Well, I had a feeling Saturday was going to be a lot of fun but it was even better than I expected!

I woke up before my alarm and I got on the road good and early so I made it to the Raleigh resturant where I was meeting my friend Dave and his wife Amanda (whom I had not met yet) but I was, of course, way early. So I got in some exercise by walking around the Wal-Mart and the Big Lots that were there. This, however, did not take long so I ended up catching up on some reading for about 30 minutes. I guess during that time I should have been looking at the building where we were to have lunch because the resturant was closed! Oops!

The second resturant we tried was also closed for lunch. What? The third place we tried, a bar and grill called Blinco’s, was open so we had some grub and a great chat.  Don’t you love it when you meet people for the first time but it seems like you’ve known them for – well – much longer than that! The club sandwich was ok but the fries were good as were the appetizer quesadilla’s.

Dave and Amanda both had errands to run and I was off to go used bookstore shopping. I had thought about going to the NC Art Museum but it is currently being renovated so not all the exhibits are opened.  I decided, instead, just to head over to Hillsborough St near NCSU to do my book shopping.  I also wanted to stop at Quail Ridge Books but I knew I had a budget so I was gonna have to stick with the used books . . .

Readers Corners - Hillsborough St - Raleigh, NC

First place I stopped was Reader’s Corner which I had not stopped in, in years.  I picked up three books and traded in three books with a total cash out purchase of $3. Oh yeah! I picked up (I think – I get some of my purchases mixed up!) The Wild Braid by Stanley Kunitz, Middlemarch by George Eliot (somehow I have gone for too many years without reading this!) and Curves of the Apple by Rosemarie Waldrop which my new friend Amanda had just mentioned at lunch! (She is writing her MA thesis on Waldrop).

My next stop was just down the street: Nice Priced Books.

Nice Price Books - Hillsborough St - Raleigh, NC

Nice Price took two more of the books that I had for trade but I didn’t come off quite as well in the trade because I spent like $10 here but I picked up Rise by A Van Jordan, so now I have all his books (I think) and The After-Death History of My Mothers by Sandy McIntosh which I had only recently added to my want list after reading some of her poems in Sentence.

I also took a peek inside Capital Comics and Foundation’s Edge (another comic store from which I called my brother since he had often shopped there as a college student) but nothing jumped out at me as needing to be purchased and I was starting to notice it was getting to be late afternoon and I still had dinner and more bookshopping plans back in Greensboro so I got back on the highway and headed back West.

My trip back into Greensboro was the only time I got lost all day which is great for someone with printed Google maps and no GPS and/or terribly good sense of direction.  I got onto Wendover Ave going the wrong way and it took me a little while to figure it out but I only lost about a half an hour wandering.  Good thing I always try to get places early. So I still had just enough time to run into two more locations before dinner.

Acme Comic - Lawndale - Greensboro, NC

First stop was Acme Comic. When I was in college there were quite a few Acme locations but, I think, this is the only one left. It looks great, btw! And what a terrific selection of comic and graphic novels.  I picked up a book I had not heard of but looked interesting 110 Per by Tony Consiglio.  Then I trucked myself back down the wonderfully confusing intersections of Lawndale, Battleground etc and stopped in at good old Ed McKay’s. Ah Ed McKay’s, if I wasn’t so cognizant of my budget while I was shopping there I would have gotten into a LOT of trouble, especially since it was my last bookstore stop of the day, and well, for a while!

Ed McKay's - Battleground Ave - Greensboro, NC

I traded in the last of my books with an ok trade-in considering what I had left but I ended up spending like $7 here but I picked up Myths to Live By by Joseph Campbell, Cusp by Jennifer Grotz, Hard Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami but I really could have spent a WHOLE lot more because I kept finding books I was interested in but I tried to stick to authors who were on my list. So only about $35 spent on books. I came away with 9 books, one new, and I traded in 8 books and still only spent $35 pretty good haul.  When I get my stacks back down again I need to pay my regular Charlotte used bookstore a visit and try out the one other one that is open for comparison sake but I really score more on the lit fiction and poetry when I’m in Greensboro and Raleigh.

But, no, my day was not complete! I was also meeting up with my very first college roomie for dinner at Applebee’s out on Wendover. I, of course, got there early so I re-wrote my books wanted list and organized my purchasing and found some wi-fi so I could make a quick Twitter/Facebook notice.

I had a great time with my old roomie and I had a chance to meet her husband and another of their friends for lots of great conversation then a tour of their townhouse just down the street where I met their lovely dog, and I’m NOT particularly a dog person.

I had told myself I’d be on the road by about 8 so I could get home before  it was too late in the evening and I headed out by 8:30 so that was good! I was in my house by 10 PM but too tired and brain dead to do anything but watch another Dateline Mystery type special before crashing and sleeping for almost 10 hours straight!

I had a great time but introverts need their recouping sleep!

So far today? Writing this, catching up on the internet and nothing else. Maybe I won’t even get dressed today?

And there are pictures of my friends up on Facebook. Woo hoo!