On Friday, September 27, we headed to Raleigh for Parent's Weekend. In the past, we've only stayed for one night but Peter asked if we could stay the whole weekend so we obliged. We also decided that instead of staying in the outer areas of Raleigh we would splurge and stay downtown. We used Dan's Hilton points and were in the heart of downtown Raleigh all weekend. It was really nice and very convenient.
Dan had to work on Friday but was able to take a conference call on the road so we were able to meet Peter and his friends for dinner at Trophy Brewing Company. Their beer was really good. If you are ever in the area, I highly recommend it! After that we headed to the Raleigh Beer Garden which holds the Guinness Book of World Records for the most beers on tap anywhere. They currently have 385 beers on tap! It was a really cool place with different floors, a rooftop bar, and mini golf on-site as well.
The Raleigh Beer Garden was just down the block from our hotel so we walked back and were in bed around midnight. That's late for this old lady! We were up early because the NC State Football game was at noon and we had to go to a tailgate party.
You can tell Peter is older because thankfully we were able to skip the frat lot tailgate party (which, y'all, if you've never been - those are LOUD!!) He has a fraternity brother that graduated last year whose parents live in Raleigh and they have a very nice tailgate party for each game. So went went to their tailgate before the game. We got there a little before ten and then headed in to the game right after kickoff.
State was playing Northern Illinois. They were the team that beat Notre Dame the first game of the season. NC State was supposed to have a very good football team this year (they were ranked 24th) at the beginning of the season but sadly they are not very good. So we were afraid they were going to lose this game but they managed to win. (Side note - it's going to be a very long football season as none of our teams are good this year. In addition to State not living up to expectations the Panthers and the Patriots are both horrible. Hopefully Drake Maye can do something for the Patriots this weekend.)
Sarah went to Raleigh to see Joe and they were also at the game. We met up with them at halftime. It was so nice to see her and give her a big hug!
After the game, we headed to a cookout hosted by Peter's fraternity. They had a local BBQ restaurant prepare chicken and pulled pork and the parents brought the sides. It was a lot of fun!
After the cookout, we headed to Mitch's Tavern for a couple of drinks with Peter's bestie, Cal, and his parents and another friend who has graduated. Mitch's is one of Peter's favorite places to hang out. He and a group of friends go there every Wednesday for trivia night. And a lot of times they win but usually they come in behind this one team that always wins. Peter has dubbed them their rivals and they strive every week to beat this team.
On Sunday morning we went to Mass and then had lunch at MoJo's Burger Joint, one of Peter's favorite burger places in Raleigh. After lunch we dropped Peter back off at his apartment and then we headed home.
It was such a nice weekend and I'm glad we stayed for two nights. It was so nice getting to know some of Peter's friends better and we enjoyed getting to know Cal's parents better as well. I miss Peter but it's nice to know he's got good friends and I think he's right where he's supposed to be.
Here are some pictures from the weekend. Sadly I didn't get any of us with Peter's friends or friends parents. I'm the worst at getting pictures or asking for group shots so there are no photos from Friday night or Saturday night.
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The lady photobombing us with the Wolfie made me laugh.
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