Pretend Labor Day Vacation

Ever since our first night here in North Carolina, Justin has been saying that this feels more like a vacation than real life. Granted, this has tapered off over time somewhat, as life gets more settled and work becomes more real. Still, I think it's living this close to the beach that gives him a little extra bounce in his step - and, I appreciate that.

So, in light of this phenomenon, and given the fact that we had no plans for Labor Day, we decided to go on a "pretend vacation". So, while sleeping in our own bed, we approached the weekend as we would if we were actually on vacation here. For starters, it would give us a good excuse to visit places we haven't made it to yet, and also make us feel a little less lame about having nothing to do this holiday weekend. (Now might be a good time to mention that Justin had to work Monday, so going out of town for real wasn't so much an option.)

So here's a quick run-down on what we did:

Saturday we slept in and had a late lunch at a new Mexican place called Cosmic Cantina. Apparently it's a hot spot in the wee hours of the morning for UNC students who find themselves in need of a burrito in the night. But, at about 1:00 in the afternoon, we found it to be quite decent (except the salsa - not so good).

Then we walked the street of Franklin for a while, reveling in the pre-game buzz that was all over and all around campus. It was especially amusing how each tailgate party tried to outdo the surrounding ones in volume and spirit - as it should be. Just before it got too crazy (and before we got a ticket on our expired parking meter), we headed out of to the big city of Durham. Ok, not so big city, but we hadn't been downtown yet, so we set the GPS and off we went! We drove what is called the Downtown Loop and found that is actually just circles about 4 city blocks, which is home to the Durham Bulls minor-league baseball stadium. Conveniently, as we drove the loop we realized that a game was about to start - so in the true spirit of vacation, we just parked, bought some tickets, and saw a baseball game! The stadium nachos were amazing, and it was a great night for a game! Oh, and it turned out to be their last regular season home game, so it was perfect timing!

After the game, we headed back to Franklin Street to see what post-game life is like down there. Wow. Pretty crazy. Pretty intense.

Big day, huh??

Sunday we went to a new (to us) church, University Methodist, which is located on Franklin Street. It was pretty cool - the church does a lot of really great outreach stuff for college kids and the pastor seemed to be right on with his message. Not so modern service, but... anyway, Still in search of the perfect Mexican place, we went to Monterrey for lunch (salsa still not right - what's going on!?) Stuffed with enchiladas, we put our bathing suits on and lounged by the pool for a few hours. And, when the afternoon thunderstorms chased us away, we went home for a West Wing mini-marathon and ordered pizza for dinner from a funky little place called Tomato Jake's.

So, folks, the next time you have a weekend with nothing to do, might I recommend a pretend vacation? Here are some pointers:

1. No cooking - cereal for breakfast is ok, I guess.
2. No cleaning - don't wash that cereal bowl... just rinse it and stick it in the dishwasher.
3. Get out of your house. This is not a pretend Honeymoon (that would have an entirely different set of rules, of course). Go somewhere you've never been before.
4. Surround yourself with people - on a vacation, you want to taste the culture of the place you're visiting. Still true.
5. Buy yourself a t-shirt to commemorate the trip.

Hope you all had fab Labor Day weekends!