Sixty-eight degree winter in Raleigh

The official line for why I took a trip to Raleigh this week -- just the second week of my last semester of classes -- was because Louis and Sarah were leaving to Europe for several months the week after. I won't be seeing them again until June at the earliest. The real reason I went down was when I was booking Thanksgiving flights, I accidentally booked flights at the end of January, and it was cheaper to use them than cancel them. Whoops.

Still, it was a welcome break from the month of cold we've endured in Boston. The weather has been far from the worst I've experienced since living in the Northeast. Nevertheless, when I landed it was 68F and sunny. Beau was sweet enough to pick me up from the airport, and after heading straight to Moe's to get my Taco Stack fill -- along with all the queso and free chips and salsa I could get my grubby mitts on -- we sat out on the patio of a local pub, enjoying the sunshine, a drink, and old company.

There's never a bad time for Goodberry's, but beautiful weather almost demands some frozen custard. We picked Louis and Sarah up from the mall, as their remaining car conked out on them, and headed for the first stop on the dessert tour of North Raleigh..

Driving them around, Beau and I quickly became Mum and Dad. "The kids" had strung a hammock between two trees at the bottom of the garden. Easier to enjoy the great outdoors when it isn't trying to freeze your face constantly.

Typically I get bored in Raleigh quickly, but Louis and Sarah have been back down there for months, and have found plenty of stuff to do. So on their suggestion, the next day all four of us took a walk in the woods behind the house while Mum was at work.

I'd been down there once or twice, but have never gone further than the pond. We headed down the hill and it was a grove of crunchy brown leaves, and stunning dappled sunlight. It was like another world, just feet from our neighbours' manicured backyards. 

Crunch crunch

Yep. That is a t shirt in January.

Here's Beau, struggling but looking good. Hip hiking is becoming one of my favourite pastimes. 

It occurred to me while I was in North Carolina this time around that I've lived in Boston for almost twice as long as I ever lived in Raleigh. Which is pretty nuts. At the time it felt like an eternity. It seems like it's all gone by in a flash.

Still, I was there long enough to have strengthened my affinity for Krispy Kreme -- NC is its home state after all.

Squad trip.

Vogue. Beau ate his whole half dozen donuts while we watched Young Pope. And now that's public information on the internet for all. Sorry, dude.

After realising that my flight wasn't until far later in the day on Friday than I'd initially thought, I had some time to kill in the morning before I got lunch with Beau. So we stuck our boots back on and went for another yomp, down a different route than we took yesterday. Just as beautiful though.

I'd also been wanting a nice picture of Mum for her contact on my phone, so on my second - and final - Goodberry's run of my three day trip, I snapped a few. This one's my favourite.

Best of luck, you two.