Weekend Trip

We had a very full weekend ~ a fast and furious one. We left very early Saturday morning for Durham, NC. Saturday night was VIP Night at my son's latest venture ~ McAlister's Deli. Although Casey has kept me informed all along during the buildout of the restaurant and all that goes along with the opening of such, it was very exciting to finally see it. We had a fun evening sampling the tasty fare of McAlister's Deli and visiting with friends and family. It was really good to see and hug Casey and Amanda again. It has been a while.

Casey took me on a tour ~ while in the walk-in freezer, I noted the many bags of cheese (I LOVE cheese) and having not seen so much cheese in one place at any time, I had to photograph it.

This wonderful fountain is on the wall right next to the restaurant. Fountains are like magnets. If there is one nearby, I will hear it and find it. Water features are another thing I love.

When the restaurant closed, some of us went out for a celebration drink before heading back to the hotel for the night. We went to a place called Firebirds Wood Fired Grill. Always aware of my surroundings when I enter a new place, I couldn't help but notice the spectacular bar. The first photo I took through the window ~ what a beautiful, colorful sight for passerbys to appreciate. Definitely a draw. I didn't get a photo of the full bar area ~ it was very long and truly something to see at night.

We drove through some beautiful countryside and saw many old barns, horses, hay fields, and tobacco fields. I will blog about these things at a later time. While driving through Virginia, we also saw a miniature village completely made out of stone. It was fascinating and also worthy of a blog post on another day.

I managed to find time to go into two consignment shops in the Durham area. One of the shops was in a big old house and it had a lot of items outside ~ furniture, plates lining the sidewalks, pottery, etc. The one thing that caught my eye immediately were the large animals made out of odds and ends. The photo above looks like some kind of BIG CAT. I'm really not sure what it is, but I thought it was great.

Here is a closer look from a different angle. The whiskers are what makes me think it's a BIG CAT.

This elephant is large!! I love that someone used old trash parts to make these animals. They are well done and fun to look at. Great art!!

There were about four giraffes. Sorry, I didn't get good pictures of them. There was a chicken, too. I forgot to load that photo ):

We did a lot in a short period of time. Returned home on Sunday to more heat and no rain. Although it was warm here, there was a definite difference in the humidity. It was very humid in NC ~ reminded me of my year living in SC. And, they had rain in NC!! I wish I could have brought some of that back with me.