Tootsie Yr2: Wilmington, NC to Lexington, KY
Monday was a long day.
The bus left the hotel around 11:30. Flights were at I think 1 or 1:30, landed in Charlotte, another flight to Raleigh.
From there, a 3-hour bus ride to Wilmington with a stop at a Pilot on the way.
I always carry a lot of nonperishables, so only picked up a bottle of water and a yogurt for tomorrow's breakfast.
When we finally got to the hotel it was after 9pm.
I watched some Food Network with Jameson while unpacking, took my covid test, and fell asleep pretty quickly.
----------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday I took my time in the morning, doing data entry and chatting with Jameson.
At 11 I walked to Better Basket, which I had thought was a sort of grocery but turned out to be a very weird collection of cheese, wine, candies, and deodorant, with some sad and aged vegetables in a few dusty baskets. I rescued some tangerines and another yogurt, and found some pepitas, but that was about it.
A few blocks further was a DGX, which is Dollar Store's attempt at an urban grocery, and they had much more of a selection.
I got my protein shake and some granola there, and dropped a link to a walking map in my foodie group since I'd initially directed them to the Better Basket. So kind of a grocery fail this week, but I can't see everything via Google Maps, after all.
Then I had a nice stroll to The Kitchen Sink, a restaurant near the theater offering a nice assortment of sandwiches and soups.
I was gratified to see three of our crew in line for sandwiches when I got there...some had already known about the place because they'd been through Wilmington before, but others had used my foodie sheet. Cool :)
I got the "Sweet & Savory", which is a turkey sandwich with Brie, green apple, microgreens, sweet hot pepper jelly, and mayo.
It was supposed to be on a croissant but I subbed in oat bread.
I guess it's kinda similar to the sandwich I got in Grand Rapids.
I like the contrast of salty deli meat, rich cheese, and sweet fruit.
A "handheld charcuterie", if you will.
After lunch I relaxed a bit, feeling extra tired from all the traveling the day before.
I tried to give myself good seats for the next set of flights, not that it matters since they're so short.
At the theater in Wilmington we were treated to a Green Room packed with snacks and beverages.
There were bagels, muffins, fruit, prepackaged snack cakes and crackers and chips and cereals, coffee and tea and milk and juice and several kinds of water, and even a soda fountain.
This is far more than we would usually expect, and it was really very nice, especially in a town with no real grocery store.
I nabbed a bagel for my travels, and a few individually-wrapped prunes because I found them amusing.
Whoever set up our stuff in the pit had put labels on each seat to help local crew know where things go.
Then they forgot to remove the labels afterward.
I had to play with mine. You guys I play trombone! Thank goodness for this label or I might have forgotten lol.
(photo courtesy Bill Dowling)
Our show went well, and the audience was nice.
Even though we were only in town for a day, it felt very welcoming. Wish we could have stayed longer!
I tried to get to bed early but the toilet in my room runs constantly, there was a lot of street noise filtering in, and the climate control wasn't working so it was cold and I had to burrow like a hibernating animal under the covers.
--------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday morning I was up before my alarm, very tired and not feeling very rested.
Had a coffee and some random breakfast items before the bus arrived.
A 2-hour ride back to Raleigh/Durham, then a longer-than-usual layover.
I treated myself to a sandwich from La Farm. Read my book on my phone. Walked around the airport.
Took a picture of 5/10ths of the band waiting for our flight.
(from left to right: Paul, Drums; Brandon, Bass; Kevin, Reed 1; Jared, Guitar; Josh, Key 2/MD)
Travel day things.
Both flights went well, both were very short. One of them was delayed a bit, so we were a little later getting to the hotel than planned.
Our hotel in Lexington is approx five miles outside of downtown, so we have some rental cars to use.
Immediately on arriving I checked to see that I had a fridge and that it was working, then shot out the door to find the rental car with Paul and Jared. We went to Whole Paycheck for groceries (I hadn't been planning on this as there's a Walmart Supercenter a lot closer, but listen here, I am NOT complaining!!) and on the way Jared revealed that he's not been to a Whole Paycheck in a REALLY long time.
Oh boy, I thought to myself. You're about to have an experience!
An hour later we were back at the car, Jared with like ten bags of food and a big smile on his face.
Nothing like a good grocery haul to cheer one up after a long travel day!
Back at the hotel I unpacked while watching LEGO Masters "with" Jameson.
You guys, Jameson started studying to get his Masters degree today!!!
I'm SO extremely proud of him!!!
Whether it ends up being a milestone for him or not, the fact that he is trying, and learning, and attempting to grow, is a wonderful thing.
His first day went well, and I'm excited to see what the future will hold for him :)
He also recently started a meal subscription service, which I'm ALSO very excited about for him as it will mean healthier and more varied food options. When I'm home I like to cook for us, but he doesn't prefer to cook so when I'm gone he's been eating out a lot.
Here's his first subscription meal: creamy dijon dill chicken with roasted potatoes and broccoli!
----------------------------------------------------------
Thursday I woke up a bit later than usual, tired from the travel day and trapped for a bit in dreams where I was still moving.
Had a lovely breakfast thanks to Whole Paycheck and my adorable Itaki which was responsible for my oatmeal.
After the oatmeal I got some snap peas going, and got the timing right (8-10 minutes).
Then I set it up to cook some barley. It's happily bubbling away next to me as I type up this post.
(notice the silicone trivet it's sitting on. So pleased to finally have gotten one!)
When the barley is done I'm going to Walmart to find nut-free protein bars, earplugs, and wet wipes (Whole Paycheck doesn't have EVERYTHING you know), then heading downtown for an unhealthy lunch from DV8 Kitchen!
I have one other special foodie stop planned. We also get free breakfast in this hotel, and the theater is providing an "usher meal" for us between shows on Sunday, so I'm feeling very fortunate food-wise this week.
I probably won't have a load of time for exploration, but will do my best!
The bus left the hotel around 11:30. Flights were at I think 1 or 1:30, landed in Charlotte, another flight to Raleigh.
From there, a 3-hour bus ride to Wilmington with a stop at a Pilot on the way.
I always carry a lot of nonperishables, so only picked up a bottle of water and a yogurt for tomorrow's breakfast.
When we finally got to the hotel it was after 9pm.
I watched some Food Network with Jameson while unpacking, took my covid test, and fell asleep pretty quickly.
----------------------------------------------------------
Tuesday I took my time in the morning, doing data entry and chatting with Jameson.
At 11 I walked to Better Basket, which I had thought was a sort of grocery but turned out to be a very weird collection of cheese, wine, candies, and deodorant, with some sad and aged vegetables in a few dusty baskets. I rescued some tangerines and another yogurt, and found some pepitas, but that was about it.
A few blocks further was a DGX, which is Dollar Store's attempt at an urban grocery, and they had much more of a selection.
I got my protein shake and some granola there, and dropped a link to a walking map in my foodie group since I'd initially directed them to the Better Basket. So kind of a grocery fail this week, but I can't see everything via Google Maps, after all.
Then I had a nice stroll to The Kitchen Sink, a restaurant near the theater offering a nice assortment of sandwiches and soups.
I was gratified to see three of our crew in line for sandwiches when I got there...some had already known about the place because they'd been through Wilmington before, but others had used my foodie sheet. Cool :)
I got the "Sweet & Savory", which is a turkey sandwich with Brie, green apple, microgreens, sweet hot pepper jelly, and mayo.
It was supposed to be on a croissant but I subbed in oat bread.
I guess it's kinda similar to the sandwich I got in Grand Rapids.
I like the contrast of salty deli meat, rich cheese, and sweet fruit.
A "handheld charcuterie", if you will.
After lunch I relaxed a bit, feeling extra tired from all the traveling the day before.
I tried to give myself good seats for the next set of flights, not that it matters since they're so short.
At the theater in Wilmington we were treated to a Green Room packed with snacks and beverages.
There were bagels, muffins, fruit, prepackaged snack cakes and crackers and chips and cereals, coffee and tea and milk and juice and several kinds of water, and even a soda fountain.
This is far more than we would usually expect, and it was really very nice, especially in a town with no real grocery store.
I nabbed a bagel for my travels, and a few individually-wrapped prunes because I found them amusing.
Whoever set up our stuff in the pit had put labels on each seat to help local crew know where things go.
Then they forgot to remove the labels afterward.
I had to play with mine. You guys I play trombone! Thank goodness for this label or I might have forgotten lol.
(photo courtesy Bill Dowling)
Our show went well, and the audience was nice.
Even though we were only in town for a day, it felt very welcoming. Wish we could have stayed longer!
I tried to get to bed early but the toilet in my room runs constantly, there was a lot of street noise filtering in, and the climate control wasn't working so it was cold and I had to burrow like a hibernating animal under the covers.
--------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday morning I was up before my alarm, very tired and not feeling very rested.
Had a coffee and some random breakfast items before the bus arrived.
A 2-hour ride back to Raleigh/Durham, then a longer-than-usual layover.
I treated myself to a sandwich from La Farm. Read my book on my phone. Walked around the airport.
Took a picture of 5/10ths of the band waiting for our flight.
(from left to right: Paul, Drums; Brandon, Bass; Kevin, Reed 1; Jared, Guitar; Josh, Key 2/MD)
Travel day things.
Both flights went well, both were very short. One of them was delayed a bit, so we were a little later getting to the hotel than planned.
Our hotel in Lexington is approx five miles outside of downtown, so we have some rental cars to use.
Immediately on arriving I checked to see that I had a fridge and that it was working, then shot out the door to find the rental car with Paul and Jared. We went to Whole Paycheck for groceries (I hadn't been planning on this as there's a Walmart Supercenter a lot closer, but listen here, I am NOT complaining!!) and on the way Jared revealed that he's not been to a Whole Paycheck in a REALLY long time.
Oh boy, I thought to myself. You're about to have an experience!
An hour later we were back at the car, Jared with like ten bags of food and a big smile on his face.
Nothing like a good grocery haul to cheer one up after a long travel day!
Back at the hotel I unpacked while watching LEGO Masters "with" Jameson.
You guys, Jameson started studying to get his Masters degree today!!!
I'm SO extremely proud of him!!!
Whether it ends up being a milestone for him or not, the fact that he is trying, and learning, and attempting to grow, is a wonderful thing.
His first day went well, and I'm excited to see what the future will hold for him :)
He also recently started a meal subscription service, which I'm ALSO very excited about for him as it will mean healthier and more varied food options. When I'm home I like to cook for us, but he doesn't prefer to cook so when I'm gone he's been eating out a lot.
Here's his first subscription meal: creamy dijon dill chicken with roasted potatoes and broccoli!
----------------------------------------------------------
Thursday I woke up a bit later than usual, tired from the travel day and trapped for a bit in dreams where I was still moving.
Had a lovely breakfast thanks to Whole Paycheck and my adorable Itaki which was responsible for my oatmeal.
After the oatmeal I got some snap peas going, and got the timing right (8-10 minutes).
Then I set it up to cook some barley. It's happily bubbling away next to me as I type up this post.
(notice the silicone trivet it's sitting on. So pleased to finally have gotten one!)
When the barley is done I'm going to Walmart to find nut-free protein bars, earplugs, and wet wipes (Whole Paycheck doesn't have EVERYTHING you know), then heading downtown for an unhealthy lunch from DV8 Kitchen!
I have one other special foodie stop planned. We also get free breakfast in this hotel, and the theater is providing an "usher meal" for us between shows on Sunday, so I'm feeling very fortunate food-wise this week.
I probably won't have a load of time for exploration, but will do my best!