Thanksgiving in North Carolina

Ryan and I had the chance to go to Durham for our Thanksgiving break. My brother John and his wife Elizabeth moved to Charlotte several months ago, and they came back for the holiday. It was neat because they stayed at my mom's house like Ryan and I did, which meant we got to spend more time together than before (when they had their own house in town.)

On Friday, John took Ryan on Ryan's first hunting trip. (Ryan has earned a number of brownie points with the locals here in Mt. Vernon for this.) He and Ryan caught 7 doves between them. Ryan was smiling from ear to ear when he got back. While the guys were doing their thing, Mom, Elizabeth, and I went to the restaurant Symposium in a new urban center that has been made from renovated tobacco warehouses, now known as the American Tobacco Historic District. After that we had a latte at the Gugelhupf Bakery, a favorite of mine.

On Saturday, Mom threw an open house for us. I think about 50 people came. I got to see friends from childhood, from middle school, high school, as well as neighbors and folks from church who have known me since I was born. It was a neat flash from the past. Here's a picture a friend of mine took of Ryan and I at the event. (Hopefully more pictures will come, that other folks took.)

On Sunday, Ryan and I visited with several friends, and then at the end of the night, we drove to Chapel Hill, so Ryan could see the University of North Carolina's campus. Although it was ten minutes from where I grew up, I honestly never went there much. (I mean, I was 18 when I left home, and a 12 year doesn't have much reason to hang out on a college campus.) At any rate, I wasn't sure what we would do there. We happened to stumble across a really cool restaurant/bar called Top of the Hill. John joined Ryan and I, and we spent a few hours there. We got the most interesting food, including raw tuna in plumb sauce, sweet potato fries, and salad with goat cheese. For a bar, it had some of the most unusual food I've had in a while.

It was the longest time that Ryan has spent with my family, and it had been 10 months since I had been in Durham, so it was good to be there for the long weekend.