A couple weeks ago, we celebrated the last days of summer by taking a trip up to Raleigh to visit James. Saturday and Sunday were my first days off in 18 days so I had that extra thrill of freedom as we hit the road Friday night.

Late night driving was an awesome experience for us. We loved the long stretches where we were the only car in sight. We didn’t see the moon… unless you count the eerie glow of the Peachoid which we passed around midnight. By 1 a.m., we hit parts of the highway that were completely blacked out, without lights or reflectors. Except for the headlights, there was only darkness and we were witness to an astonishing view of stars. No photos of this incredible sight since I was driving. Can someone please invent a camera for our eyeballs that takes pictures by blinking??

Despite being highly caffeinated, I needed to crash around 3:30 a.m. So we pulled into High Point to crash for a few hours, then woke up early to visit the World’s Largest Chest of Drawers before breakfast. I’m a sucker for oversized roadside attractions. The giant dresser is nestled in between two very ordinary buildings. It’s three stories high if you can’t tell from my jump to the lowest drawer (I’m 5’2”).

From there it was a pretty easy drive to James’s place in Raleigh. While his mom continues her recovery, James is crashing at his brother’s place and taking care of the family dog, Nuggs. Nuggs is a sweet and handsome dude but this is the only photo out of several where he isn’t a blur with crazy eyes. Haha, had to wait til he’d worn himself out.

I’m a sucker for roadside attractions so we were really psyched to see our first real life Muffler Man in Raleigh. What an awesome beardy giant! I wonder what he once held…

Here we are with our dinner cocktails at Lucky 32, James’s favorite restaurant (a dark and stormy for me, a boozy rosemary-lavender tea for Dean). I ordered their black bean cakes with corn relish, kale greens, and rice. So good! Other delicious food enjoyed: mock chicken and biscuits at Remedy Diner (we brunched on their patio with green anoles on the fence behind us); caramelized banana french toast at Fiction Kitchen (divine!).

We said, ‘later’ to James (already miss him!) and picked up some snacks for the drive home. Deep fried peanuts and okra chips for me; steak flavored chips and Cheerwine for Dean. We stopped off at the Peachoid again and ended up making it back to Athens around bedtime.