We woke up relatively late to meet the Firecracker’s BIL and sister at a North Carolina BBQ joint called Lexington Barbecue.
Her: You’ll like it if you prefer dry rub to sauces. Me: I like all types of BBQ. Her: This is authentic southern BBQ!
I actually ended getting the fish.
BIL: Lemme get this straight, you come to a Carolina BBQ place and you get…fish?! Me: I’m just gonna eat some of [the Firecracker’s] food – she never finishes.
Turns out she did.
BUT her niece didn’t want any of her food, so I ate that.
After we left, I took some pics outside when I heard a fella called out to me…
Him: Hey! Hey, man! You want some real pictures, come on into the smoker. Me: Hot damn, yeah!
He was the pitmaster and also just a prince of a fella.
So were the two gents working back there as well.
The pitmaster pulled a piece of pork right outta the smoker and handed it to me.
The next day, we got up bright and early to meet the Firecracker’s mom at a joint on the same block as our hotel called Heff’s Burger Club.
Me: They have diet Mountain Dew! Her: It’s the south; we have diet Mountain Dew.
The Firecracker’s sister and BIL were both there and they’re both foodies so they suggested the joint.
Firecracker’s mom: I’ll sit next to Logan. Me: Good life choice there, lady.
She was very nice, but didn’t like to take pictures so I wasn’t able to really capture much.
I ordered a full burger but I was still pretty hungry.
From my window in my hotel room, I’d noticed a hot chicken place across from my hotel.
Her: You want more food? Firecracker: He’s always hungry, mom.
So, while they all enjoyed the gorgeous weather – it was close to the 80s – I had myself a medium-spice level chicken.
BIL: How is it? Me: I shoulda ordered the mild; the first one was fine but the heat builds up and now I’m sweating.
Sweating, but enjoying my hot chix.
I woulda had more though…
…but we had other places to be.
Firecracker: We have to get some Krispy Kreme. Me: Why? Her: This is where they were created – Winston-Salem. Me: Sold!
So, off we went.
The sign that indicated that the donuts were hot was turned off…
…but it turned out that they had just finished making a batch, so we ordered some hot ones.
I brought the peanut butter, knowing there would be a ton of sweets down south.
To say that it was good would be a massive understatement.
But I limited myself to “just” two.
Her: You’re on vacation. Me: This is you being an enabler.
The Firecracker snapped a pic of me wearing one the paper hats.
I wanted to get her mom some flowers for the next day, so we stopped by a Walmart.
Her: What are you doing? Me: $5 for two cubic feet of dirt? That’s a bargain. Her: You’re buying dirt?! To bring home to NYC? From Winston-Salem North Carolina?! Me: Evidently.
And I did.
We then drove by her old home…
Her: It’s been like 20 years since I’ve come here. Me: How are you doing? Her: I’m feeling some kinda way.
There’s more to that, but that’s her story to tell, so I’ll end that part here.
Afterward, we went to her high school, where she snapped the below picture.
Me: Imagine if I went here! Her: You were already outta law school when this place was built. Me: That wasn’t really necessary to point out.
Afterward, we met up with her BIL and sister again for drinks at the West Salem Public House, where I tried – and failed – to climb a tree.
See the pic on the bottom.
So, we just drank instead.
Of course, I got hungry so I dashed off to get some soul food but they closed as soon as I got there.
Me: Shoot – is there any place you can recommend? Her: East of Texas across the lot is pretty popular. Me: OK, but I just want you to know that I wanted you guys first. Her: (laughs) Ah, thanks, sugar!
That’s where we closed out the night, with me stuffing myself silly.
All-in-all, it was a good second day there.
I’ll probably wrap this whole thing up in another entry or two, so I’ll see you in the next one.
Probably two more.
I eat a lot.
Location: Warby Parker in the UWS and Columbus, picking up two eclipse glasses for the eclipse this coming Monday
Mood: injured
Music: Something bout you really feels like home (Spotify) Subscribe! Like this post? Tell someone about it by clicking a button below.
Getting outta the city’s always a bear but the visiting presidents and alla the rain made everything worse.
My son didn’t come with us down south as he wanted to stay at his grandparents, so we drove him out to NJ first to drop him off.
MIL: You want some coffee before you go? Firecracker: Oh, I already have some in the car, thank you. Me: I’d love some, but I go to the bathroom enough when I travel.
This turned out to be pretty true when I asked her a few hours later if she wanted to pull over to get a quick break.
Her: Nope – I’m gonna be a taskmaster here. Me: Can I at least borrow your sunglasses to try and sleep a bit? Her: (laughing) You’re gonna look great in my sunglasses.
She was wrong.
Tried to get some sleep in the car but that was pretty much impossible.
Somewhere in West Viginia, her kid got hungry so she finally pulled over and we searched around for a place to eat.
Her: I love seeing the country. Isn’t it beautiful and peaceful? Me: It’s like when I went to college [in Cornell]. I gotta, say, though, this place is less bucolic and more like the land of strip malls.
I had a chicken sammie animal style at Chick-fil-A.
The next four hours or so were just like this.
We were making good time so for dinner, we ended up stopping by a joint called Holly Jo’s Creekside Grill.
The food was only ok but everyone was super nice and I can’t remember the last time I ate with Darth Vader.
The problem was probably that I ordered a salad. It was not a good salad.
Everything else was good, though.
It was pretty late when we pulled into our hotel in Winston-Salem – some 12 hours after we left that morning.
The hotel itself was pretty nice.
Me: Man, look at the size of this place! Real estate’s gotta be lot cheaper out here if this is just the lobby. Her: Yup, Winston-Salem only has about 250,000 people. Me: That’s not even as big as my family’s neighborhood in Queens.
The hotel room was pretty nice too.
When we got up the next morning, we were pretty amused to find that there were two conventions happening in the convention hall just a block from our hotel room:
Shall we say that the attendees of the respective events wore radically different outfits?
Firecracker: (talking about the Youth Convention ladies) Do you notice that they’re all wearing skirts down to their ankles? Me: I do now. (pointing over at an anime convention girl in hot pants) They’re dressed pretty differently. Her: Very. (shaking head) They should probably wear a little more. Me: Nah, it’s America. People should dress how they want. Her: It’s cold! Me: This is true.
I didn’t take any pics of the latter but did of the former.
