Bridgewater to Charlotte (posted late)

Yesterday we woke up early – toooooo early for Tori, who had grand plans of sleeping until 8am. Stew, however, was like a boy on Christmas eve all night: he couldn’t sleep because he was too excited about the trip. Pobrecito Stewbie ended up falling asleep around 5 a.m., only to arise at 6 a.m. for a doctor’s appointment that was cancelled as he was on his way to it.
This early rise facilitated an early departure, perhaps one that was too early for dear Deirdre, whom we sleepily met in Lexington at the renowned “Waffle House.” The food was an excellent Southern sendoff and we took pictures with D before we left for the road once again. We also got the chance to fill up our gas tank at Smiley’s Fuel Station, a smile themed gas station/bbq shack, claiming the “Best Dang BBQ on 81.”
The drive was relatively uneventful. We passed random counties, including North Carolina’s quite scenic Pulaski country. We did see license plates from almost 20 states during trip from Bridgewater to Charlotte. As one gets closer to the city, it gets incredibly beautiful – 77 South is filled with lakes surrounded by gorgeous lake houses we enjoyed ogling. Stew and I are both very impressed with NC. We’ve seen the mountains around Asheville before and will see them again today. It’s got the Outer Banks and it’s got cute little towns. In fact, even the highways around the city seem to be deep within lush green temperate forests. The weather here is spectacular: sunny and pleasant, definitely warmer than Charlottesville but without the humidity. The roads are wide, well maintained, and under trafficked. This place rules.
Christina and Brennan welcomed us to their apartment in an awesome gated community. Normally one would think that a gated community would reflect either an elite community or a serious threat of crime. That does not seem to be the case at all and merely a norm among college apartments here. Christina and Brennan have one of the nicest apartments that we have ever seen: a second story balcony/porch, enormous rooms, private baths…and for half Charlottesville rates. Yowza! Their friends were welcoming too and we joined them for a friend’s birthday dinner at half price Sushi night at Kabuto. The prospect of ½ price sushi made Tori giggle uncontrollably with excitement., and it was very much enjoyed.
Later, we watched Coraline in 3d. I (Stew) have to admit that I could describe the plot to Coraline about as well as I could describe pages 77-123 of Dubliners. I can also tell you that 3d glasses rule. I can also tell you that mimosa’s in the summer time in Charlotte are a perfect fit. A huge thank you to Christina, Brennan, and all of their friends for the hospitality they have shown us. They even let us sleep in an extra bedroom…with a queen sized bed. We slept even better than we did before we were vagrants. We plan to drive downtown to Charlotte to look for photo opportunities and then head to Asheville to meet up with Derek Clatterbuck (Stew’s friend from home) and Stew’s parents.

Miles traveled: 300
Song of the day: “Gettin’ Jiggy Wit’ It” by Will Smith