Jacksonville, NC

this past weekend i drove to jacksonville, nc (a nice 7 hour, 350 mile drive) to visit granger while he is stationed at camp lejeune. now, granger and i have been dating for 2+ years, so i've heard all about the glory and splendor of this quaint little town before. but nothing can really prepare you for a visit to this place, which granger sometimes fondly refers to as j-vegas. i have never before seen a more beautiful array of parking lots, drive thrus, fast food restaurants, walmarts, targets, military surplus stores, and did i mention fast food restaurants?

the first night i was there, we went to a bar with granger's friend and granger's friend's girlfriend. we went to this place that was right across the street from the hotel that was a total dive. at 1am or so, we tried to order food only to be told that the cook had just been fired. um, what? ten minutes later the waitress came back and said they'd gotten a new cook. yeah, no thanks...

the next day granger and i relaxed and took a drive to topsail island to check it out. topsail island is where monica's family ALWAYS goes to the beach, so it was nice to finally get to see it. it was really beautiful, and granger and i drove down the streets looking at the rental houses and saying "ohhh, let's stay here!" and "oh look at that one!" over and ever again. we walked on the beach a little and, of course took some obviously requisite quick-take-a-picture-of-me-as-i-jump pictures:

attempt #1: COMPLETE FAIL


attempt #2: better, but still not good enough


attempt #3: clearly as good as it's going to get



that night we went to a country bar called Gus'. it was my first time at a country bar (!), and i had a hard time just accepting it rather than trying to understand everything that was going on around me. all i saw were pickup trucks that has been raised way off the ground, cowboy hats and cowboy boots, men wearing TIGHT jeans, men chewing tabacco, and people yelling heeeyyyyyyy ya'llllllllll across the bar to each other. it was like a foreign country. the anthropologist in me came raging to the surface!

actually, that reminds me, i saw this white girl talking to an asian woman. the white girl asked where the asian woman was from, and the asian woman responded "tokyo." the white girl replied, "oh coooooool, where's that?"

run.

anyway, Gus' was pretty fun. i even learned a country dance called the two-step which, inevitably, has three steps. i'm choosing to believe that the irony was intentional. there was only one fight that night, and it happened just as the bar closed. all i saw was one guy knock another guy to the floor, cowboy hats went a-flyin, and then security was all over it. dang!

the next day was sunday which was, sadly, my last day. granger and i really didn't do much (probably because there's not much TO DO). we drove to another beautiful beach called emerald isle, which i actually think i liked better than topsail island. either one would do, though. that night granger and i feasted at taco bell (aka toxic hell). taco bell is delicious riiiiiight until you finish your meal, and then all you can think is 'whhhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyy??????????' it sorta reminds me of Jim Gaffigan's sketch about I-HOP... as he says, "i don't know why they call it I-HOP. after i eat there i never feel like hopping! they should call it I-NAP..."

the next morning was monday, and granger had to be up at 4am to get to work in time. i slept in a little bit, got packed up, drove to camp lejeune to hug granger goodbye quickly, and then i was on the road back home to dc shortly thereafter... all in all, the place is more than forgettable, but the company was excellent!