Let me start this post off by giving Jackson & Celeste Olsen a HUUUUUGE thank you for letting us stay with them, even for the brief period that we actually got to see them...
So Byant and I DON'T Love L.A. Or Salt Lake. Or Memphis. Or New York and the awful rainstorms for being the root cause of all of our problems.
Back in June when Jackson and Celeste were home visiting Utah from North Carolina they suggested that Bryant and I fly out and visit them in October and go to the University of North Carolina versus Miami football game in Raleigh. We jumped at the opportunity! (No one has to twist Bryant's arm to get him to go to a Miami game and I was stoked for my first official one!)
Suddenly October 14th was uppon us. I had to work all day that Friday so we decided to take the 8:30 PM flight from Salt Lake to L.A., then hop on the 11:30 PM flight from L.A. to Raleigh, arriving around 6:45 AM. The football game didn't start until 12:30 PM Saturday so we figured that would give us plenty of time. While waiting at our gate for our plane to start boarding Bryant saw one of his high school buddies, Chris Smith and his adorable new wife Tawna, waiting for the same flight. (Random! They were flying to Columbus, OH for his nephew's baptism.)
So the Delta people kept announcing that the flight would begin boarding at 9 PM, about 40 minutes later than were were supposed to. Sometime around 10 we finally did board. They also added, "Your connections have been notified that we are behind schedule." Naturally we thought, "Sweet. They'll wait for us!" Once we landed in L.A. we had to sit on the tarmac for 45 minutes since there wasn't a gate available for our plane. I was freaking out. I kept refreshing my Delta app on my phone and it would say "Flight Boarding" then it turned to "Departed". I was TICKED.
So the four of us, Bryant, Chris, Tawna, and myself went to the Delta representative and Bryant unleashed his fury on the poor woman. He told her we wanted a refund, we were going to miss the whole reason we were flying out there...etc. After 20 minutes she "magically" found a flight that left L.A. at 1:40 AM and would put us in Memphis at 7 AM. From there we would catch the 9:30 AM flight to Raleigh and get in at 12:30 PM (right when the game started). We were happy with this option, thinking all we were going to miss was the first quarter.
(Chris and Tawna were the smart ones: they knew they weren't going to make it to Columbus so they took their free hotel and caught the 1 PM flight back to Salt Lake the next day)
Bryant and I had a long flight to Memphis, arriving at 7 AM, then killing time until we could talk to the lady at the ticketing counter to get our seat assignments. The lady was seriously a one-woman show. I'm pretty sure she was the only person who showed up for work that day...So once we talked to her she informed us that the lady in L.A. had lied to us by saying we had a seat on that flight and that they had over sold it by 10 people and we were on STANDBY. (Translation: We had 0 chance of getting on that flight.) My favorite quote from not only the lady in L.A. but also the lady in Memphis: "Don't ever believe anything a Delta agent tells you because they only tell you what you want to hear to make you happy." SERIOUSLY? 'Don't ever believe anything a Delta agent tells you'?! Coming from two different Delta Agents??
Bryant lost it at this point. He called the corporate number and had a little spaz attack on the lady on the phone. She gave us $200 Delta dollars per person and $12 in meal vouchers only good at the Memphis airport. They proceeded to move us to the 4:30 PM flight into Raleigh so that meant we had from 8 AM to 4:30 PM to kill in the Memphis airport. (Incase you're wondering, it's a terrible airport. Not even joking.)
We wandered until we found somewhere to spend our whopping $12 food vouchers. Here we set up our own little tailgate by busting out Bryant's laptop, paying $8 for the internet, and watching the game we were supposed to be at on a little computer screen.
(Bryant's mom said that we were "building memories". Personally I would prefer the memory of being at the game and hanging out with friends!)
So we finally arrived in Raleigh around 7 PM Saturday (Over 24 hours after arriving at the Salt Lake Airport for our first flight). Jackson picked us up and we drove into Raleigh for the North Carolina State Fair.
It was AWESOME!
(And please ignore the fact that we were in the same clothes that we flew in. And that we were pretty gross. I eventually had the greatest shower of my life)
This is in front of the convention center. It was also the hangout spot for every teenager in the Raleigh area.
Our lovely hosts sharing a turkey leg (which are amazing!)
We saw a 522 lb. pumpkin and a 282 lb. watermelon (the new state record, I'll have you know)
Lots of livestock were present. I think Jackson and Celeste might think a little less of me now that they know all my horse 4-H experience.
That is the massive grill that they cook the turkey legs on. It's quite the process. Also, that silver cooker in front is filled with butter that they would dip the world's best corn on the cob in.
Bryant & Jackson can attest to how amazing it was.
Mmm...deep fried cheesecake.
Here I am holding an "Elephant Ear".
I would describe it as a huge scone with a bag of powdered sugar dumped on it. Maybe a squished beignet?
In this picture you can only see 1/3 of the sign. There are TONS of items that they deep fry.
I think deep fried Kool-Aid was the most bizarre.
Saturday night Utah State played Fresno State in football. These two diehard fans stayed up into the early hours of the morning listening to the game online, (Blasted Eastern Time Zone) only to have USU lose.
I'm shocked.
The next morning we went to Jackson & Celeste's ward, then we took a little tour of Wake Forest.
Side Note: Wake Forest University originated in Wake Forest, NC. In the 1950's the school moved to Winston-Salem and the vacant campus became a Southeastern Baptist Seminary.
We then walked through the historic district and saw some beautiful post-Civl War homes.
This was a Bed & Breakfast that I was in love with:
Next we took a 30 minute drive west to Durham to see Duke University
LOVED IT
Duke University Cathedral
Then we wandered over to the gardens.
They were gorgeous and it turned out to be a beautiful day
The Blue Devil atop their library:
And some more cathedral
And Jackson:
Our next stop was over to the athletic part of campus:
The football stadium
There were zero seats in the stadium, all bleachers! (I don't know why that fascinates me so much...Probably because it's blatantly obvious that the boosters pour all their money into the basketball program and couldn't care less about their awful football team?)
And there was a very large sign on the edge of the field that said "KEEP OFF GRASS".
I had a little rebellious moment and ran to the end zone.
Our last stop was to probably the most famous building on campus: Cameron Indoor Stadium
(The tiny arena that the basketball team plays in)
On weekdays it's generally open to the public, but it was closed on Sunday. We were determined to find a way inside. Bryant ended up finding some random, secluded door that was open but that only led to another that was locked.
Yes, we were this desperate to get in:
What we did stumble upon was the Athletic Museum
This was cool
It housed all of their National Championship trophies, past player's jerseys..etc.
Overall, it was quite the trip. I really wish we could have spent a lot more time with Jackson & Celeste, but they were amazing hosts and made our experience amazing with what little time we had.
Thanks Guys!!
