VIsiting the Carolinas, connecting with old friends, eating ribs..d'oh!

Last week Heidi and I went to North Carolina for our friend Andy's wedding. We took this opportunity to visit do some more traveling in the North and South Carolina to visit with her sister Heather and my old friend from high school, Kim.

It was great catching up with my friends that I haven't seen in far too long. And it was fun to see a part of the country that I've not gotten to know in the past. One thing I was looking forward to was the food. I did bend my goal of moving to a vegetarian diet since I just couldn't resist having some authentic southern ribs. The ones I had in Charleston were certainly delicious, but it wasn't much of a big deal for me to go without them. I had plenty of good meals that mostly consisted of the side dishes like macaroni and cheese, fried okra, fried or steamed vegetables, black eyed peas, grits, etc. And all these meals were equally as satisfying. So now I don't feel like I'm depriving myself by not eating meat, just opening a whole new world of opportunities for me to get more creative with the meals I'm eating.

I was also able to squeeze in a couple of hikes, thanks to Heidi's prodding, so that counts for me getting more exercise too. Ok, just barely. But on one of our hikes we did get a little lost on the trail which probably caused us to walk more than we would have otherwise. The hike was fairly easy, but it still wore me out. So I'm taking that as a sign that I do need to get in better shape. Hopefully my walking and busing to work will help out with that endeavor.

And as the picture up top suggests, Heidi and I did indeed stay in Bat Cave, NC for a couple of nights. Unfortunately we didn't see either Batman or Robin, and the bat cave that gives this town it's name was closed to visitors.