The Elton John

March 15th

Sir Elton John

What an amazing evening! When we heard that he was going to be in Roanoke, we had to go. Jed and Derley did an amazing job getting us 5 tickets together directly in front of the stage despite a lot of hiccups.

I have grown up with Elton John. Some of my first memories of music videos were of Elton John's. My dad loved Elton John and I have fun memories of looking everywhere to find my dad old LP's for different holidays.

The opening performers were amazing! They are called 2Cellos and they ended up playing in The Elton John Band on and off all night. I had no idea anyone could make a cello sound like what they did. Very impressive.

Elton John played for over 2 hours straight and played some old favorites and some unknown songs too. I think my favorite was Crocodile Rock. Derley and I had a great time dancing to that one. The concert didn't last nearly long enough but I am so glad I was able to see it.

 What a fun trip down memory lane while making new, funny memories. (Don't forget someone running into a pole as we were walking back to the car...)

Spring Training Trip

March 5th - 9th

During Tech's Spring Break, Jed and Tom drove down to Florida to watch MLB Spring Training games. I had a chance to ask him a few questions about his trip and this is what he had to say.

How many games did you attend?

5 Baseball games 1 Hockey game

What cities did you visit?

Bradenton, Sarasota, Port Charlotte, Ft. Myers (& Tampa for hockey)

What stadiums did you visit?

- McKechnie Field, Bradenton, FL. Home of the Bradenton Marauders and the spring training home of the Pittsburgh Pirates

 - Ed Smith Stadium, Sarasota, FL. Home of the Gulf Coast League Orioles and the spring training home of the Baltimore Orioles

- Charlotte Sports Park, Port Charlotte, FL. Home of the Charlotte Stone Crabs and the spring training home of the Tampa Bay Rays

- Hammond Stadium, Ft. Myers, FL. Home of the Ft. Myers Miracle and the spring training home of the Minnesota Twins

- JetBlue Park, Ft. Myers, FL. Home of the Gulf Coast League Red Sox and the spring training home of the Boston Red Sox

- St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa, FL. Home of the NHL's Tampa Bay Lightning

Was it difficult to switch from baseball fan to hockey fan back to baseball fan? 

Not at all, because I am not a hockey fan. However, going to the hockey game was GREAT. We had seats 3 rows back from the glass. The speed and power is unbelievable. 

Do you feel personally responsible for the closing of the Jamba Juice in that area? 

Certainly, I am disappointed in the demise of the Jamba Juice in Bradenton. I cannot take the blame fully, because when I was in the area, I partook more than my fair share of the lovely elixir. And I also introduced it to my friends, thereby growing the client base. I am disappointed for myself, as well as the residents of the Bradenton area. 

Best stadium?

Best stadium we went to on the trip was probably JetBlue Park. I hate to say that b/c I hate the Red Sox, but we were there for probably the 3rd or 4th game ever played. It's brand new, it is a replica of Fenway park, with all the amenities of a 2012 minor league stadium, complete with the Green Monster. The Sox like to call it Fenway South. 

Best meal of the trip?

Jose's Real Cuban Food. It's a really small joint, maybe 4 or 5 tables. But the roast pork and plantains... FUHGHEDABOUDIT

Worst meal of the trip?

 We had Godfather's Pizza and Dunkin Donuts at the Hess Station for breakfast one morning

Most memorable part of the trip?

"Good Feeling"

Song that you got sick of hearing on the radio during your road trip?

 "Good Feeling"

Any road rage on this trip?

An incident with a lady from Ontario. But it's a long story.

Thanks Jed! And thanks for taking pictures too!

 

Kelly's Bridal Shower

March 3-4th

I headed to Virginia Beach this weekend to celebrate with friends and family for Kelly's bridal shower. I had a great time spending to with my mom, friends, Shelby and my youngest niece, Korryn. It was a great weekend. Congratulations Kelly and Adam. Can't wait for the wedding in May!

Quick (ish) Trip to LA

February 25-27th

Our niece, Zoe was in a production of Seussical the Musical so we decided we had to go see it. The trip was supposed to be a quick visit. Thanks to Joel, we were able to get stand-by flights from Charlotte to LA. We left Charlotte Saturday morning and landed in LA in the afternoon. We grabbed a quick lunch at In N Out and headed to see family. We found out that Jac had a soccer game so we headed to go see her play.

 After the soccer game the girls got cleaned up and we headed to dinner at Nelsons at Terranea before going to the show. This was such a neat restaurant that over looked the the Pacific Ocean. Beautiful.

Zoe's show was so cute, she did an amazing job as a "Bird Girl". It was so fun to see what an amazing young woman she is turning into. I couldn't be more proud of her.

Jed and I got up and out the next morning at 4am to fly stand-by on the 7:30am flight. Unfortunately, there weren't any seats for us so we missed that flight. The next flight wasn't until 11:40 so we set off on foot to explore what was around the outside of LAX. We were excited to be able to get a picture we always talk about getting but never did it...

We headed back to the airport with plenty of time to chat the 11:40am flight but there were no seats for us. Some with the 1:30 flight. The last flight of the day out was the red eye at 10:45pm and they told us straight up that we wouldn't make that flight either. So we decided to just rent another car and enjoy the rest of our day in LA and try again the next day. We had the chance to go visit our old stomping grounds. We spend the afternoon driving around Glendale and then walking around Americana and bought clothes for the next day. We got in touch with Eric, Audrey and David and they were all able to make it to dinner with us at Panda Inn. Eric's parents were even in town and joined us for dinner. It meant the world to us that they were able to find time to hang out for a little while.

The next morning, we tried again to flight out of LA to Charlotte. There wasn't any room on the 7:30am flight again today but they told us we could fly to Phoenix and then to Charlotte. It was a long day of traveling. In total we missed 7 flights and spent almost 2 full days in airports but it was absolutely worth all of it. I would definitely do it again, only next time, I don't know that I would fly stand by.

San Fran

February 10-13

Jed and I were able to get away for a long weekend to meet up with David, Amy, Eric & Audrey. Instead of trying to get 2 or 3 hotel rooms in the city, we decided to look into renting a house or a condo in or around the city.

We decided on a place in Muir Woods.
http://www.vrbo.com/320990


It was quite an adventure to find the place. We didn't all making it into San Fran until 10ish so it was late when we started our 30 minute drive to the house. And little did we know the house was on the top of mountain which required lots of hair pin turns and it felt like it was the middle of no where. After finding the house we decided that we need dinner. Unfortunately we didn't pass anything on our way to the house. So around midnight, we all headed back down the mountain to the town of Mill Valley. It was a cute little sleepy town. And the town was already asleep. We couldn't find anything. Even the grocery store that advertises opened 24 hours online was closed... We did eventually find a 7-11 that we raided. There is nothing like dinner at 2am.

Jed and I couldn't sleep much so we ended up getting up really early. We didn't want to wake the rest of the house so we headed out for a hike.

After our morning walk we all headed out. After a few errands, we headed out to Muir Woods. It was a little foggy and rainy but that wasn't stopping us. The views were amazing and the company was the best!

After walking in the woods for a while we were ready to head dinner. We saw a fun place to eat in town earlier in the day so we decided to go there for dinner. It was called Super Duper. I loved it! They had super garlic fries that I really enjoyed. I think it was a little too much for everyone else. We spent the rest of the night hanging out at the house talking, laughing and hanging out in the hot tub.

Sunday morning we headed into San Fran. We stopped for a few photo opportunities along the way.

We hung out in the city just walking around. Amy found a great place for lunch called, Zero Zero. The food was great. Each couple ordered a pizza and just spent time laughing and talking. The biggest problem with this restaurant was that they had a very limited menu because we showed up in late afternoon. We ended up near the Metreon Mall and found a cupcake place! The cupcake place was called Cako. I think it might have been the worst cupcake ever! It was really disappointing. Just a really dry cupcake with no flavor. After spending the day exploring the city, David and Amy had to head back home for work on Monday. We hated to see them go. We were bummed we couldn't spend Monday with them. After they left we hung out for a while and then headed to dinner. We just walked around our hotel and found King of Thai Noodle. On our way back to the hotel we found a smooth jazz club, Les Joulins Jazz Bistro. We listened to Bill "Doc" Webster and the Nostalgia. It was really fun.

Monday morning it was rainy and cold but we weren't going to let that stop us. First stop for the day was breakfast, La Boulange. Very good. Great quick place to grab really good food. We spent the afternoon doing a little shopping, a quick trip down to the Castro District for a photo op and then heading down to Fisherman's Wharf. We walked around in the rain, and explored the area. We found another cupcake place! I was hopeful that is was better then the last. We ended up over doing it and buying 6 cupcakes from Kara's cupcakes. We headed back to Union Square from the Fisherman's Wharf using the trolley. So fun!

It wasn't long before we had to head back to the airport and all head home but it was such a great weekend with friends.

Krispy Kreme Challenge

February 3-5th

The dream. The Krispy Kreme Challenge. 2,400 calories, 12 donuts, 5 miles, 60 minutes.

Everyone has to try this at least once. But I am getting ahead of myself. Friday night Jed and I headed down to Raleigh to spend time with friends before the big race day. Peter had a great idea and 5 of us rented a 2 bedroom suite just outside of the airport. We had a fun night laughing, talking and reminiscing about old times. The next morning came pretty early but we were so excited that sleep didn't really matter. We got dressed in our silly costumes and headed out the door.

There were some crazy characters running this "race". Our costumes were nothing compared to some of the people we saw. One of the most impressive were the 2 guys that were dressed in full bear outfits. We saw them before the race, during the race and after the race and they stayed in the bear costumes the entire time. That is crazy!

 The race itself was a lot of fun. The seven of us started the race together but pretty quick into the race we started to separate in the crowd. Kilby and I ended up running the 2.5 miles to the Krispy Kreme together. We got our boxes of donuts and waited for Jed, Peter and Dave.

 We waited and waited and waited but couldn't find then so we decided to start the run back and accidentally ended up taking a shortcut to get back on the running course. We made it the entire 2.5 miles back while carrying our leftover donuts. We had a really great time.

Some how we were all able to find each other at the finish line. We all made it in one piece. It was so much fun! The two big things that everyone should know about the race was #1. they don't provide much water and none of us were able to get any and #2. there are no bathrooms anywhere. We had to ask a student to let us into a dorm so we could find a bathroom.

Donut Count:
Alayna - ate 4 donuts
Brian - ate 4 donuts
Jed - ate 6 donuts
Peter - ate all 12 donuts
Dave - ate 5 donuts
Me - ate 3 donuts
Kilby - ate 6 donuts

After the race we went back to get cleaned up and a few even took naps before lunch and heading our separate ways. Somehow after eating donuts, we wanted to get lunch so we tried a BBQ fast food place called, Smithfields. I was disappointed, but I don't eat BBQ so I guess I can't really judge a BBQ place but I think all BBQ places should have mac and cheese to go with there BBQ or other tasty sides and these guys didn't. Silly I know but just my opinion.

Jed and I headed to Charlotte to spend time with family after lunch before heading home on Sunday. It was a very memorable weekend.