Still On The Road

I'm still on the road. We'll be heading back to Florida tomorrow morning. I've been having a nice time. We haven't done anything earth shattering, but it's been nice nonetheless.

In staying in the Pinehurst area. It's a hilly area blanketed with pine trees. It looks a lot like Florida except for the hills. There's a huge concentration of golf courses and horse ranches here. I could almost imagine myself living here, except there's no ren fest nearby, and it's too far from Busch Gardens.

Saturday evening we went to a Sweet Adelines concert. There's a large group of barbershoppers in this area and they were staging their first major concert. All went fairly well with only a few minor glitches. Most people probably didn't even notice them, but with a background in entertainment I am particularly sensitive to those little things…

The local groups did a great job. They also had a group called Southern Yankees from Charlotte visiting. This group has won many competitions and have produced two CDs. It was a real treat to see these ladies perform, and even better was getting to meet them after the performance. We all went to a party afterwards and the Southern Yankees did a few special numbers for us. One of them is a former Miss Vermont. She's such a sweetheart and knows how to give a hug.
 ;)

Sunday morning we woke up some chilly weather. The birds that usually take a bath in the birdbath out on the deck had their ice skates on and put on a real show. Axels, leaps, figure eights. No, not really, but the birdbath was frozen solid since it had dropped well below freezing.

Sunday afternoon brought excitement to the forefront with a shopping trip to Belk's and Goody's followed by a brief foray to The Fresh Market. TFM is a wonderful grocery store with a wide variety of specialty items you can't get at most stores. We have a couple TFMs in Tampa, but they're so far across town from me that they might as well be in Outer Mongolia. I wish they'd put one on my side of town. In the meantime, I guess I'll have to make an occasional trip across town to get some of the best chocolate chunk cookies I've ever tasted. Yum!

Sunday evening we went to see Music & Lyrics, a wonderful romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore. There's even a Busch Gardens joke in the script.

Monday was a lazy day. I sat at the computer most of the morning. I had a burrito from Moe's Southwest Grill for lunch. It was pretty good, but I prefer Chipotle's. After noon we went shopping again. We stopped at a real estate office to get some information about a ranch for sale. Then we went for a long drive exploring the areas northwest of Pinehurst. It's mostly rural, with hardwood forests replacing the plantation pines. We got back "home" and watched a few DVDs.

Like I said, I'm having a nice time, but I'll be glad to get back home to my normal routines. It's nice to go for a visit and I feel at home here, but it's not the same. There's no place like home…

Life is good.