The Native North Carolinian

Off to Charlotte we will go. I mentioned that I was going to Vegas, and I wanted to let you know that I have posted quite a few pictures in my Vegas pictures folder on flickr. I should totally organize them better, but if I wait to tell you about them until they are all pretty, one or both of us will grow cobwebs before you ever get to see them. So that’s that.

Next week, while most of you are dreaming of Tom Turkey, I’ll be dreaming of stunts and tumbling passes. Yeppers, on Thanksgiving Day, we are headed to Charlotte for Regionals on Friday. I know I have mentioned it before. I am a little excited. The girls are, too, and they have been working hard. If you think a few reps on the elliptical will wear you out, try lifting a cheerleader over your head. Several times. Feel that burn, baby.

Just two more practices and a road trip. Secretly, I am hoping we get the nod for Nationals. Shhhhhhhhh, don’t tell anybody.

I had to take an emergency trip to the eye doctor today (don’t worry, it’s ok, I’m fine, and I get some cool pink glasses, too) and Daddy drove me (I couldn’t drive myself). Ok, the parenthesis are confusing me, and I lived to through it. Let me start more or less at the beginning.

This afternoon, I started to have some darkening in my vision, and then some weird wiggly effects, and since I only have the one set of eyes and sudden changes in vision are not exactly normal, I elected to go PRONTO to the eye doctor. I got a very thorough exam, I was having an ocular migraine, which while not common is also not life threatening, and I just need to call if I have any more so they can note it in my chart. Also, I am getting new pink glasses, which is so totally me, and if this blog were not Carolina Blue, it would be pink just like all my other blogs. NOW THEN~!!

I had Daddy drive me, because when your eyes are doing weird-and-bizarre-visual-convolutions-such-as-you-have-never-before- experienced, it kinda puts one off driving, and as we were going through our used-to-be-small town he mumbled something that sound like Drugho corner. When I asked him, he repeated himself, and that was exactly what he had said.

It’s kinda disconcerting to think that hard drugs area problem in my home town, population couple hundred. And then I stop and think that it’s no longer population couple hundred, but rather population several thousand and growing quickly, and yeah, it probably won’t be long before we need a drug treatment facility of our very own. Sigh. And to think I came back here because I didn’t want my kids growing up in a place like that.

Fall is an awesome time to visit Raleigh, what with the various homecomings, concerts, ethnic festivals and such. Coming up weekend after next is the Diwali Festival. This festival is held at the Booth Amphitheatre in Cary, (I’ve mentioned Cary before–it’s just outside Raleigh.) and features food and music native to India. And that’s just one of the cool things going on here in the near future!

VisitRaleigh.com is sponsoring a FREE Raleigh Getaway that includes

night accommodations for two at the Courtyard by Marriott Raleigh Crabtree Valley
-$25 gift certificate to Bloomsbury Bistro
-Free VIP admission for two to Rum Runners
-2 tickets to the North Carolina Theatre
-2 tickets to the N.C. Museum of Art’s Landscapes from the Age of Impressionism
-2 tickets to Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries at the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences

and they’d like you to go register to win, and spend some time poking around on thsir site. You’ll fiind information there on lots of cool activities for the whole family, and you can see what makes us call Raliegh a hidden treasure. There’s no better place for a Fall Getaway.

I know I just posted this morning that the weather here has been dreary and would likely remain so for a while, but I don’t want you to think there is nothing to do here. Perhaps in reaction to the yearly weather, fall is an exciting time here in coastal Carolina, and I hope you’ll come visit us soon. Maybe even for free!

Did you know that North Carolina is one of the fastest growing states in the Union? I’m not quite sure where the state as a whole falls, but my county is one of the 14 fastest growing in the country. That just amazes me, because 29 years ago, we were barely a dot on the map. And when I say barely, I mean we weren’t even on every map. Obviously, that’s no longer the case, since in addition to living in one of the fastest growing counties, I live in the fastest growing city in that county. But enough about my little burg, because this isn’t the only rapidly growing area in North Carolina. In fact, new homes in North Carolina are springing up faster than the pine trees.

Homes in central North Carolina are also booming. You can find homes in Raleigh, NC ranging from the old and stately, to the thoroughly modern. And apparently, the yankees can have their cake and eat it too. This house is inspired by Martha Stewart’s own New England style homes. For myself, I prefer regal beauty of a low country style home with a wrap-around porch. But then again, I’m from here

My friend Marcus suggested that I might find talking about traveling to other places an interesting topic for this blog, so I thought I might try it. You can let me know what you think in the comments. He wanted me to compare them to North Carolina, and then say how North Carolina is always better, but he has underestimated the size of my travel lust, and while I do always want to come home, I really do love to go, go, go.

So, lets talk about Australia. I was surprised to see Australia hotels on the Asia hotels website. It just never occurred to me that it would be considered part of Asia, ykwim? But it makes as much sense as anywhere else, geographically, so it works. Once you get to that Australia page, you can use the right sidebar to find hotels for a specific city, for example hotels in Cairns. Pretty simple, yes? Yes.

So what is Cairns like? The temps range from a mean temperature of 25.7 °C in July to 31.4 °C in January, and they get tropical monsoons between November and March. In contrast, our temps here in coastal North Carolina range from an average of 31.6 °C in summer to 4.4°C in winter, and we have hurricanes from June to December. Sounds like I might want to go in their winter, since they are coolest while we are hottest, but I use the term coolest is a very loosest sense of the word.

Memorial Day has passed, and that is the official start of summer here on the coast, calendar dates to teh contrary. We’ll have many tourists between now and Labor Day, and most of them will be hitting the beaches. But tourists are not the only ones who enjoy the sea. We have family friends who actually live at the campground in Surf City for much of the summer. They even have church on the beach!

[tag]Topsail Island[/tag] rentals will go quickly this time of year, so I suggest you make your travel plans early. Remember that there are many attractions in the area, and the beach is never very far away. [tag]Sand Dollar Real Estate[/tag] handles rentals all over this area, and if you find that you just can’t tear yourself away once you get here, which I can certainly understand, they can help you out with purchasing a home as well. And with a name like Sand Dollar, you know they’ll share your love for the ocean.

Where did babe Ruth hit his first home run? If you read the title of the post, then you already know, so it isn’t a trick question. The city of Fayetteville has other honors as well. It was in the State House there that North Carolina ratified the US Constitution. It’s the only namesake city that teh Marquis de Lafayette ever visited. And only one vote kept it from becoming the capital of North Carolina.

Fayetteville was founded when the towns of Cross Creek and Campbellton joined. It was a thriving commerce center, connected to the Wilmington post by the Cape fear River. It is still thriving today, but the focus has shifted to arts and entertainment. The city is home to the International Folk Festival and the Dogwood Festival. Museums abound there, and historic buildings are also numerous.

You can read more at the Official City of Fayetteville website, Discover Fayetteville and Wikipedia.

Asheville is a beautiful city in the Blue Ridge Mountains. For you non-natives, that’s the western portion of the state, near the Tennesse border. The world famous Asheville zoo is there, and I fondly remember visiting it as a child. It was quite a drive, but totally worth it.

The Asheville area, like most of North Carlina, is growing at a rapid pace, and that means the Asheville Real Estate market is booming. One of the development companies there is doing something a bit different, and it’s something I really like. Instead of working to eradicate natural obstacles to development, Red Wolf Run is working within the natural constraints to offer homesites in such a way as to preserve the environment. With 250 acres, they intend on offering only 70 homesites, and they are also supporting Red Wolf and Chestnut Tree proliferation.

When we lived in Colorado and Kansas, we would drive home to North Carolina, and my kids and dh would get so excited thinking we were “almost there” when we crossed the border near Asheville. In truth, we had another day’s drive ahead of us. The climate, therefore, is quite a bit different that what we have here on the coast, and there are ample opportunities for skiing and other winter sports. I hear tell they still have four actual seasons there as well, LOL!