A full day of airline transfers, lines and cramped seats just isn't that interesting, and certainly doesn't deserve its own post. Since this was a domestic flight, there was no food and no movie unless you swiped your credit card. To make up for that, though, the in-flight screen ran five hours of promotions that you couldn't turn off. Here's a packing tip, if you are flying domestically: bring a 4x6 index card with a piece of tape so you can cover the monitor. You'll be glad you did.
We rented a car from Hertz though AAA and drove the seventy miles to Greenville from Raleigh, stopping to eat at Ruby Tuesday's along the way. We've both agreed that the diets can wait until we get back home. We got into Greenville about 9:30, found our lodging that happens the only B&B in town. And it happens to be right across the street from the main campus of East Carolina University.
The next day, Friday, we got a late start. While Kathy got ready, I walked around the campus looking for the Starbucks (naturally). I found it and was able to face the day (although my clothes were completely soaked at 8:30 in the morning; it wasn't raining, either). I also discovered that the ECU mascot is the Pirate, just like at OCC (Orange Coast College).
When I came back, our kids stopped by and picked us up for breakfast and a walk around town. We ate at a very popular place right in the center of downtown named The Scullery, in keeping with the pirate theme, which is evident everywhere you look.
After breakfast, we took a walk along the Tar River Greenway to Hosanna and Patrick's house, a beautiful 3-bedroom duplex about two blocks from the river, with a lovely back yard in a nice neighborhood. Of course, such luxury has its price; their landlord just raised the rent $50 a month; it now costs $650.
In the afternoon, the kids had to head over the the DMV which had inexplicably failed to cash the check they sent in for their registration. Everything got sorted out, but standing in line at the DMV isn't pleasant, no matter which state you're in.
After Kathy and I rested and the kids got their errands run, we all hopped in the car and drove out to the town of Aden, for the best BBQ in the region. That's saying something in a state that is the home of Smithfield pork. We all had pulled-pork sandwiches with slaw that were really out of this world.
My only regret is that the Collard Shack next door was closed. Maybe next time.
We got back to Greenville just at dusk and Hosanna took us for a walk around the campus so we could see where she works. The buildings and the campus at East Carolina University is interesting in a kind of East Coast/Southern University style that we don't see too much in California, except for maybe the Claremont colleges.
As part of her graduate assistant-ship, Hosanna has to maintain and help out in several of the labs, where she can also work on her own projects. We got to visit all of them, and she demonstrated some of the equipment, including the centrifugal sand caster.
Afterwards, we stopped by Coldstone for some ice cream, and didn't get back to bed until almost midnight. It was a really nice day.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Unless you sign into a Google Account, you'll be anonymous. In that case, we'd love to know who you are. You can close your message with your name.