When we woke up Matt was 27!  Look how pumped he is :)

It was a good southern breakfast with XXL biscuits, sausage gravy, eggs, fried chicken and a HUGE cinnamon roll. YUM!

After breakfast, Cape Lookout was the next thing on the agenda- I was the MOST excited about this.  I know it's your bday boyfriend, but I wanna see a lighthouse!  You can climb the lighthouse for $8 and its 12 floors. I was SUPER pumped and thought it would be fun and a good workout to burn off all those cals from breakfast.  We drove 45 minutes to Hawkers Island to buy our tickets for the ferry.  It's a $15 fee per person and about 10-15 minute trip to the lighthouse.

When we were buying our tickets for the ferry I noticed a sign that said May 12 was the first day for climbing. WHAT! My dreams were shattered. Oh well, roll with the punches.

On the ferry with the birthday boy!

I asked our ferry driver if he had seen any horses today and he said there were a few out.  He took us by Shakleford island and there was a horse!  Matt thought I was an idiot for being so excited about a horse, but I think it is really neat!! They just live out there, no one takes care of them!

After snapping a few pictures of the horses, we headed towards the lighthouse! SO  SO pretty!

SELFIE STICK :D I didn't do a good job of hiding my arm. oh well.

We walked around a bit and then decided to take a quick nap.

On the way back from the lighthouse I had a special surprise for Matt. He LOVES beer and breweries.  I had planned this a few weeks back, but a couple of days before we left he asked if I had looked up any breweries for the trip. I told him I would look but I didn't think there were any. Sucker. I already had found it, and planned it.  So, we get to Tight Lines BREWING COMPANY.  Sit down and grab menus...but there were no Tight Lines beers....so we asked. Oh, they don't have the right permits/ equipment but hope to be brewing in the next year or so. Super.  Another fail...just roll with it. 

We had dinner at Blue Moon Bistro. It is near the Front Street strip and right next to Beaufort Grocery, which is where I had planned for us to eat on Thursday.  They have 1/2 price entrees Thursday night if you ever go down!

Matt had salmon with lobster ravioli and asparagus.

I had the special of trigger fish, cheese ravioli, and asparagus.

 Funny story:  State was playing someone in basketball, Syracuse maybe? And it was a REALLY big game.  I had RVPD'd Matt and I to a friends birthday dinner a few weeks before, he wanted to stay home and watch but I said to come.  I told him he could watch it at the restaurant if they had a TV, or under the table on his phone, whatever- I don't care, we are going to the dinner.  The server came around and said the specials and it was something like 'Seared scalloped, clams, shrimp, and crab linguini' which in my mind says ' $$$$$$$$.'  He ordered it and I kind of gave him the stink eye.  The bill came and I can't remember how much it was but let's just say $40.  I pay when it's my thing (friend's birthday dinner, my friend's wedding, etc), he pays for his friends things...and well usually all the time. I'm spoiled, whatever. So, we were leaving and I made some smart comment about him ordering the most expensive thing and he says, "it was on SPECIAL! I thought it was cheap!"  I laughed and told him specials are usually more expensive because they are exclusive for the night.  He thought it meant it was on sale. Bless His Heart. ha, I had to say it.

While we were driving around Beaufort we saw this horrible looking building, we were joking about how bad it looked and then Matt said, "Caroline, look at the sign." Super! This is where the 'concert' was.

Hannah's Haus, which is ranked #11 out of the Top 20 things to do in Beaufort according to TripAdvisor.  Beaufort keeps is classy, let me tell ya.

We played Skeeball. Woop Woop. Matt can't beat me. Suckaaa. (I'm casually leaving out pictures from the games before and after this one.)

Treehouse rocking out.  They are from Myrtle Beach.  We've seen them one time before as a group when they played with Dirty Heads.  We also saw the lead singer perform with Sun Dried Vibes at Cali Roots last year. Can't wait until this year- October 1!!

Saturday morning we slept in and then went to get food at The Sanitary.  We pretend we are 'foodies' and love reading Yelp reviews and base our decisions when dining out heavily on what Yelp says. Not this time folks, Sanitary has a 2.5 star rating on Yelp but Matt went when he was little and really wanted to go again. So we did! He got fried sea scallops and I got fried shrimp.  Nothing like fried seafood at the beach. YUM!

After lunch we drove past Blackbeard's House which is called the "Hammock House."

We got ice cream and walked along Front Street. Hand dipped Ice Cream at the beach is a MUST!

We hit up the North Carolina Maritime Musuem (Ranked #1 on Things to Do in Beaufort via Tripadvisor) for like 5 minutes and then hit the road back to Raleigh! 

See ya later Beaufort!

My Mom Took Shots!!

March 28, 2015 will be a day for the record books. My mother took shots! They may not have been full, but she took them.  Gin. Vodka. Rum. Moonshine. She did it all. 

My mom doesn't drink. She will have a glass of wine (specifically Beringer- White Zinfandel, because she likes to keep it classy) over several hours.  She claims to have never been drunk. I'm not sure I totally buy this because when I ask her how she knows she says, "I've never thrown up or not remembered." So, I think she means she has never been blackout. Don't worry Mom, your kiddos covered that for you in college, and possibly on accident here and there.  

My brother went to Charleston a week before the race for a Bachelor party and they went to the Striped Pig Distillery.  The boys had a blast and he suggested we should go.  I like liquor, so I was ready!  We had also run 6.2 (.2 counts!) miles that morning, so we totally deserved a drink. Yes, we might have had 2 carafes of mimosas at lunch- but who is counting?

They were having a 40th birthday party that night and had the place decked out.  Please let me be cool enough to have a bounce house on my 40th. 

Rum. Moonshine. Gin. Vodka. Yum. 

My mom and one of the owners really hit if off after he found out she had never had shots before.  

Dad being a booze hound.

After the distillery, we went to a brewing company- Westbrook Brewing.  They were doing last call when we got there- on a beautiful Saturday at 5 PM, strange but whatever floats your boat.  We got 2 flights so we could try all the beers.  I'm glad we only got small pours because every single beer was DISGUSTING.  It took 4 adults playing "I take this, You take that" to finish them. BLAH.

Me and my cousin Sallie drinking margaritas at Taco Boy :) She let us stay at her house this year and I believe it will be a tradition from now on. We had so much fun with her! 

The dinner at Taco Boy was AMAZING, I don't have any food pics. Oops.  Get the Kimchi Beef taco if you go. It was so so so good.  Might be one of my favorite meals ever actually. Taco Boy's atmosphere is really cool, they have an awesome outdoor patio section and the inside is really funky.  Good drinks, good food, overall fun fun time.

In the morning we hit up Page's Okra Grill on suggestion from my boyfriend.  He goes to Charleston for work occasionally and said they have the best shrimp and grits.  Apparently Southern Living also named them #1 for Shrimp and Grits...so guess what I got?

We started off with okra...I mean, it's in the name so that was a given.

Me and Maggie. My bestie.  and  a Mimosa.

My brother got the bbq omelet. Pulled Pork, Eggs, BBQ Sauce, Fried Onion Strings. Pretty freaking good.

The shrimp and grits weren't like 'normal' shrimp and grits.  The grits were formed and fried into patties.  Interesting, and very yummy.

Another shot of the bridge as we drove over, I can't believe we ran this thing just the day before!

Obligatory Rainbow Row shot! So freaking cute.

This pink house was my favorite.  Maggie and I were creeping on it and taking pics and a man in a trench coat was walking up the street from us and I jokingly said that it was probably his house, don't worry- it was.  We met back up with my mom and brother Matt and they told us they had been chatting with this guy for 15 minutes.  My brother had on a NCSU sweatshirt and the guy had attended NCSU.  I wish they would have gotten us a tour! 

Until next time Charleston!

I ran 6.2 miles. The .2 counts.

A few months ago one of my besties, Maggie, said some of her friends always run the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston and she was going to do it this year.  She asked if I wanted to run, HA. NO WAY JOSE, I said. I HATE running. But, I do like eating and Charleston is known for great food so I said I would ride with.  I'm not sure what happened, but somewhere along the way I signed up....to run...6.2 miles. WHO AM I?

So we trained..kind of..I definitely ran more than I've ever run in my life and I ran 6 miles one time before we headed down so I knew it was possible. I wasn't aware that 1.2 miles of the race was UP UP UP UP UPPPPP, but that's another story. 

We headed down and hit the expo to get a bib for my brother, and one for me- I had paid to have my package shipped but everything MINUS the bib..the most important thing...was missing. #fail.  We got the bags and signed this cool print of the bridge. 

Matt, Caroline and Maggie!

Here we are pre-race! We were in Coral E, one of the over 60 minute groups. There are 40,000 people that run this race and it went extremely smoothly, they have a really good system!

One of the ladies in our corral had on heels, BIG BIG heels. I probably couldn't walk in those, let alone run in them.  Someone else was saying people run in heels for breast cancer awareness....it seems dangerous to me.

AND DONE!  6.2 complete.  I had thought the whole time we were running 6 miles...that .2 at the end sucked. I saw the 6 mile flags and couldn't figure out why everyone was still running.  10k = 6.2 miles, who knew?

My cousin runs every year and she somehow spotted us our of 40,000 people. Good eyes cuzzo.

Maggie and I made some shirts with freezer paper stencils. Pretty neat, I forgot to put cardboard in mine before I painted and kind of got it all over my shirt.

Here are my splits.  Don't judge. I don't see you running 6.38 miles...and if you did, just leave me alone. I'm happy. I finished.  Mile 2-3 was the uphill of the bridge, and it sucked- as you can tell from that time. 

We clean up nice :) After the race it was time to eat and drink mimosas!

Also, we're insane.  We signed up for our second 10k today! YIKES! WHO ARE WE?