I woke up yesterday morning after 4 1/2 hours of sleep (wow, I haven’t been sleeping much lately, have I?). Harvey slept on my head the whole night, probably anticipating the fact that I was leaving for a few days. Poor guy 
I feel so much guilt over leaving him. Luckily, he’s in great hands this week. Caitlin and Megan have graciously agreed to visit him while I am gone. I couldn’t be more thankful for wonderful friends!
I rushed around for an hour finishing all of my preparations for my trip and completely ran out of time to make a green monster before leaving. My mom actually requested one for the road so I was doubly disappointed that I didn’t get a chance to make them. I definitely started the day out with pumpkin pie again. It’s a true weakness.
I did Job #1 (LOVE the air card!) in the car for the first couple of hours, until we hit Georgia:
I slept through Georgia and woke up in South Carolina with a growling stomach. My parents told me we were rerouting to drive through Charleston for lunch, so I immediately started looking for vegan options in the city. I found a few promising places online (Earth Fare, Whole Foods) and we wound up at Whole Foods.
It felt like the holidays the second I stepped out of the car. 55 degrees and cinnamon smells coming from the store front. HEAVEN. We went inside and explored the produce section. I was probably acting like I’d never been in a Whole Foods in my life. It was just such an unexpected stop and I have a thing with checking out new grocery stores, especially new WF’s. I blame the foodie in me. I thought these Buddha Hand Lemons were just too cool…
And these mini apples…anyone know what they are called?
I grabbed three bunches of organic kale because I was unsure if I’d be able to find it in the Harris Teeter grocery store I’ll be frequenting in New Bern. If this doesn’t make me a veg-head, I don’t know what will.
Many-a-kale-chip will be made with these. And Green Smoothies.
Their vegan selection was spectacular. Charleston Whole Foods, I love you. I had lots of new vegan cookies to try including Almond and Chocolate. I also grabbed Chocolate Chip just because it looked significantly different from our versions in Florida. The ingredients were quite different as well. I’ll let you know how they taste when I dig into them over the week.
I perused the hot foods bar and found a lot of savory stuff to try. Particularly stuffing, couscous, quinoa, roasted potatoes, kidney beans, chick peas, cinnamon roasted butternut squash and roasted sweet potatoes. All over a bed of spinach.
Then….I saw it….my long lost vegan chocolate mousse. I almost screamed….seriously. Even before I started eating a vegan-based diet, I was obsessed with this stuff and got a small container of it every single time I went to WF. Then, one day, around the time I decided to switch to veganism, the mousse disappeared. I asked someone about it and they said they’d switched distributors and were trying to get it back, but hadn’t had any luck so far. So, so sad. But, this WF had it! Different distributors? Perhaps. I wasn’t really thinking about it…I got 1/2 a pound!
That was one of the best WF trips of all time. I really hope we can stop on the way home again so i can get more mousse. Mmmmmm…..dreamy.
More driving took place (a total of 12 hours by the time we got to New Bern). Check out this cool picture I took on a bridge!
And my brother being a goof. Hehe.
We got here around 8:00 PM, unpacked the car (plus my food) and, after some visiting, headed to bed. It’s good to be here, and I’m happy to see my family. I was born in New Bern and spent a lot of time here when I was younger, so it’s fun to feel “at home”. I do really miss Evan and Harvey though. Evan is on a 10-day Panama Canal cruise with his family for Thanksgiving and I haven’t talked to him since Friday! And Harvey…he’s probably sleeping on the couch wondering why I haven’t come home yet. I really hope not. Sigh…
Have you ever had to leave your pet at home for an extended period of time? How guilty did you feel? I’m probably feeling more guilt than I should, but it makes me so sad thinking about him sleeping all alone and being by himself all day. It’s better to have him at home than cooped up in a kennel for boarding though. I have to keep telling myself that he’s in the best possible environment…
Enjoy your Wednesday! Thanksgiving is so soon!!!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
oooh vegan chocolate mousee – I guess hitting up WF today would be stupid?? LOLOLOL jk.
Anyways, I have 2 cats – don’t feel guilty about leaving them – they are cats – they are resilient. As long as you have somebody popping in 1x daily they will be fine. I’ve left ours for as long as 4 days WITHOUT people coming in – love that about cats – don’t have to find a damn sitter to come in 2x daily to feed and walk like a DOG would require.
anyways, Harvey will be fine, he’s in good hands – and you should NEVER have to kennel a CAT. even kenneling a dog is not optimal but NEVER a cat.
[Reply]
The first time I had to leave my kitties was when I went to New Zealand and left the two of them for SIXTEEN DAYS! I never missed them so much in my life. However, they forgave me and I’ve left on lots of long trips (two or three weeks at a time) since then. I’m so grateful my parents who are big time cat lovers live nearby and spend time with them. I don’t think the kitties even notice I’m gone
[Reply]
I LOVE THAT MOUSSE!!!! I’m so glad you found it… sounds like you’re going to have some great fam time
Interesting about the different cookies….
[Reply]
That bridge is the Ravenel Bridge! When I lived in Charleston, I ran over it all the time! Isn’t it beautiful? I was so excited when I was reading along and saw that in your post!
[Reply]