Back from North Carolina

Just got back from a trip to North Carolina, visiting some family. Nothing special to talk about, really, except to say that being busy with that trip is the main reason I don't have much else to talk about right now.

We did make a trip to a local store called Camelot Treasures, which had a wild variety of cool stuff. There was a particular abundance of Harry Potter associated merchandise, and they appeared to be gearing up to satisfy the Twilight fans. They had some period costumes, and won my heart with a dressing room exterior wall painted as the TARDIS from the Doctor Who TV series. We spent a fair amount of money there, and could easily have spent a lot more than we did.

They also have musical groups come in to perform, such as Draco and the Malfoys performing Harry Potter themed songs. It's lucky that this place isn't closer to home, or I might be spending a fair amount of time there.

I've never seen so many churches so close together before. I'd heard that church attendance was a big deal in that part of the country, but it's another thing to see so much evidence of it. I saw more churches there on a single five mile stretch of road than we have in the entire city of Reading and the surrounding communities. I even saw two or three churches located directly next to each other multiple times. Seems to me as though some of them must ultimately compete for members of their particular denomination. It must look like rush hour there early on Sunday mornings.

I get along well with my sister-in-law, and it was good to see her, but I'm not in any hurry to repeat that drive, all the more so because I've done so much traveling in the last six weeks or so. I'm actually looking forward to spending some time at home for a little while.