Trip 3 to North Carolina

Back in March I started a new job at a brand new distribution center. So brand new that for all of March and April we were doing software testing, UAT, for the brand new Warehouse Management System that was developed for it. Now what we had been testing was the receiving and some of the putaway functions of the warehouse. While we were testing those portions at our building; in NC at the corporate head quarters system testing was going on for the shipping portion. Meg and I were offered the chance to travel to the corporate offices to help with that testing for three weeks. And we gladly accepted the chance.

That was a Monday at the end of the day. On Tuesday a little after noon Meg and I were on the road to NC and our corporate head quarters.  That Tuesday was our Dad's birthday. While a seven hour road trip may not seem like a great way to spend a birthday, to me it felt rather fitting. We went on road trips for many reasons when we were kids. It is no surprise as adults I enjoy this so much. A nice Saturday in the fall could easily be spent in the car all day as our Mom, Dad, Meg, and I went for a drive north to see the changes in color of leaves on trees. Or we would take a drive into Connecticut or Pennsylvania to buy lotto tickets for games that weren't available in NY but had a high prize. Or even better we would be on a quest for something! It could be anything. A lot of times it would be as simple as completing a set of McDonald's happy meal toys. It didn't have to be much for us to go on a drive. Also this was fitting because my Dad was a computer programmer, even owned his own company for most of my life called Multi-Platforms to represent the fact that he could work with multiple systems. In fact when we were young he had even worked in North Carolina in Raleigh. So the fact that Meg and I were on a road trip to help do some systems testing on new software made it a great way to mark his birthday. He would have been very happy.

Tuesday night we reached our hotel and checked in. It was a Fairfield Inn and I really liked the room. The hotel was nice and clean and the room had plenty of space. The following morning we discovered that the hotel had an awesome breakfast including toast and Nutella spread. Wednesday we left the room early to make sure we were at the corporate office nice and early. The entire campus was beautiful and we both agreed we would have to bring Meg's camera with us next time so she could take photos. We spent the day learning the process for what we would be testing. Because we left so quickly I hadn't had much time to look up things in the area so for the first week we were just winging it. As we left the corporate office I looked up places to eat in the area and found a brewery that served pizza, Ghostface Brewing. 

I got a piece of the white pizza which was amazing. And we started with a flight to get a good taste of the selection. 

And then we noticed pamphlets on the table. 

Just our luck! Not only had we picked this delicious brewery with amazing pizza but it was trivia night! I'd been wanting to find a good pub trivia so this was really perfect. We lost terribly. But we still had fun and I signed up for email notices so that for the next two Wednesdays we would get hints about categories and maybe manage to score better.

 Thursday saw Meg and I make progress on learning the system and the steps needed to complete the system tests. After work we decided to go to a grocery store to pick up a 12 pack of Diet Coke for Meghan and Diet Dr. Pepper for myself at the hotel. We went to a Lowe's Grocery Store, we had seen them all over NC and figured we might as well give it a try.

The store was nice and I especially liked the nicely decorated cart corrals.

And this was our second super lucky timing. See the Lowe's Grocery store we had gone to had a growler fill and bar. And on Thursday it was half price pints. The selection was from several breweries across North Carolina. We each got a beer and then went to the deli counter to get something to eat. I got a chicken strip plate with a side of Mac and cheese and jalapeño biscuit.

There was a seating area and a large crowd of people just talking and hanging out at the grocery store enjoying some good craft beer.

 Friday morning we loaded up the car and checked out of the hotel before heading to work. The plan was to immediately leave for home after work and drive for a few hours to Ashville, NC before we stopped for dinner to break up the trip. During our lunch break I started looking up places to plan for next week and I found Jolly Roger Brew. They were within twenty minutes from work with limited hours (Thursday/Friday 3-6pm). I thought maybe we could stop in and get a growler to enjoy on Saturday while we were home. Even before we tasted the beer I was excited. I liked the logo with an orange skull and crossed swords and especially liked the motto of "Work like a Captain, drink like a Pirate." We went inside and tasted the double IPA and immediately knew not only was I going home with a growler that Friday but I was going to get a fill every Friday I could.

With our growler secured in the back seat we headed west on I-40 towards Ashville. I had a few breweries to check but once we got to the area I learned that a lot of the breweries were taprooms without a food menu. We drove to three different ones before giving up and settling on McDonalds for dinner.

One notable location that we basically just drove through the parking lot of was Highland Brewing where we saw this. I never even knew there was a Blue Ridge Motion Pictures, apparently it closed back in 2008 but the tower remains.

I've had Highland Brewing beer before and sometime when I don't have a long drive to finish I will go back and visit their tap room, for sure.

Saturday we slept. Like all day. Slept. When I woke up I looked up stuff to see over the next two weeks. Then I slept some more. 

Then Sunday we left early with a full day worth of sightseeing in Charlotte, NC planned.