I was in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina for the weekend visiting my friend Diana. Some vacation highlights, thoughts, observations and queries:

I felt a little queasy before my flight so I bought some Dramamine to keep
from heaving. Did you know Dramamine makes you sleepy? I didn't. I slept for
almost the entire flight. Which was probably a good thing. I was sandwiched
between a man who insisted on violating my personal space the entire flight
and a girl obviously suffering from a cold. Ugh.

Can someone tell me why there is always a Brooks Brothers at the airport?
I've never seen anyone shopping in one and I can't imagine anyone having the
overwhelming desire to purchase a sports coat while waiting for their flight.

I immediately had to retrain myself when ordering beverages. I kept asking
for regular tea thinking I'd get unsweetened tea. I
forgot that regular tea in the south is sweetened tea. Bleah.

I played with Diana's camera phone while there. I realize if I had one, I'd
run the battery down constantly with stupid candid shots.

I saw lots of trees.
They are a cloak of deception. They make everything seem very rural cause you
can't ever really see the metropolitan area for the trees.

Apparently festivals are quite the big thing in "The Triangle". We went to the Skakori Grassroots Festival and something called the Apple Chill,
which was a street arts and crafts fair. I didn't expect to be spending so
much time outdoors and didn't pack my organic sun block. (Regular sun block
burns my face. What can I say...I'm a delicate flower.) So I got quite the
facial sunburn at the festivals. I need to invest in a good sun blocking
hat. The challenge is 1) finding one that fits my large head and 2) finding
one that doesn't look stupid.

The Skakori Grassroots Festival was full of modern day hippies wearing lots of tie dye and hemp bracelets. One hippie chick was sporting a skirt fashioned out of men's ties. She gets the MacGyver Challenge award from me.
At one of the "Healing Arts" booths, I got a massage. My masseuse
was a large hippie man with a long white and gray ponytail and beard. I have a
weird thing about people touching me so I am amazed I let Herbal Santa massage
me at all, let alone in the middle of the woods in full view of everyone.

Oddly, I didn't see a single damn apple at the Apple Chill. I'm unsure
why it was called that. I probably should have asked someone. There were a lot of people there so it was nice to
just walk around and people watch. I was disappointed that I didn't see hardly
any gay dudes there but the dykes were representing well. I also got to see
some ghetto fabulous divas and their men. I kept wondering if any of the guys
were living
on the down low.

I ate at some pretty great restaurants including Mama
Dip's and Pepper's
Pizza. Pepper's had the BEST gazpacho and pizza.

There is no Starbucks at the RDU airport! Those rat bastards. Now, I know
what you are thinking. "But Brian...you don't drink coffee." True,
but I do craved regular...er...unsweetened iced tea often and I really needed
something to drink before my flight. I was sunburned and exhausted and was yearning
for some Tazo black tea. I had to suck it up and drink water. The second I set
foot off the plane in Phoenix, I headed to the nearest kiosk like a junkie
needing a fix.