North Carolina Barbecue Road Trip

Chris and I hit the road for a four day Memorial Day road trip across North Carolina.  North Carolina is famous for it's pork barbecue and Chris and I were determined to try as many bbq places as we could.

We ate sami after sami.  We took our barbecue taste testing seriously and had detailed score sheets for accurate comparison.

 

 

   








 

There were at least a long armed dozen photoshoots of ourselves.

And some very serious and delicious non-barbecue meals.

 

And we definitely had very full stomachs.

After 1000 miles of driving, 12.5 barbecue sandwiches each, 5 closed restaurants, countless songs sung in the car I can say without question I know North Carolina barbecue.

I also know that this was one of the best weekends of my life.

In the four day weekend we ate barbecue at:
Bridges--   Shelby, NC
Keaton's--   Cool Springs, NC (outside of Statesville)
Fuzzy's--   Madison, NC
The Pit--  Raleigh, NC
Skylight Barbecue--   Ayden, NC
Thig's--   Richland, NC
Big Oak--  Salter Path, NC
King's--   Kinston, NC
Bill Ellis--   Wilson, NC
Parker's--    Wilson, NC
(We tried to go to several other restaurants including B's BBQ in Greenville, Grady's in Dudley, Lexington barbecue in, well, Lexington, Speedys in Lexington.  You can't win or eat the all, huh?)


While we had so much amazing food this weekend I think I am going to be sticking to veggies for a while.

I Love the Mountains

I love the mountains

I love the rolling hills

I love the flowers

I love the daffodils

I love the fireside when all the lights are low

Boom dee ah dah Boom dee ah dah Boom dee ah dah Boom dee ah dah
Boom dee ah dah Boom dee ah dah Boom dee ah dah Boom dee ah dah



Chris and I went camping this weekend in Pisgah National Forest.  
The leaves are turning and they are putting on a spectacular show!

The colors span from bright green to yellow to burning orange to the deepest copper.

We also came across several little creatures out in the woods:

a slithering snake (that I almost squashed)

a very hungry caterpillar who tried to eat our graham crackers

and ladybugs galore!

To really see the difference in the leaves check out this picture from the same area that I took only a month ago:

September 2010

October 2010

happy place

The last month has been insane. I've been incredibly busy and constantly battling a 20+ item to-do list that is constantly weighing on my mind. Our house is a WRECK because we have NO furniture until the end of this month when it arrives from Dallas. I've just been a little (okay, A LOT) overwhelmed.


All of that stress disappeared when Chris and I headed into the woods this weekend for a long hike and a night in a tent.


The woods are my happy place. It's the setting that makes all of my worries, stresses, and insecurities disappear. The air seems to reach me in a different way. The smell of early fall leaves, wet grass, and fresh hay make me simply feel like a pile of happy goo.

After a calf-straining hike the view was stunning.


And on the way home we stopped at this roadside pumpkin patch and picked up a GIANT pumpkin straight from the farmer. We used the Honor System and payed for our pumpkin by putting money in an old rusty tool box. This stand made me happy for humanity!



And how could I not have a true laugh deep from within me when driving down a tiny state highway and passing by Pokemon Corner?
Or a boyfriend who purposely makes ridiculous faces in pictures?

Lexington BBQ

There are many regions across the nation known for the barbecue: Kansas City, Memphis, Texas.

All those places have NOTHING on Lexington, North Carolina!


The prices are cheap...


The BBQ is amazing. So amazing that my mouth is watering just looking at this picture!


I highly recommend a spicy combo of ketchup, Texas Pete, and a dash of smokehouse sauce. Chris doesn't like ketchup and only uses hot sauces. Who doesn't like ketchup? Freaks.


When you're done try to ignore your food baby, order a refill of sweet tea, and bask in the glorious-ness that is Lexington BBQ.

photos photos photos!

Remember when I was having a hard time loading pictures this weekend? Well.... I tried it again and it just magically started working! I literally did the exact same thing today as I did on Monday but with totally different results.

"Insanity is, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."

But in yo face. I totally did the same thing over and over again and got different results.


I wore one of my favorite pairs of flats to the airport and they made me happy while we had to wait for our flight that was delayed for 3 hours.

(Wearing pants at the airport made me happy too....)

We we finally landed at the airport at 12:30 we still had to pick up our luggage, get our rental car, and drive an hour and a half home. So a trip to the most delicious late night fast food place EVER was desperately needed. Cook Out is ammmazzzing. Especially when you are arriving at home at 3 am.



Seriously, if you are ever randomly find yourself in North Carolina late at night and are hungry you must track down a Cook Out and check out the huge (and unhealthy) menu. The entire right side (partially hidden by the car) is milk shake flavors.

(I would like to suggest the chopped pork barbecue sami topped with ketchup and hot sauce)

To combat the high calorie unhealthy eating we did late night we played tennis both Saturday, Sunday, and I played Monday too.

(that's my Mom hamming it up for the camera)

Saturday night my Mom, Chris and I went to a minor league baseball game. The hometeam won with 16 runs to 13. We drank beers, sang take me out to the ball game, took a 7th inning strech and had a great time.


While this is a pretty terrible photo of me, I wanted to show you Chris. I would say that about half of all of the photos we have together he is making some sort of ridiculous face (this time completely out of focus). Maybe I should make a giant collage of the many faces of my darling boyfriend?

(This one says to me: "Come here often pretty lady?")

On Sunday Chris and I made a delicious Mother's Day lunch of raw oysters, little salads and two kinds of homemade ceviche: salmon, tomato, mango, and avocado ceviche, and ceviche with tuna, cucumbers, wasabi, and more avocado!

(I'll have to post the recipe another day!)

We're back in Chicago now (after yet another delayed flight last night!) and are excited for a relaxing weekend together.

Only 1 day until the weekend! Any big plans?

xoxo,
M