First day on the tundra

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Tuesday November 13, 2012 - High  5°F Low  -9°F – We were up at around 6am to meet in the lobby at 6:50am for the school bus ride to Gypsy's for breakfast. I had the Eggs Benedict today. Clay had his normal 2 egg breakfast. We got the Formica tables lined up in the center again.



By 8am we were driving out of town to the Great White Bear loading facilities to load our Polar Rovers, not to be confused with Tundra Buggies which is what I mistakenly thought we were using. Evidently there is some serious ill will between the organizations. Say what you will, the Tundra Buggy Cam is way cool and in no way harming any one. Anyway, ours was newer and looked nicer and more modern and sturdy. Our Polar Rovers have 6 wheels and the Tundra Buggies only have 4. It was quite nice inside and everyone had their own 2-seat row even with a couple of hitchhikers from Steve's group that wanted to spend every day out on the tundra. It had a small restroom that got more use today than the spacious back porch! It was so cold in the wind back there!

We drove for less than an hour before our first and best bear sighting of the day at the Great White Bear Tundra Lodge. Two big males got very close to us and were in and out of willows. I hope we got good photos but that is harder than you think in the cold. It was something like -2F and -25F wind chill. There needs to be a whole new word other than freezing cold! I will use frigid, but I am not sure it conveys the bone chilling, frostbite-in-minutes feeling. Below are a bunch of Clay's photos of our first and best 2 Polar Bears.

We drove out of the province of Manitoba and into Nunavut and back into Manitoba on dry tidal flats. Around lunch time we found another single bear checking out the Tundra Buggy Cam vehicle and then he dug a day bed and lay down. More buggies arrived. We started lunch and the bear got sick of us and left his bed and our view. We drove some more and found one more bear asleep within a half football field's length from us. It was finally on Clay's side and Clay was the one who spotted it and called it out. This was back by the Tundra Buggy Lodge where we had our best sighting earlier. I think Bill, our driver, would have driven right on by. As the other buggies were driving away from the lodge empty-handed they were all surprised to see him there. A little surprising because the polar bear was very easy to spot and evidently the world's most relaxed and sleepy bear. All the others we saw lying down were fidgeting but not this guy, he barely lifted his head.

While we were here we saw sun dogs. These are like vertical rainbow pieces on either side of the sun caused by light refracting through ice crystals. I have wanted to see these ever since I first heard about them and so, check!

We drove the rest of the day until past 4pm and found one bear maybe half a mile away and sound asleep. It was too far away for me to photograph with my 18x zoom, though Clay got it. Pat had big binoculars and said he could see another bear walking about a mile out past the open water, but I never saw it with my little binoculars. So, Clay and I did not count those.

Without bears or sun dogs, a little tundra goes a long way.

We headed back to our loading dock and Clay and I got a photo by an empty buggy for scale and then it was back on the school bus. We had an unscheduled but popular demand stop at the liquor store. Clay bought 3 Canadian beers for $9.48. They were Angry Fish Pilsner, Thirsty Beaver Amber Ale and his favorite was Fort Garry Dark Ale.

Then we went back to Aurora Inn. Shortly after taking care of business here we got a phone call that there were good Northern Lights and we ran back out, then back in, then more clothes and back out. The evening's plan was to go to Gypsy's for dinner, then to an Inuit presentation in a caribou hide tepee and then to look for Northern Lights. The lights were so prominent and stunning that we all bailed out of dinner early surprising Pat who drove us to the graveyard for a quick look at the lights. Then we went to dinner. I had the sirloin steak tonight, it was cooked well and I ate about half of it. It was big. I think Clay had the pickerel tonight, which was another fish on the menu besides arctic char. He seemed to like it. For dessert, I had a piece of what was basically peanut butter fudge with marshmallows embedded in it and drizzled with chocolate. It was too sweet, but I finished it all to the annoyance of Elly who later told me when I announced it too sweet she hoped I would not finish it and offer her a bite. Sorry, Elly. Clay got an apple blossom and said it would have better warmed with ice cream. The woman across from him got one too and hers had been microwaved. Clay was upset with dessert envy.

Then we went to Peter and Mary's little presentation and then further out of town to see the Northern Lights. Pat got out with a shotgun and a flashlight and did a bear check and then we all spilled in and out of the bus as we could not stand the cold for too long. I think Pat said the temperature was about 20C below. No idea what the wind chill was, but it was frigid. The Northern Lights were amazing. They streamed and swirled and arced and hooked and ran. One even formed a rainbow prism colored counter-clockwise drain swirl. It was otherworldly. This was almost as high on my wish list as the polar bears, so check. We had trouble photographing this. At first it was because we had not changed the settings on our cameras to fireworks, which works. I’m not sure whether our continuing troubles were the cold affecting our cameras’ autofocus, or that the entire sky that night was filled with Northern Lights overhead and it turned out the best photographs of them always included the horizon. Neither Clay nor I ever got any like that. 

We fell into bed a bit after 10pm. We don't have to meet for breakfast until 7:50am. The wind has really died down per the roar and buffeting noise no longer coming from the bathroom vent fan. Note: We eventually figured out that it roars with a North wind, but not with a South wind. There was almost always some wind!

Weird fact: A polar bear can swivel his snout kind of snorkel-like, and is the only bear that can do that.

All the polar bear photos at the bottom of the display are mine (Debbie's) of our 1st day on the Polar Rover. 

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To Churchill

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Sorry the photos are out of order. Photobucket sucks!

Monday, November 12, 2012 - High 16°F Low  0°F 



We had a 4:45am wake up call for lobby meet with pastries and coffee at 5:50am and departure at 6am for 7am boarding of a Calm Air flight that was slightly delayed. We all had to check rolling bags because it was a very small 2 by 2 configuration. We also all had to have all our bags weighed. We took off at 7:45am. They served a full breakfast with fruit cup, yogurt, croissant with butter and jam, and an egg and cheese omelet with Canadian bacon and potatoes and drinks. Evidently, this hot food is only served on the jet which is also an hour faster flight time. The turboprop or jet equipment for this flight is luck of the draw and the turboprop flight lasts an hour longer and only gets the cold meals. The jet flight from Winnipeg to Churchill lasts about an hour and a half, and the turboprop flight lasts and 2 1/2 hours.

We drove around Churchill and got out to see Hudson Bay and a big inukshuk with the polar bear warning sign. There were tracks into the rocks behind the sign! Patrick decided to take us to Gypsy's to lunch early and then to take the helicopter rides today since the sun was out. Clay had the special pork lunch sandwich with fries. I had the special Portuguese sausage (not in the sandwich) and poutine on the side. I had a long john for dessert.



Then, Pat drove us to Hudson Bay Helicopters. I did not go on the helicopter. Clay got a front seat and declared it the smoothest helicopter ride he ever had. They said the saw more than 20 polar bears out at Cape Churchill. The 2nd group went an hour after the first group. Pat took us to the Eskimo Museum for an hour. I went back to the museum for a 2nd hour visit while the 2nd group took their helicopter rides in ever worsening weather. It was snowing by 2pm and almost dark at 3:30pm or so!

We got to the Aurora Inn about that time and our bags were in our 2 story apartments. We unpacked and then went shopping.  That was good. The bad news is that I don't think there is a level surface in our hotel room. I feel like I'm in a fun house. Our favorite store was The Arctic Trading Post. It sells locally made products and we bought a framed polar bear made of tufted, dyed caribou hair for $65. Then Clay wanted to go buy Diet Cokes, but at Northern (their discount store) a 12-pack was $10. I pointed out that he could get a Diet Coke that was included in his fare at 3 meals a day and how many more could he drink in the evenings at the hotel. He didn't get any and said they were cheaper at the vending machine in the hotel anyway.

We met for dinner at Gypsy's at 5:50pm and went to a slide show presentation at Mike Macri's photo studio at 7:30. First night's dinner at Gypsy's with Churchill Nature Tours is Arctic Char. But, if you don't want that they have a small fixed menu of other selections they are happy to provide and it is the same menu offered throughout. Somehow our Churchill Nature Tours group has lost our good, wood table privileges. I asked Pat what had happened and he replied it was just luck of the draw but I'm not so sure. I had a 1/2 roast chicken with pasta pomodoro instead of the evening's scheduled arctic char. Those that had the char said it was closest to sole in flavor and to salmon in texture.

At the slide show, I got stuck in my parka and delayed the start. Embarrassing. I was having trouble zipping it in Gypsy's and so Clay came over and yanked the zipper up and it caught fabric inside so I couldn't unzip it now. I was struggling and Clay was trying to help and finally, Kim who was sitting on our row got up to come over and try to help me. I was red faced by then as they turned the lights back on and I said I would take it off over my head so, the show could go on. I told Kim she could still help free the cloth from the zipper. I tripped my way down my row and to the side of the room and started wiggling out of the partially open coat. I think Pat came over to me and pulled it loose once I was mostly out, but someone(s) started the stripping song. I got out of the coat in time to see Pat and Mike exchange a look. We were all laughing and Pat told Mike, and this is their first night. Mike replied, what have we got ourselves into? I wasn't the clown the whole trip, but I think it did start everyone good-naturedly joking with each other for the duration. The slide show was over about 8:15pm. Mike had some pretty amazing photos. We went straight back to the hotel and to bed after a long day. One guy went out to a local tavern since the liquor store was closed today for Veterans Day, or Remembrance Day or whatever they call it here.

Tomorrow is our first day on the tundra. I can't wait to see polar bears! Pat pointed out today where we will be getting our Polar Rovers from Great White Bear Tours and it is a different company than Tundra Buggy, whose webcam I have been following. I hope it won't make any difference. I bought a book today written by the guy whose blog I have been following, Polar Bear Alley. That was cool.

Note: this looks like some heavy dining at Gypsy's! It really was and the carb load from the irresistible pastry case had to be bad for me. But, I am happy to report that I did not gain any weight for the week. I was worried about it because in addition to the extreme cold, I had been warned that I would gain weight. Luckily, they were wrong about that! My theory is all the heavy food and sweets were offset by all the shivering in the sub-freezing temperatures.

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To Winnipeg

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Delta napkin - a good sign

Sunday, November 11, 2012 - Our 2 Delta flights were on time, full and uneventful. Our first flight was a small regional jet with 2 by 2 seats and fully booked, so large rolling carry on bags had to be gate checked. You had to put them in a bin, but it was full and after Clay turned all the bags up on their sides to make room and put mine in, some guy who stood by him and waited for him to do it alone took the last slot. Clay squeezed his onto the shelf in front of mine and it was still hanging off. It got its wheel broken for his trouble. Clay is very sad as he has had that big-wheel suitcase for a long time and this is the first time it’s been damaged.

We got to Winnipeg to a foot or so of recent snow, their first of the season. We quickly cleared Canadian immigration and customs and caught a shuttle to Airport Hilton Suites. It is a very nice hotel, minutes from the airport and near nothing in walking distance in this weather. After expensive ($14) sandwiches for lunch Clay went for a treadmill workout. We both had a great nap with the snow blowing outside.


Historically, I have not been a fan of Hilton hotels. Usually they have that dial-a-comfortable-bed gimmick on very hard mattresses that never change no matter what setting you try. Not here. They were generously soft and fluffy beds, pillows and comforters. I loved them. The 2 room suite was nicely laid out and spacious. The only problem was that I forgot to pack my bathroom nightlight. Again. The last trip that I remembered it, the room had an outlet that shut off when the lights were turned off. So, it seems like I just can't ever get it right.

Our group dinner was at the hotel at 6:30pm. We met our group of 15 + our leader, Patrick Rousseau. It was Clay & I, a couple from California, a couple with their recently graduated daughter from China, 2 couples from Britain, 2 women from New Mexico and a woman from Michigan and one from Texas. It was a good group. The meal was very good. Clay had salad, ribs and pecan pie. I had soup, steak and chocolate caramel cake. Sorry, no food photos, Clay didn't bring his camera to dinner, I guess.

We were early to bed. We have to be in the lobby tomorrow morning at 5:50am for the ride to the airport. One couple has to go an hour earlier. For some reason, they are not on the same flight. (Bad news for this couple, they were on the turboprop and only arrived about 5 minutes before we did and only had a cold breakfast on board.)

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We're back from Churchill, Manitoba!

Let me start by apologizing to every person that I scoffed at when they told me Churchill was so much colder than Antarctica. You were right! I just couldn’t imagine it. I’ve studied the globe and I still can’t imagine it. Antarctica seemed much further south than Churchill is north. But, just because I can’t imagine it, doesn’t mean it isn’t so and I’m sorry for not believing you.

With the holidays starting up here I may be a bit slow getting these blog entries posted, so let me break the suspense with some polar bear highlights photographs. That way you will know that there were polar bears and we saw some of them. Clay and I both carried cameras again as in Antarctica, so I have best of polar bears photos for both of us.  Together we saw only 5 polar bears. Clay went on a helicopter ride that I did not and he photographed a lot more polar bears, but said he couldn't see them well. So, he says his count is still 5, same as mine. If I were him, I would count all the bears seen from the air too, but he isn't. He was surprised when we looked at his photos and he had relatively clear images of polar bears. I have included some of his aerial shots in his best of polar bears photos.

Debbie's Best of Polar Bears

Clay's Best of Polar Bears

Next up

Here is some teaser information about our next trip. I will likely post here about it after we return with photos. So, in the meantime, here are some links to bring you up to speed on what we'll be doing and where we'll be going.

Here is our itinerary. We're going with Churchill Nature Tours. We're going to Churchill, Manitoba via a charter flight out of Winnipeg. Here is a live Tundra Buggy Cam. This is very cool, you can actually see what the people in the buggy see and without the windchill! We're staying at the Aurora Inn. Speaking of which, we'll be hoping for an aurora borealis display! Here is a blog by a worker during polar bear season which is very informative. Here is weather for Churchill. Everyone who's been assures us that it is colder than Antarctica which is frankly hard to imagine! I hope you enjoy the webcam as much as I do until I get back with our own photos and videos.

Autumn Train to Appomattox, VA

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November 3, 2012 - We picked up our tickets at the Greensboro Amtrak Depot after 7am. The train was expected at 8am and to depart at 8:15am. I think it was about 15 minutes late. The volunteers in Greensboro were very well organized. They had people directing traffic for parking on arrival. They had a table set up right inside the main entrance of the depot for handing out tickets and t-shirts that had been pre-ordered. They had a big section of lobby seating set aside for our group. We never heard any numbers but there must have been 200 to 300 people boarding in Greensboro alone. Things fell apart a little at actual boarding time but it all turned out OK, I think.

This was NCTM's first trip to Appomattox, so hopefully if they go again they'll do an even better job. We traveled on 3 different sets of tracks today. We started traveling on the Crescent Line, which is normally only used for night-time travel. So, this was a rare opportunity for a daylight trip on it. We switched to the Norfolk Southern's Virginian Line near Lynchburg and finally to the Lynchburg Belt Line at Phoebe.

We arrived in Appomattox about noon and we departed about 3pm. Again, boarding time was a bit disorganized and we stood in line as directed for about half an hour before following others examples and just breaking for car 7. Then we got right on. With only 3 hours scheduled to spend on the ground, that amount of time in a reboarding line is just unreasonable. I am not sure what the problems were or how they could improve the process and crowd directions.

You could get lunch onboard from a limited menu at the Commissary Car, or you could preorder a $15 box lunch of chicken salad croissant in a souvenir insulated lunch bag, or you could do what we and many others did and pack a small cooler with your own food and drinks. We had yogurt, string cheese, drinks, and Jello pudding dirt cups (for Clay's birthday!). We also had protein bars and almonds. There really wasn't time to eat lunch in Appomattox and see anything else. So, most everyone in our car ate lunch after we switched to the very low speed Lynchburg Belt Line for the last 16 miles or so. This was true whether they brought their own, bought their own, or had their preordered lunch delivered to their seat. We ate again from our supply on the ride back too.

We had beautiful weather this weekend. It was sunny and the air was cool and crisp with a slight breeze. We were worried the the winds of Hurricane Sandy would have blown off all the leaves as it did in Raleigh, but there was still some color in the trees. That was nice and scenic.

In Appomattox, we got a ride on one of the first 6 school buses. They were running a continuous loop from downtown to the National Park, then to the Museum of the Confederacy and back to downtown. They really needed to mix it up because there was a crazy long line at the museum and the buses were full on arrival there. But, we wound up spending a pleasant couple of hours at the National Park. I enjoyed it much more than any of the previous battlegrounds we have visited. This was a small rural historic village. You could see almost the whole thing from any point without driving around it. You could go inside at least half of the buildings. It was very scenic and informative.

We enjoyed our visit to Appomattox. As I said earlier, if NCTM offers this same trip again next year, we would repeat it and go to the museum instead. We saw people that spent their whole 2 hours at the museum, so that is an option.

We got back to Greensboro around 6:35-6:40pm, so close to on schedule. They had to move the train to unload the tourist class. So, we didn't actually set foot back in Greensboro until about 7pm.

We had thought to have dinner at Natty Greene's Pub around the block from the depot. But, there were street closures and when we finally arrived there, it was a madhouse of throngs of people and streams of traffic. There would have been no where to park and we'd have never gotten in. I don't know what was happening there that night, but we passed. Clay was still craving a hot dog from Yum Yum. So we drove there only to find it closed for the night and UNCG having homecoming. Third time was the charm as we had seen a Mexican restaurant, San Luis, right at the intersection of Lee and Aycock Streets last night. We went and found parking, seats and some tasty Mexican food. Clay even had a cold beer! Still sad about missing those hot dogs but it was a good meal. No complaints. I couldn't finish all 3 of my enchiladas, so Clay got the last one to go and used the refrigerator and microwave to have it in the room for an early breakfast on Sunday. We didn't have any dessert tonight. Just went back to the Super 8 to our room and to bed.

We slept through the night and I mean all night even with the time change meaning we slept an extra hour!

There's not much more to say, so rather than start a new entry for Sunday, I'll just continue here. We got up and skipped the continental breakfast at the Super 8 today. I guess I should talk about it. They had apple and orange juice, coffee, hot tea and hot water, milk, hot cereal, cold cereal, toast and butter only, cinnamon buns with and without nuts. I think that was about it. We did have it yesterday morning before stopping at Bojangles! We had takeout biscuits at the depot while waiting yesterday that I think I forgot to write about. Bojangles was on Eugene St. between the Super 8 and Amtrak, so very convenient. Today, we were hoping for a big sit down breakfast to kill time while we waited for Sports Authority to open at 9am. We wound up at Jake's Diner on Wendover because it was near Sports Authority. It was fine. We both had 2 egg breakfasts with meat, grits and biscuits. I think it was less than $10 for the whole thing. No complaints. Except, it was not a killing time, linger over your meal place and we still had an hour or so to kill before 9am. We found an open WalMart and wandered in there. Bought a cable Clay has been looking for, bought 2 new bathroom rugs. Found an idea for another Christmas gift for Mom! So, an hour well spent.

What you may ask is up with the 9am opening of Sports Authority. Therein lies a tale...  Last year around this time I won a $100 gift card in a Deer Park Water website promotion. I didn't receive the actual gift card until maybe February. We don't have a Sports Authority in Raleigh, in fact Greensboro is the closest one. There is also one near Mom's house in Florida but we weren't sure how long the card would be good. Then, there is our trip to Churchill Manitoba next week... I had outgrown all my boots and needed some. Online, SA has a good selection of snow or winter boots at a $30 or so price point, hence our anticipation for 9am. Debbie needs free boots. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend the Sports Authority in Greensboro, since I've never been to any other I don't know if I can recommend them at all. They did not carry winter or snow boots. The help, other than Arthur in the shoe department, were useless and no help at all. They did not know anything about their products, where to find things in the store or what they carried onsite or online. Clay and I cannot remember when we last worked so hard to spend $100 and enjoyed it so little. But, I did end up with a pair of Columbia women's waterproof hiking boots, and I hope they will work for our polar bear adventure, a larger pair of waterproof pants (my feet weren't all that grew!), 2 pair of sticky pad gloves, a pair of 8 lb. dumbbells for Clay and 4 metal skewers (don't ask). We still had about $2 left on the card but we couldn't take anymore, Sports Authority can keep it!

Then we drove towards Raleigh. But, there was one more freebie to collect. If you read here, you know that we are ADF season ticket holders. I had cut out of one of the programs this summer an ad from the Nasher Museum that you could get free admission with an ADF ticket. So, we detoured through Durham and had a quick look. It is a beautiful building and a small and interesting collection. Glad we saw it free! Then we went to Mad Hatter and had sandwiches for lunch. Clay got a chocolate whopper cookie too. Then we drove on home and unpacked.

It was a good trip for Clay's birthday present. He ended up with 4 t-shirts.

Next up is Polar Bear Adventure in Churchill Manitoba. Now, I know that technically you cannot take a road trip to Churchill because there are no roads to there, but since it is only a week in North America I am going to just include it in this blog and not make a free-standing one for this short trip. Short, but a big and expensive trip that has been on my bucket list for a long time! Stay tuned.

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Greensboro, NC

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November 2, 2012 - This is Clay's long-awaited 64th birthday gift trip. Back in June, we booked this Autumn Train Excursion to Appomattox, VA with the NC Transportation Museum. You may recall that we did this trip last year, but to Toccoa, GA. We enjoyed that trip so much, that we wanted to make sure to go again this year. As last year, we opted to travel in Tourist Class which was in standard Amtrak equipment. Our tickets were $150/per person. The train this year had 25 cars. We were in car 7. Cars 1-9 were standard Amtrak equipment and were all the tourist class passengers. Cars 10 and 11 were the Commissary Car and the Commissary Gift car. Cars 12-23 were all vintage cars and included the Clinchfield car that we rode to DC this spring! Cars 12-23 carried Deluxe Coach Class at $185/pp which included lunch and snacks and beverages, then Premium First Class at $260/pp which included continental breakfast, newspapers, light snacks and beverages and dinner, then there was Dome Class at $295/pp which included riding in the dome cars and continental breakfast, newspapers, plus dinner. I had preordered with our tickets a $20 commemorative t-shirt for Clay. I asked then if it had a nice picture like 2011's and the woman did not know and said it had not been designed yet. I took a chance and ordered it anyway. It was not an attractive shirt and does not have a date or trip name on it. I won't make that mistake again. Next year if we go, I'll let him take his chances shopping on the train trip. I also preordered tickets at $3/pp for the Appomattox Court House National Historic Park which included round trip rides from the train station on public school buses. If they do this trip again next year, we would do it again but buy the extra tickets to the Museum of the Confederacy instead. But I get ahead of myself...

Sadly, by having these non-refundable tickets we missed Clay's brother Warner's surprise retirement party on Saturday afternoon. We were sorry to not be there. All of Clay's siblings and a lot of other relatives were to be there and it was sad to miss the gathering. Clay especially wanted to go, but it was one of those can't be in 2 places scenarios and we had already invested in the train trip and still really wanted to take it as well. Sorry Warner! Hope a great time was had by all and that it was a great surprise!

We drove over to Greensboro after Clay's morning at work and my follow-up visit with Dr. Carnes, the neurologist. He wanted to see me after a month on pramipexole and he thought the tremor was responding well and that reinforced his opinion that I have Parkinson's Disease. We skipped lunch and snacked in the car while listening to one of Clay's audio book CDs. We got to downtown Greensboro in the early afternoon and went straight to our first stop, Blandwood.

I visited Blandwood when I was at UNCG from 1976 to 1980. Clay had never been, though we had visited Greensboro and UNCG since returning to NC in 1990. We are very familiar with the architect A J Davis now, but when I saw Blandwood originally I had never heard of him. Since his name comes up all the time in downtown Raleigh now in discussions of historic properties or Oakwood Cemetery, we frequently hear references to Blandwood, but neither of us had any experiences of it to relate to the conversations. Now, we do. We rang the bell and were rewarded with a private tour for $8 each. It was a very rewarding visit. We learned a lot about Governor Morehead and his family. After the death of his last child, we learned that for about 60 years Blandwood was an addiction treatment facility! That explains a lot about what I remember of it from my late 1970's visit!

After Blandwood, we drove into downtown Greensboro proper to visit the International Civil Rights Museum which is housed in the old Woolworth's building where 1960's Sit Ins took place. I had been there too while at UNCG when it was still a very rundown store and I sat at the lunch counter for a Coke, just to say I had been there. It and downtown Greensboro are very different now! An improvement, but you can't sit at the counter anymore. We paid $10/pp and joined a tour in progress with a group of young black college students. One other older white couple joined our tour shortly after we did and the 4 of us started at the beginning of the tour again after this tour ended. It was nicely done though perhaps as Clay said, a little too close to home. It was interesting that the student group was viewing it as history and we were remembering! You know when you are old! The other couple was not local and perhaps not even Southern, they too seemed to have a different perspective. I was glad we went, Clay seemed mostly uncomfortable with the whole thing. He perked up when I took him across the street and we read the plaques about other notable locals, O. Henry and Vicks.

After that we drove down Eugene St. to our home for the next 2 nights at the Super 8 Motel off the Interstate. We paid a total AARP rate of $108.22 for the 2 nights. For the price, it was a good location and relatively quiet and it included Internet, a refrigerator and microwave, HBO, and a continental breakfast from 6am to 9am. We were happy enough with our choice. We had a room with 2 double beds on the ground floor. The only down sides were that the HVAC unit under the window was loud and the first night some idiot parked a couple of doors down and then honked his horn intermittently for about an hour from around 2 to 4am. We slept undisturbed the 2nd night even with the time change giving us an extra hour!

Then to dinner. Stamey's BBQ has been in Greensboro a very long time and is famed as one of the que restaurants still cooking over wood coals. I don't have a preference for wood vs. gas so this is not important to me. Clay prefers the purity and flavor of wood fire. He has long coveted a meal at Stamey's especially when Bob Garner talks about it! I ate there once when I was at UNCG and did not remember being impressed or making a return trip. Clay would finally get to go and as I predicted, he was disappointed mainly because it is Lexington-style and Clay really prefers Eastern-style. He especially dislikes the red slaw.  I ordered BBQ chicken breast and baked beans instead of the slaw. On the plus side, no onions in the hush puppies. They served on paper plates! Classic.Oh, well. It is now checked off Clay's to do list and got the t-shirt.

We were not tempted by dessert at Stamey's and drove to UNCG for ice cream at Yum Yum. Clay had been here before on a previous trip to Greensboro with me. We were in a chocolate mood I guess as I had a small chocolate cone and Clay had a large chocolate almond cone. The hot dogs smelled delicious and looked like Bright Leaf! I don't know what to make of us both craving a hot dog after eating dinner! Clay got another t-shirt here.

Tomorrow we can actually sleep in a bit as the train doesn't load in Greensboro until after 8am!

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