Happy birthday, America!

*Warning, long post ahead!*

After Christmas and Thanksgiving, I think the 4th of July might be one of my top favorite holidays. Granted, I suppose that opinion changes depending on plans and activities, but this past weekend was a GREAT time of celebrating our country and celebrating friendships!

I went with some great people to the mountains of NC and TN this weekend. The crew consisted of Teran and Paige, our hostesses who call Western NC home, church friends Jeff, JJ and Adam, and new friend Ginny. The seven of us spent Thursday night-Sunday afternoon together sharing fun activities, tasty food and tons of laughs.

Here's some highlights of the trip, with no particular rhyme or reason!

-Highlight #1: Our dinner stop at Zaxby's in Statesville. It was my first ever Zaxby's visit, and though the food was decent, I was.....uh, how do I say, less than impressed with the employees. The girl behind the front counter (who I swear had 14 syllables to her name) "was kinda new." This meant she didn't know a lot of things. Here's how our conversation went.

Me: "How many chicken tenders are in the Zax Pak meal?"
Lashandawitarethalanda: "Uhh.....I'm not sure. I'm kinda new."
*Silence while I waited for her to figure it out. More silence as she stared at me waiting for me to order something anyway.*
Me: "Ok then, I guess I'll just get that and hope it's enough. Can I get onion rings instead of fries?"
Lashandawitarethalanda: "I don't know."
*Silence on my part. More staring on hers.*
Lashandawitarethalanda: "Do you need me to ask somebody?"
Me: "That would be great, thanks."
*Slight glance to the left. Eyes on me again.*
Lashandawitarethalanda: "She on the phone."
*Silence and staring*
Me: "Can you just go ahead and sub my fries for onion rings? The onion rings are cheaper, so I'm sure it wouldn't matter."
Lashandawitarethalanda: "I don't know how to do that."

Guess what I got with my chicken? French fries. I gave up, unlike Paige who held her ground. She asked 3 times while ordering for no pickle to be put on her plate. She hates them, and so when they put it on there anyway, she insisted they remove the pickle from her plate and give her a fresh meal, without pickle-juice contamination. Lashandawitarethalanda told her it was against their policy to remove pickles. Really, Lashandawitarethalanda? Are you sure there is a policy about pickles that you do know? She then proceeded to ask Paige if she was scared of pickles. Yes, yes she is. Just take the flippin' thing off.

-Highlight #2: We took a lovely little hike to Pickens Nose, a rock formation named after Andrew Pickens of Revolutionary War fame. Had a photo shoot up there, and all of us nearly busted it a time or two. The views were gorgeous and the weather was great, even including the rainstorm that moved in and out quickly.

-Highlight #3: July 4th night. I ate some killer ribs at Fat Buddy's Barbecue, and we had a great conversation about OCD, love of the spotlight (surprisingly, not in relation to me), and weird quirks/habits we have. After dinner, we enjoyed small-town USA as we strolled around the park in Franklin, people watching (saw a niiiice mullet) and listening to some great old songs. Of course, fireworks were included and they were pretty good. I love July 4th festivities. We then went back to Teran and Paige's place for some apple pie, sparklers (safe sparkler experience, don't worry!) and good conversation in the hot tub. How much more American can we get?

-Highlight #4: Saturday we went white-water rafting on the Pigeon River. It's a great little run, and thanks to my old boss, we got a good deal and a great guide! Supposedly we wanted "the craziest trip possible," so our guide Paul did his job - by taking us backwards through Class IV rapids. We survived (Jeff and I about bit it on one of the rapids. He grabbed me and kept me in the boat and I grabbed his paddle when he removed his thumb from the T-Grip and dropped it. Great teamwork!) After narrowly escaping death, Jeff, Teran and I jumped out of the boat for a little swim and some rock-jumping. I belly-flopped, which was slightly painful but fairly funny, but hopefully we got some cute pictures out of it! Also, apparently one of the river guides is named Ricky Bobby. No joke. As he was floating by we heard him yell, "Tell so-and-so Ricky Bobby is looking for her!" Oh boy. Welcome back to TN, huh?

-Highlight #5: Playing Balderdash (my first time. Seems like this is a recurring pattern this trip!) We were deliriously tired and throwing in every inside joke we had come up with to this point. "Hackmatack: A hotel chain in Kentucky." Good fun.

-Highlight #6: Meeting an Amish family and hearing Teran and Paige's grandpa (Giaddi) offer their 12 year old a Bud Light. Classic. They even offered to give us a ride in their buggy if we came to Amish country in Indiana. Next road-trip location, anyone?

Anyways, those were just a few of the laughs. We had a wonderful trip, a horrible time trying to get home through the storms, but a ton of fun hanging out with one another, eating, relaxing and cracking up at our weirdness. Gotta love road trips!