NC Eatin’: Haywood County

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Panacea Coffee House Cafe
66 Commerce Street
Waynesville, NC 28786-5738

While visiting my parents in Asheville, I talked my dad into visiting Haywood County for lunch with me.  We decided we’d visit Waynesville, which is Haywood County’s county seat.  The downtown area is adorable, with plenty of cute shops and cafes to keep anyone entertained for an afternoon.  History buffs will appreciate that the last shot of the Civil War was fired in nearby White Sulphur Springs on May 6, 1865.  A surrender was negotiated in Waynesville the next day once everyone learned of the surrender of Generals Lee and Johnston.

After a little poking around online, I decided Panacea would be perfect.  My dad doesn’t enjoy a big lunch, so I figured a soup and sandwich place would hit the spot.  Plus it sounded cute and like the soup and sandwiches wouldn’t be too standard.  After we ordered, Dad decided it’d be fun to sit in the comfy chairs, so that’s exactly what we did.  To start, we enjoyed the brown sugar baked brie.  Talk about a party in my mouth!  My dad is hilarious.  I asked him if he’d share it with me, and he said he didn’t like brie.  Um…  I had to fight him for it.  Our soup and sandwiches arrived right as we were finishing the brie.  We both had the Joe Schmoe, which is oven roasted turkey, white cheddar, raspberry chipotle sauce, and lettuce on country wheat.  I thought it was fantastic, but Dad thought the chipotle was a little too spicy.  We also both got the pumpkin gorgonzola soup, which was incredible.  It’s definitely some of the best soup I’ve ever had.  Dad thought it was strange but good.

NC Eatin’: Davie County

Sunday, August 2, 2009
Gaither Street Cafe
155 Gaither St
Mocksville, NC 27028

My husband and I went to Asheville to visit family for the weekend, and we took the chance to swing by Mocksville for some lunch on our way home.  Mocksville is Davie County’s county seat and had a population of just over 4,000 at the 2000 census.  American pioneer Daniel Boon lived nearby when he was young.

The downtown area is pretty cute, but be warned that basically nothing is open for lunch on Sunday.  We were glad to find Gaither Street Cafe welcoming customers a little after noon.  The menu isn’t particularly extensive, but you’ll find something you like if you like American food.  I had a very tasty grilled cheese sandwich with applesauce that tasted straight out of a jar but good.  Jason had breakfast food and was satisfied.  The service was good, and the other customers seemed to be friendly.  It seemed like a good after church meeting spot, though I’d love to see how jumping the place gets on prime rib night.

NC Eatin’: Hoke County

Saturday, July 18, 2009
Aviator’s Grill & Pub
155 Airport Dr
Raeford, NC 28376

This was one of the scariest days of my life.   While I was trying to come up with something special to do for his 30th birthday, I thought, “Oh, gee, wouldn’t it be cool if he could do something off his bucket list?  He’s always wanted to skydive!”  I researched it, and found Raeford Parachute Center in Raeford, NC.  Perfect!  Not only could we check something off Jason’s bucket list, but we could also hit another county!  (Side note – like our shirts?)

We invited about 50 people to a party at our house for Saturday evening, and they were also invited to join us for skydiving.  Six of them ended up taking us up on the offer.  We were advised that we had a noon slot for the class and jump, which, given the 2 hour timeframe they gave us, would’ve been just perfect.  We could eat a late breakfast, drive out, train, jump, grab some lunch, head home, and have a couple hours before the party.  And it would have been perfect if it had turned out that way.  Unfortunately you cannot take RPC at their word when they tell you your group can get through the whole thing in 2 hours unless your group is only 2 people.  I’m not sure why they didn’t tell me that when I asked as we would have taken an earlier slot.  We ended up there for 5 hours.  Ugh!  That said, they were really great.  Very safe and fun.  I’d definitely recommend them with the caveat that you should prepared for it to take a loooong time.  So here’s how it went:

TTT: Take a photography class

My travel tip for you this Tuesday: if you’re going on a trip of a lifetime (in my opinion all trips are trips of a lifetime, but that’s another topic) and you love capturing your memories in photographs, you should absolutely consider taking a photography class.  Last night I took the last of my basic DSLR photography classes at Wake Tech.  I learned a lot about photography and even some about Photoshop.

For the last class, we were each supposed to bring in 24 pictures that we’ve taken, preferably while we were in the class but we could bring in older pics since we didn’t get to do the field trips due to cold weather.  I was really proud of my pictures, and I’d like to share a few this you.

Here’s the Sri Venkateswara Temple (Cary, North Carolina) – first with polarizing filter, then using silly fish eye adapter:

Here are some moon pictures taken in Morrisville using various white balance settings to make it more interesting:

Destination: St. Petersburg

Sorry it’s been a while.  Our final deposit for the Galapagos cruise is coming up, and I’m afraid we’re going to have to cancel since I still don’t have a job.  I’ve been really bummed about canceling a trip that I’ve been dreaming about for 10+ years and even more bummed with the thought that, once I cancel that, we’ll have no trips for me to plan and look forward to.  Fortunately, my wonderful husband has agreed that a super cheap vacay might not cripple us after all, so we’re going to cross our fingers until the payment is due and then, if we have to cancel, we’ll figure out something else.  Anyway, on to the point of the post.  Back in December, I shared the details of the first three stops on our Baltic cruise in September – Copenhagen, Stockholm, and Helsinki.  Since I’m going in order, I now have to address the crown jewel of the trip , St. Petersburg.

First of all, let me gush.  St. Petersburg is now officially one of my fave cities I’ve ever been to.  It has the beauty of Paris and Prague, palaces that kick Versailles’ butt, and a museum that makes the Louvre look like a snooze fest (okay, this is totally coming from an Impressionist lover, so keep in mind that my feelings on museums are *very* biased; also remember that the Hermitage has 3 mil+ works of art and the Louvre has less than 40k).  Plus the food is better than Germany and the people are fascinating.  Be warned though – this place is pricey to visit if you want to see a lot in a short amount of time and actually understand what you’re seeing.  Translation: You’ll want a private guide.

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Hope your holiday flights go smoothly and without delay!

Source: LifeHacker

Happy 30th birthday to my traveling buddy

I just wanted to say happy birthday to a very special person, one of my BFFs, Ami.  Why is she so special that she gets a birthday shout out on my blog?  Cuz I’ve traveled with her almost as much as I’ve traveled with my husband (21 of the 34 countries I’ve visited), and I’m so sad that I don’t get to help her celebrate today.  Here are a few pics over the years.

St. Petersburg, Russia, September 6, 2009; Split, Croatia, June 19, 2008; June 22, 2007, Dickenson Bay, Antigua; Windsor, England, March 21, 2005