Charlie Stag Weekend - April 2018

We had planned a weekend for Keith's parents to visit us in mid-April, but the announcement of Charlie's stag weekend was intriguing enough for us to push the parent visit and have Keith hoof it to Oxford for a weekend.

Keith and Charlie at Charlie's Childhood Home

With a short week at work Keith had a lot to wrap up by Thursday afternoon.  The BA flight was at 7:45pm.  Keith had booked 3 hours to get to the airport so he could have a shot at getting an upgrade - sadly a couple of meetings were added to the calendar so he was a bit more "just in time" for the flight, so no upgrade  First world problem.  Keith said goodnight to Shawna as he took off, got about 6 hours of sleep on the 10 hour flight, and landed as Shawna woke up the next morning - though it was 2pm in London.  While Keith was prepared to take the bus to Oxford, Charlie sent Keith a message that he'd be picked up by the groom himself!  So with only a short wait, Keith and Charlie were in the car on the way to Oxford.  On the way to the hotel it was a quick stop at Charlie's childhood house - which his parents had only sold 6 years before.  It's for sale again.  We arrived at the Hotel De Vere Oxford Thames for an evening just the two boys.  The first activity was 45 minutes at the hotel gym followed by a swim in the indoor pool and 10 minutes in the sauna.  After showers the evening began, with stops at the Bear Inn (where Shawna and Keith had been a year earlier), Browns Restaurant for dinner, followed by the Turf Tavern and the Kings Arms after last call at the Turf.

Keith and Charlie at The Bear

Saturday morning we slept in, had breakfast in the hotel, and went for a walk to the Sandford Lock and then along the Thames.  It was then back to the hotel to meet the rest of the crew as they arrived.  Lunch was at the hotel - we had all pre-ordered our courses so it was quite efficient.  After lunch we all changed and drove 30 minutes to XX to do some 4 wheeling.  The first event was ATVs, which because of the rains we were ensured to be covered in mud. The next event was driving a 4 wheel drive blindfolded, with the steering wheel made to go backward (so a left turn made the car go right).  The drive was through different pylons, each crew getting a point for every pylon knocked over.  The final even was Charlie going in a rally car with an instructor driving.  We got back to the hotel at about 6pm, which gave us enough time for a beer outside (the weather was incredible), some people had a swim, then we all met at 7:45pm to leave for the evening.

The Gang at Dinner

The evening's events were all at the Varsity Club.  The 15 of us started with a plated diner, then had a few drinks, and then a few more drinks.  We danced until 4am - which was fine for Keith as he was focused on staying on Phoenix time zone the whole trip.  The night wrapped up with Bamboleo by the Gypsy Kings - Charlie's memory of Keith's bachelor party in South Beach.

A Few Drinks After

Sunday morning we all slept in, had a quick breakfast, and then Keith took a cab to Heathrow for his long flight home!   

Raleigh Weekend - April 2018

Quegrass Festival Raleigh

Keith had to be on the East Coast for property tours so we decided to make a weekend of it to see the NC Gang.  Our flight left after work on the Wednesday, getting in to Raleigh at 12:30am Thursday.  John, gracious as ever, picked us up at the airport and brought us back to the house.  Keith was feeling crappy so it was immediately to bed.

The next day we both worked remotely from John's house: Keith downstairs and Shawna in the bedroom.  It was that setup for the whole day until Keith left to drive to Norfolk at 6pm.  That evening, Shawna, John, and Jo all walked to trivia night at House of Hops and had burgers from the food truck.  Shawna was no help with the trivia!

Suppa Club Ladies

On Friday, Shawna worked from the house, and Keith had his meeting and drove back early...getting back to John's house at 4:30pm.  Keith had a small nap, then we all drove the rental car to the airport for a drop off - then ubered the rest of the way to Julie's wine bar Bottle Rev.  It was great to see her, have some beers, and "order in" Indian from the restaurant next door.  The beers were great, the Indian a bit less than average.

On Saturday, Keith was still feeling rough so he stayed in bed while the rest Ubered to the ALS walk in downtown Raleigh.  We donated $80 and walked 2 miles.  Keith then met the rest at Taverna Agora for some beers, hummus, and greek salads with gyro.  We all walked from there to the 'Cuegrasss Festival' where we met Annie, Adam, and their kids and listened to music for a couple of hours.  After that it was home for a nap before walking over to the community clubhouse for Suppa Club, hosted by Larry and Laura, with Joyce/Phil, Keith/Kate, and Kim.  The theme was Whole30 with every dish made by Larry and Laura (they didn't quite get the fact that they are supposed to assign dishes). We had chicken and noodles with shrimp with a salad.  It was great to see everyone and we stayed out past midnight much to Keith's pride.

Suppa Club Guys

Sunday morning came with Shawna now feeling poorly - likely Keith's fault!  So we took it very easy! We slept in, drove out for lunch at Relish, relaxed the afternoon in the house, and were dropped at the airport at 5pm so we could head our separate ways: Shawna home to Phoenix and Keith up to Providence for a week of property tours.