Here in North Carolina, Wisteria grows wild and is very invasive. It is also gorgeous right now. It hangs from trees and (unfortunately) climbs all over houses. Think Kudzu with pretty flowers.

Driving to dinner the other night we saw an old derelict house sagging with Wisteria. Not sure which came first, the dereliction or the Wisteria.

I’m enjoying the beauty of it.

I had some time to myself yesterday morning so I decided to go for a walk in search of Wisteria hanging from trees.

I came upon a dead cat on Main St. complete with flies and odor that was still there from our previous walk a day before, walked past that pretty quickly. I’m sure someone is really missing their little friend. Amazed it hadn’t been removed since it was on the sidewalk near a bench.

I also found lots of beautiful flowering shrubs and dogwood trees. Surprisingly no Wisteria though so we had to drive around later to find some.

Spring is beginning and I think it’s going to be a colorful one here in North Carolina.

Went to dinner at a wonderful little Indian Restaurant in town called Zeera. The food and service were the best.

Now we’re sitting in RDU waiting for our plane. I managed to remember the flight time wrong so we woke up in time to make a 6:30 am flight only to discover our flight didn’t leave until 8:30 am. Oops! Oh well, plenty of time to have breakfast and write this little blog post.

Great flight on Southwest, we even had a comedic purser giving the emergency information on the flight from RDU to Denver. He had us all cracking up.

Had a great nights sleep in our room in the B&B! Just what we needed!

Got all cleaned up and went over to breakfast. Patty makes such a wonderful breakfast and John makes very special coffee. We also enjoyed a bit of conversation with them.

After breakfast we went for a short walk through town before heading over to visit family.

Violets grow in the grass in peoples lawns.

We went to lunch at a place called Rock Harbor Grill. The guy who owns it has a huge collection of photos and memorabilia of rock icons from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s that he has amassed over the last 25 years. The metal sculpture below is near the entrance.

He even has a certified signed guitar from Elvis Presley!

We got up about 7:30 and after having coffee and oatmeal we began packing. After we were packed and pretty much ready to leave, I made us a sandwich to split for lunch.

By noon we were in the van headed up the 101. I had expected there would be plenty of traffic since people would be returning home from holiday celebrations but nope, the traffic was light except for a couple of small jams near Gilroy.

Now we’re sitting in our hotel room waiting for it to be time for dinner, half a sandwich for lunch only lasts so long. Most of the restaurants nearby are closed for the holiday so we’ll eat downstairs in the lounge which doesn’t open until 5:00 pm.

Our Southwest Airlines flight leaves at 6:40 in the morning so we’ll be getting up at 3:00 am in order to have plenty of time to park the van, get checked in at the airport and have breakfast.

So far the airport economy parking looks like the best deal at $18 bucks a night.

San Jose Joe’s at the airport opens for breakfast at 5:00 am, perfect.

Boarding passes printed, check! Fuquay Varina, North Carolina, here we come!

Airport parking was easy peasy and the shuttle arrived right after we parked the car. Only negative was that we were so early getting to the airport that nothing was open. We stood in front of a terminal in standby for 30 minutes before the magic people with the codes showed up to turn them on. From there everything went really quickly. If you haven’t gotten Global Entry yet, get it! Don’t think about it just do it. With Global Entry in the USA you show your Global Entry ID and that’s it, you put your stuff on the conveyer belt and it comes out the other side, you’re done. No standing in line, no taking off your shoes, no remembering to take your plastic bag of stuff out of your carryon…you are done. Totally cool.

By the time we got upstairs (remember how early we got to the airport) we were starving. We went straight to San Jose Joe’s! It was 4:50, they would open in 10 minutes, yeah! Umm…at 5:10 I went up to the drape and asked when they were going to open, I was told about 10 minutes. I guess 5:00 am is a moving target.

We finally got in and breakfast was fine, service was stellar and the coffee was continuous. I was happy!

Our Southwest Airlines flights were on time, uneventful and pleasant. Even out luggage made it! Southwest has never lost our luggage, pretty awesome, I think!

This is the first time I have ever been to the south in the springtime. I’ve been many times in the summer, fall and winter. Did you know that in North Carolina, Wisteria is an invasive weed? I didn’t. It’s beautiful and everywhere, hanging from pine trees and anything else it can attach itself to. There is dogwood absolutely everywhere as well and this is early spring, I would love to see this area when it’s in full bloom! Wow!

We aren’t here for very long but I will try to get a few photos of the Wisteria.

We had dinner at a place called The Mason Jar, it’s just a little tavern with pretty good bar food and some really good beer. The service is so so but sweet and sincere.