<p>^
Don’t forget the cotton. There’s almost as many fields of cotton as tobacco! Neat, but a bit monotonous when you’re a little kid driving to the beach. At least there were the random produce stands to break up the monotony. :rolleyes:</p>
<p>salem, your “youth on the farm” reminds me of one of my elementary school teachers. She was raised on a tobacco farm, and she told us how her hands would be completely stained with tobacco juice when she was done with the day’s work. Her hands give her problems now. :(</p>
<p>“salem, your “youth on the farm” reminds me of one of my elementary school teachers. She was raised on a tobacco farm, and she told us how her hands would be completely stained with tobacco juice when she was done with the day’s work. Her hands give her problems now.”</p>
<p>You know what they call that “juice?” They call the dried juice on your hands tobacco gum. Or better yet, complete with southern drawl “'baccer gum!” Oh, I’ve had that on my hands thousands of times. It’s really hard to get off too! :)</p>
<p>OMG, you are SO right…I can totally, completely understand that!! I’m tryin’ to get my dh to do the same (with our six kids, three dogs, two kitties, and a fish named “chicken”<----don’t ask)!! <em>lol</em></p>
<p>I don’t remember the name of the restaurant, but I’d recognize it if someone said it. Apparently it is a Durham landmark…quite famous locally. We were the last to leave because the folks in there were SO friendly!! Really amazing hospitality. ~berurah</p>
<p>We own a condo on Topsail Island, a small Island on the very southern edge of the outer banks. The beaches are very quiet and somewhat undeveloped.</p>
<p>A few things we learned about coastal NC:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>This part of NC is very well known for its prolific shrimp production. Depending on when you go, be prepared to eat a lot of shrimp - in everything!</p></li>
<li><p>We never knew that Wilmington, NC (a great little historic city on the Cape Fear river) was so well known in the film industry.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>"Since 1983, the Wilmington region has continued to be one of the most productive and cost-effective filmmaking destinations in the world. To date, the Wilmington area has hosted over 300 features, mini-series, movies of the week and 8 TV series along with numerous commercials and music videos. </p>
<p>Wilmington’s success in being a leading filmmaking center is due not only to our diverse locations and temperate climate, but also to the depth of our production infrastructure. Our technical crews, both union and non-union in this “right-to-work” state are second to none. Additionally, Wilmington boasts a complete range of equipment, support services, talent, and resources. </p>
<p>Wilmington is also the home of Screen Gems Studios, one of the largest production studios East of Hollywood."</p>
<p>We actually did eat at Elmo’s twice…both times for breakfast! It was fabulous…reminded me SO much of some little Austin places from my youth. It’s hard to get grits around here, and being a native Texan, I really appreciated finding them there! ;)That is not where we ate that dinner, though. Keep tryin’…I’m sure you’ll hit on it eventually! <em>lol</em></p>
<p>Noooooooooooooooooooooo!!! Dragging the poor guy into the battle of NASCAR stickers would be worst than getting him involved in a UNC-Duke discussion. Poor guy won’t stand a chance. </p>
<p>But if you go that route, get a 6 instead of an 8 :)</p>
<p>A 6!!! Well, at least he doesn’t have that embarrassing sponsor issue anymore. Obviously, this is gonna just turn into a Chevy/Ford battle. Maybe we should compromise and make him a 43 fanatic. We could write TheDad a little cheat sheet of Petty/Labonte factoids…</p>
<p>I will graciously agree to 43 as a reasonable compromise. Nobody can hate on 43, past or present. </p>
<p>Up until last year my guy was 2 – I was well versed in talking to people that hate him, his car, his dog, his hair, his teeth, and the air he breathes.</p>
<p>Since you are involved with real estate, coastal NC has grown tremendously just in the past few years. Some of the real estate prices went down after some of the larger hurricanes about 10-15 years ago, but the prices now are getting ridiculous. Everyone is now building these huge oceanfront McMansions on stilts. They look like they would blow down pretty quickly in a strong hurricane! The insurance must be outrageous.</p>
<p>(The oceanfront condo that we bought three years ago has actually quadrupled in value. We bought it with the speculation that it could withstand any hurricane…we hope that doesn’t happen. This investment (which everyone told us might be risky at the time) is one of the reasons we can finance the private NC college education for S. Thank goodness for home equity. We are only regretting that we didn’t buy one or two more… who knew??</p>
<p>Mama Dip’s in Chapel Hill serves some really great green fried tomatoes and all different flavors of grits, cheese grits… I prefer chicken on biscuits, don’t care much for the pork chop on a biscuit. 2 summers ago I had a DD at State, another daughter diving at Carolina and a son doing research at Duke, talk about ACC conflicts!</p>
<p>Being an Air Force brat I have travelled quite a bit but I never seen people enjoy their front porches more than here. Living in a small town here feels like we stepped back a few decades in time.</p>
<p>I can respect an old 2 fan, not a new 2, well, I will never choke down another Miller Lite. I was a 43 fan until they fired Andretti, been shopping for a new driver since. Discovered the 11 at the end of last season and after the Bud Shoot Out, I’m a Hamlin fan. Works nicely with the D, she’s a 20 fan. But isn’t 6 on his farewell tour this year? What then?</p>
<p>God only knows. It does seem odd to switch to a new guy for just one season, but he was always my second favorite anyway. </p>
<p>88 maybe? But he’s not much longer too. 12 is possible. My personal favorite will be watching Morgan’s car, the 'ol “Victory in Jesus/Dutch Quality Stone No. 89” That’ll just roll off the tongue if he ever makes it to victory lane.</p>
<p>Who isn’t an 88 fan? My soon to be D in-law is a 12 fan, S got him to sign his garage pass last weekend, hoping it would make a good Valentine’s card. Gosh, we are a sick and twisted family! Woo-hoo, the rain has stopped, looks like it’s time to open a beer and watch 31 do something stupid.</p>
<p>TheDad, do you have any better idea what you are going to do on your vacation?! ;). We’re having a grand old time, but I’m not sure how informative we are!</p>
We are only regretting that we didn’t buy one or two more… who knew??</p>