Free Weekend

My original plans for the weekend of May 16th, 17th, and 18th were cancelled and I was stuck with a weekend away from work and the option to do whatever I pleased. I was also in need of getting away from this area and clearing my head. I began brainstorming and considered a few choices. One was to fly to Hawaii. My buddy Steve has been down there for about six months but is slated to return next month. In his remaining time there I could have visited and had a free place to stay making it the cheapest Hawaiian vacation I could possibly take. But, instead of rushing the trip and dropping $1,300.00 on a plane ride, I decided to stay in the contiguous states. I also considered flying out to Portland to visit my buddy Scott, but I never really discussed it with him and he was going to be out of that area for a few days on work related business. It would have been nice to go out there again. I went out there in February for a few days and had an awesome time. Portland was a great city with an awesome feel and great people. The bars and restaurants are laid back and snowboarding on Mt. Hood was incredible. I will be going there again in the future, just not this particular weekend in question. I also considered going to New York to visit another buddy, Dave. He has lived there for the past three or so years and is currently living in Brooklyn. I haven't been up to visit him but, as it turned out, he was coming back for the weekend for a wedding. I did get to meet up with him when I gave him a ride from the metro station to the rehearsal dinner. It was good to see and talk with him. Another consideration was a trip to Atlantic City. I figured I could drive up there and make some money playing poker. I decided against it because I thought it could get pretty boring being by myself when I wasn't seeing flops and seedy hotels and prostitutes just aren't my style.

Another option that manifested quickly was to visit my friend Kim in Raleigh, North Carolina. I met Kim the first day I attended Virginia Tech and we've been friends ever since. We haven't been able to see each other very often for various reasons. Part of that is the five hour drive and another is that we've been in relationships which make it more difficult to drive that distance to visit a member of the opposite sex without arousing suspicion or jealousy in the current girlfriend/boyfriend. It's just easier to keep things drama-free.

I was speaking with Kim one evening prior to the weekend I had free and she mentioned that her weekend plans had also been canceled. We figured this may be one of the few times our schedules would match up so I threw some clothes in a suitcase and drove down. It would be the second time I've been to Raleigh and the first time we would have seen each other in just over two years.

I arrived there late Friday night, I think around midnight or so. She gave me the tour of her new house and introduced me to her dog, Ranger. We talked for a little while before deciding it was a good idea to get some sleep.

The next day we went to Durant Nature Park and walked along one of the various trails which paralleled a creek. It was a beautiful day but the park wasn't very crowded. We walked down the trail talking and catching up with all the latest goings-ons. We would stop along the creek periodically and get distracted by various snake sightings. We saw a few here and there which all appeared to be the same species. At first glance I thought they may have been venomous Copperheads, but when they would take to the water and swim around like they enjoyed it I knew they weren't. They would swim all around and go under rocks and come up and just lounge around like they were in their own personal swimming pool. I guess, in a way, they were. We looked up possible snakes on the internet and found out that they were Northern Water Snakes. Makes sense.

That night Kim and I went to Tir Na Nog, a bar in downtown Raleigh. It was really nice and the fish 'n chips was quite good. Afterwards we sat at the bar and had a few drinks. Well, Kim had one beer because she was driving. I, on the other hand, had quite a few Newcastles. Nothing overly crazy, but I was feeling pretty good. The band we originally thought was going to play had to cancel. They are apparently very popular in the Raleigh area and were replaced with some cover band. The replacement band was actually good and played a good selection of songs.

The rest of the weekend went well. On Sunday we went to the movies and ate some delicious Chipotle. We had been discussing our dinner options and Mexican food came up. Somehow that led to Chipotle and the revelation that Kim had never been. She then decided that she would give it a go. She said it was pretty good although she could only compare it to Moe's, which is terribly substandard. I noticed the Raleigh Chipotle burrito tasted slightly different than the burritos I was used to, but they could have put a dirty diaper inside a tortilla and it still would have tasted better than any burrito from Moe's.

I drove back on Monday and had to readjust to my normal life. All-in-all it was a great weekend and I was happy to get away and see a friend I hadn't seen for quite some time.