Spring Break 2005

Well, technically since I'm not currently enrolled in college this can't really be called a Spring Break trip - but I'm gonna do that anyway. Here's a quick rundown of last weekend's events.

THURSDAY: I-75 and Atlanta, GA

So after Zack finishes work for the day, we both head to Burger King, get the phenomenal TENDERCRISP BACON CHEDDAR RANCH sandwich, and hit the road. The road ahead is from Tallahassee to Atlanta, about a 4.5 hour drive.

Before the drive though, we got the real fuel we'd need to make the trip - food and drink. Typical of any road trip I make, Funyuns and Slim Jims were there, along with Chex Mix, BBQ Fritos, and 12-packs of Mountain Dew for Zack and 12-packs of Diet Pepsi and Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper for yours truly. We were ready for the road.

We arrive at Georgia Tech to crash at my buddy Steve's place. Steve studied abroad with me at Oxford in 2002, and is an all-around kick-ass guy. I only regret that we didn't get to spend more time with the guy [it was a school night and we got into town around midnight], but he's coming down for GT's spring break along with my favorite Tennessee Vol, Mr. Ravi Pentapaty, for some drinking later this month. That should be hot.


Steve: bad-ass. The GT apartment? Not quite so bad-ass.

We crashed at Steve's, and rode out for Chapel Hill the next morning.

FRIDAY: I-85 and Chapel Hill, NC

After being woke-up by Steve on his way out the door to class, Zack and I get off our collective asses and go get some breakfast before we hit the road. What did we get to fuel our day on the road? Krystal Scramblers. Breakfast in a bowl. Simply put, a Scrambler is a styrofoam cup with layers of breakfast goodness. Grits on the bottom, topped with butter, a scrambled egg, a piece of cheese, and a sausage patty on top. Simply delicious. I got two, one normal - one Southwestern [which I couldn't finish and later ran over at a rest-stop in South Carolina while yelling the word "SCRAMBLED!" and laughing] and Zack got introduced to them. After breakfast we hit I-85 and followed it through north Georgia, South Carolina, and all the way though North Carolina to Chapel Hill.

In the Hill, we met up with David McCaleb, who Zack crashed with and hung out with for the afternoon - I went over to see Meg for the day. That night, the four of us met up and went to Kemp's Seafood House where we literally collectively ordered 48 pounds of fried seafood. It was glorious, but way too much food. I couldn't even finish, which is extremely rare. We then headed to Carrboro to the Cat's Cradle to meet up with Alexandria and Andrew, who had just gotten into town.

The concert we saw opened with The Crimea, who were decent but we really didn't get to see much of them. David McCaleb called them "Bright Eyes", which isn't too far off.

Following them was The Bravery, who were simply awesome. You should go to their website and listen to some of their songs. I'm really looking forward to their new album, which drops March 29th. If you live near a Best Buy, you might be able to score a sampler for the new album for $0.01. At my Best Buy in Tallahassee they had a bunch, and I bought 6-7 of them for my friends. A worthwhile purchase.

Ash was the headliner, and they really brought down the house. I really enjoyed Ash's entire set - every song I wanted to hear, they played. And every song they played, they rocked. Hearing "Vampire Love" and "Walking Barefoot" and "Orpheus" live was worth it all. I recommend if you live where their tour is coming, get off your butt and go see them.

Friday was Alexandria's birthday [Happy Birthday, Alexandria!], so it was good to catch up with her and Andrew. Thorougly exhausted from a long day, I retired for the night.

Also of note: Georgia Tech destroyed Virginia Tech in the ACC tournament, leading me to mock Andrew [a current VT grad student]. UNC also nearly lost to Clemson, leading me to mock Carolina fans David and Meg. This set up a Saturday matchup of Georgia Tech and UNC in the ACC Tournament Semifinals, and a potential for some great smack talk.

SATURDAY: Still in Chapel Hill

Meg left town in the morning to head off to her Spring Break extravangza in Hilton Head, so after saying our goodbyes I met Zack and The Marders at A Southern Season for lunch. The place was absolutely great, and I recommend it to anybody who visits the area.

After lunch, Zack and I went over to Dave's place to watch Georgia Tech beat UNC in the ACC tournament, while The Marders went shopping. After meeting back up and playing some Monopoly, we picked up some Jack Daniels and went to dinner at Champps. Following dinner, we sat around our hotel room, drank, played dominoes, talked, and sang along to music. It was a good time, and it does make me sad to realize that these "occasional weekends" are pretty much all I'm going to see of Alexandria and Andrew for pretty much the rest of my life. A sad realization.

After enough dominoes and booze, we all retired for the night.

SUNDAY: The long haul - Chapel Hill to Tallahassee

So Zack and I picked up D-Mac and hit the road. Zack got bored and started taking pictures [hey, you gotta have something to do on a 10-hour car ride] and here's what we've got:


I need a t-shirt for these trips that says "Zack is my Co-Pilot" 


Three MP3 players in-view [L to R: my 40GB Creative Nomad Zen Xtra, Zack's 20GB Apple iPod, my 1GB Apple iPod Shuffle], one more above it [my in-dash Aiwa CDC-MP3 cd player]. So that's 61.7 GB of music. Wow. 


Me and Zack, somewhere in North Carolina. 


David McCaleb throws up the horns in the background.
David McCaleb is metal. 


I-85 in Gaffney, South Carolina. I only know that because of the ginormous peach. 

Overall, a great trip. Not the last one I'll make to Chapel Hill, either. Consider UNC officially added to my Med School application list along with UF, FSU, JHU, Emory, Duke, UVA, and Louisville [for now - list subject to change].