Jump to page: << 1 2 3 >>

North Carolina and Kentucky, United States of America (27 September - 6 October 2012)

At this stage I have no idea for sure how long I'll be in New York let alone the US, but I intend to see as much of it as I can while I can. Kristina went to the University of Kentucky (UK) and was part of the UK Swim and Dive Team during that time. Every three years the team has a reunion in Lexington, Kentucky where the UK campus is located, and that was as good an excuse as any to make a trip out of it! The plan was to fly down to Wilmington, North Carolina to meet up with one of Kristina's mates, rent a car and drive via Charlotte to Asheville to meet some family she hadn't seen in yonks, and drive up to Lexington from there via the Great Smokey Mountains. Nice!

It's been well over a year since I last had to pack for a trip like this, and that being the case I forgot to bring a few things hehe. While we were on the train barely ten minutes from the airport, I suddenly realised I'd forgotten my passport hahaha! Since we were only on domestic flights I didn't expect it would be much of a problem, and sure enough my New Zealand driver's license was sufficient, or at least it was on this occasion - more on that later ;)

Two short flights later and we were in sunny Wilmington, North Carolina! We were here to see Kristina's childhood friend, Marissa, who collected us from the airport and dropped us in town before heading back to work. That left us with a good few hours to explore the joint. My first impression: very quiet, but very pretty!

Wilmington is a port city plonked on the Cape Fear River with a population of a little over 100,000 (somewhere). Due to a lack of time, I didn't have a chance to research and prepare for this trip as thoroughly as I usually do, so we simply started following our noses and looking for some action.

Ahh here we go - people! The Wilmington area had long been inhabited by indigenous people, and then the English rocked up in the early 1700s and took over like they do. Skip forward to the American Civil War (1861 - 1865) and the port of Wilmington was a vital lifeline for the fledgling Confederacy to trading partners in Europe (before they went on to lose the war, but I'll let y'all read about that for yourselves if you give a crap).				Oh, well if I'd known I would have brought some.

Wilmington is the home of EUE Screen Gems Studios, the largest domestic television and movie production facility outside of California. Since the studio's opening in 1984, Wilmington has become a major centre of American film and television production with numerous movies and television series having been produced here. This car hadn't just been pulled out of the river, it was a prop for the filming of Revolution which is currently taking place.		I couldn't tell whether this one was also a prop or just fucking filthy.

Wilmington's historic downtown district extends to the neighbouring suburbia, containing many old homes built well over a century ago (some closer to three centuries ago) in the architectural styles of the day. Many of them have names and even come with a story, such as the Elliott-Brown House here - bloody interesting stuff ;)

I love suburbia and this one was particularly cool to just meander through, made all the better by the builders out of shot on the left wolf-whistling rather excessively at Kristina as she wandered past hahaha!				I assume this was for tying your horse up back in the day.

After all that wandering around we were in the mood for food, and a drink. We found a pub along the main drag and something on the menu immediately caught my eye.		Wow, simply wow!		Several drinks with Marissa later and we called it a day.

The next morning when I woke up the chicks had gone out to get some breakfast. Marissa lives in a really nice little hood on the outskirts of the city, so while waiting for my food to arrive I went for a wander to check that out too.

Porches (not to be confused with Porsches) - almost every house had a big porch out the front. One day I hope to own a big house with a big porch out the front so I can just sit there, rocking back and forth, looking out at my Porsche.				Just like Kristina's neighbourhood back in San Antonio, this one was filled with pointless stop signs that I make a point of ignoring.

After a rousing breakfast of whatever it was, we headed out to the beach! Wilmington sits between the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean which several beaches a short drive out of town. On the way out we grabbed some beers, only to find out that drinking was prohibited on the beach. Apparently so-called 'narks' trawl the beach on the lookout for folk consuming alcohol. They're dressed just like any other beach-goer and befriend you to confirm you really are on the piss, before leaving and contacting the authorities hehe. Armed with this knowledge, we cracked open our cans and refused to make friends with anybody ;)

After a day of sand and sunburn we all headed out to a local seafood restaurant on the river. That's Marissa on the left, her housemate Devyn in the middle, and my sunburnt girlfriend on the right.				The weather was pretty average the next day so we took in a movie (Looper - bloody good!) and then took in a whole lot of these.

Cool fro!		This is the Cape Fear Serpentarium in downtown Wilmington, filled with snakes...		...snakes...		...and more snakes. They really are angry-looking bastards aren't they.

Anacondas, rattlesnakes, green mambas, king cobras, you name it.				And one of whatever the hell this is.

There are also iguanas, crocs, and other bits and pieces. This place was awesome!

We got there just in time for feeding too. The king cobra on the left was rather docile when it came to feeding, but the fella on the right (not sure what he is) was ferocious! The feeder waved this dead mouse around and the snake fully launched itself at it. Impressive stuff!				This guy also swooped on its prey, but unlike the others he's not venomous, instead killing by constricting around the animal. If one of these gets a hold of you in the wild, you're pretty much done with.

And that was it for Wilmington! The next morning we returned to the airport bright and early to collect our rental car, and that's when I realised I'd forgotten something else - my damn credit card. Not really a big deal, except the rental car company wouldn't give us our car without the credit card I made the original booking with - bugger! I made my original booking via a third-party site and pre-paid the full amount. And guess what - no refunds hehe. The walk-up rate was crap so not only have I lost my original payment but we got ripped off with a new booking. Anyhow stiff shit, we got a car and hit the road! And that's when I realised I'd forgotten something else too - the bloody car charger for my GPS hahaha! Not having much luck here.

The road trip got off to a great start while we were going through a McDonalds drive thru and I said "Look how many women have hit that pole" hehe. Kristina was not impressed ;)		Rush hour in North Carolina.		Wanna swap?

A few hours of interstates later and we hit Charlotte, North Carolina's largest city with a population of 750,000. Heavy growth in the past 20 years has made Charlotte one of the nation's largest and most successful cities in the South (apparently it used to be a bit of a hole back in the day). The city is a major US financial centre, the second largest by assets following New York in fact. Its downtown is actually known as Uptown, and is the city's CBD as well as its historic core. We were only passing through and had barely a couple hours for a quick scout around.

The CBD has a very clean and modern feel about it. They've even plonked this random little park in place of what was probably an old demolished building.		This guy spotted a penny.		Anywhere Kristina and I go, we try to eat like the locals. While looking for lunch we found this place doing "Local food from local farmers". Perfect :)

Before getting back on the road we had a nosey through the historic area of Uptown, known as Fourth Ward.

Just like that in Wilmington, it's gorgeous.		And as always, pointless stop signs.		Yeah, don't feed him.

Jump to page: << 1 2 3 >>

Page Comments