NC State Fair

Up until a few weeks ago, I had never been to the state fair.  I know, its crowded, overpriced and full of greasy food but it seems like a shame to live (almost) your whole life in NC and not visit the fair.  Now that we live in Raleigh, it seemed like the perfect time to go.  On Thursdays you could get in for free with a canned food donation so of course we took advantage of that! 

You can find almost anything deep fried at the fair-  candy bars, oreos, mac and cheese, even kool-aid and bubble gum.  

We didn't ride any rides, or play any games (seriously what would you do with something this large??) but just enjoyed walking around and people watching. 

 We did our fair (ha) share of eating and our favorites were the corn dogs and fried oreos-  they were amazing actually.  Good thing we did lots of walking too.  We are thankful to spend time with good friends!

Oriental, NC

A couple of weekends ago, Nick planed a surprise weekend getaway to celebrate my birthday!  The last few months have been so crazy and a night away was just the thing we needed.  Nick was able to keep it a surprise until the day before we left.  He booked a room at a the Cartwright House Bed and Breakfast in Oriental, NC. We had driven through Oriental a few years ago and loved it.  It is a sleepy little harbor town on the coast of North Carolina with about 800 residents.  You can walk or bike everywhere and it is perfectly charming.  

Our B&B was over a hundred years old.  When we got there on Friday night, the owners had drinks ready for happy hour on the porch.  We were able to walk a few short blocks to dinner.  Life is was so much slower there! 

 From our room (on the top floor) you could see the Neuse River and all over town.

The owners recommended that we watch the sunrise over the water in the morning.  I am so glad we got up for it.  We set our alarms and when they went off, Nick looked out the window and saw the faintest little bit of light.  He yelled out "IT'S HAPPENING!" and jumped out of bed!  Haha-  turns out a sunrise happens pretty slowly, so we didn't miss anything! We grabbed some coffee and walked town to the park on the water.  The sunrise was amazingly beautiful.   It was an awesome way to start the day.  

After a delicious breakfast, we took our bikes out to explore around town.  We rode along the harbor, stopped at an art shop and had a mimosa, and dropped in a few antique shops.  It is so much fun to explore a new place.

Although it was just one night away, it felt like we had gone on a long vacation- such a fun weekend!