I am forever catching up on blog posts, and I keep adding to the list of things I want to write about! I figured before I get back to wrapping up my Alien: Earth reviews, I will finish the IRL stuff from last month first! Halloween Horror Nights, Howl-O-Scream, and our North Carolina trip happened all within the span of a week, so I wanted to give the full experience!
From September 22nd to the 24th we had decided to take a very quick trip up to North Carolina to see a band we have been trying to see for what feels like forever: Bring Me the Horizon! A few years ago we had missed out on the tour that came to Orlando, so when they announced the Ascension Program Part 1, we decided to jump on going to one of their shows!
Monday
We had dropped the dogs off at their grandparent’s house on Sunday, so we were ready to start our drive early Monday. We left a little bit later than we had hoped, but started our 13 hour drive up to North Carolina! It was honestly pretty smooth since we had left early enough at 7:30 am, which we wanted to aim to getting in around check in time! We had stopped at Buc-ee’s, grabbing some snacks for breakfast, and then stopping at Bojangles in Georgia for lunch (which was fantastic and makes me wish we had some closer to us in Florida).
Once we got to our hotel in North Carolina at 6/7:00-ish, we had checked in and decided on going out for dinner at a place that Matt overheard the employee recommend to another customer. We ended up driving down to Whiskey Kitchen, which was absolutely delicious! Matt had gotten the Smoked NC Pork Chop, which included black eyed peas, smoked sage mustardo, arugula salad, and a champagne vinaigrette, and I had gotten their Smoked Mozzarella Salad with an addition of fried chicken on top, and it was so fresh! I am still craving this salad, I thought it was that good! Matt really enjoyed his pork chop as well, and keeps mentioning how this was the best place we’ve been in a while, even compared to the Magical Dining that we did.
Tuesday
Tuesday we ended up waking up to go on a hike after breakfast at the hotel, although it wasn’t the hike that we expected. We drove out to one trail in Raleigh, only to be disappointed that there was a walk on a broken down sidewalk to even get to the trail head. We decided to go to a separate trail, Neuse River Trail, which was just okay. The river was brown and dirty looking, the trail was paved (which we though it would at least be a dirt trail). Not related to the quality of the trail, but we saw some gnarly spiders and bugs as well, which of course gives me the heebie-jeebies.
We got back to the hotel, and got ready for our concert. For an early dinner Matt found Bru’s Public House, which was near the Lenovo Center. Matt thought this place was very average, but I thought they were really good! I wasn’t crazy for the Pom MuleI that I ordered, but I had gotten their Breuben which was pastrami, Swiss cheese, house sauce, crispy Sauerkraut on marble rye with some amazing fries. I forgot what Matt got to drink, but for food he had gotten the Alabama Fried Chicken Sandwich, which was Alabama white BBQ sauce, spicy chipotle drizzle, pickles, pretzel bun with fries, but his sandwich was about the size of his face. This meal had us set for the walk and wait for the concert!
The walk over to the venue actually wasn’t bad! It wasn’t too far, and honestly the only bad part was waiting in line, in the sun, for it to open! The heat actually kind of got to me, which as a (fake) Floridian is funny because I don’t know how I used to do the theme parks on a weekly basis in the heat. We were some of the first few people to be let in, which worked in our favor because we were able to use the restroom and I actually also picked up a band shirt that sold out soon after while we were exploring.
The concert was amazing! Amira Elfeky and The Plot In You were new to me, and I thought they were both really good. This was the third time we’ve seen Motionless In White in concert (twice at Rockville and now in NC), and they were amazing as always! Once Bring Me The Horizon came on, they put on one of the best shows I’ve been to. Oli was awesome, the band was awesome, the crowd was awesome, I am so glad we took the time out to NC to see them! They had amazing visuals from start to finish, which I loved the OG horror graphics that they had as their intro (which they also posted on social media). I would love to see them again in concert!
Wednesday
Wednesday was a bit rough heading home. The morning started with us getting breakfast and expecting to leave early, but we had a terrible waitress who put zero effort into her job. It took forever to get the food, and we didn’t get any sort of refills, as well as had missing sides. I actually ran up to the room early because of how long she was taking and the fact that we still had to pack. It wasn’t the greatest experience, and I probably wouldn’t stay at this hotel again just from the quality of the room and service.
The drive back home was relatively smooth! We hit a little bit of traffic in Jacksonville, but all in all it wasn’t bad! Matt decided he wanted to pick up the dogs the same night, though, so that was going to tack on another hour and a half to our drive one way, three hours round trip. We got into town, ate Culver’s for dinner, then got home and picked up the Jeep to go and get the dogs in. In the process of switching vehicles, I had a major jump scare consisting of a juvenile black racer that shot out from one of the bathroom mats, so that was a funny moment within all of this.
It was such a rushed trip, but it was 100% worth it! All of the excitement makes me want to see this band all over again!