I have a few things that I really would like to see that aren’t national parks, and when I get presented with an opportunity to go, I usually take it. This time I was going to see a professional bull riding show. They have them all over the place in the South (basically nonexistent in the Northeast), and so I decided to go to the one in North Carolina. This meant I could go with my good friend Ethan! I sort of bought the tickets before he said yes, so it’s a good thing he actually wanted to go.
Day 1
I left home around 4am with an Uber. The driver was very nice and showed off his self-driving car! I’ve never been in one before, so it was neat to see it in action. Fortunately for me (sarcasm), Boston closed the usual airport tunnel, so we had to drive around to the Ted Williams tunnel. I’ll always accept a new route to unlock more of my map in the Fog of World app. Basically, the whole map of the world is covered in fog, and the more you explore, the more the map is uncovered. I’ll always regret not getting the app when I first started road tripping, but oh well!
Once at the airport, bag check went pretty quick, and so did TSA pre. This time I bought a first-class ticket, so I got to be first on the plane! (It was cheaper to do first class + free checked bags vs. comfort plus + $35 checked bags).
I added some more to my airport stats while we waited on the plane to take off. I like to keep a record of all my past trips to help future me plan for future trips. “Ah, so it takes 15 min to get from the gate to the rental car place.” That sort of thing. I also jot down the type of airplane just to know if the seat I’m getting has enough leg room or not. It’s also a great way to pass the time on flights.
It took about 2 hours to get to D.C. and once I was there, it took no time at all to gather my things and get out of the rental car place. This time I had a Nissan Pathfinder. I had spent a lot of time brainstorming different ideas on how to do this trip. Each was crazier than the last. Eventually, I decided I’d fly into D.C., drive to Raleigh, then fly home. It made perfect sense to me!
The first stop of the day was mile marker 0 at Shenandoah National Park. I wanted to do the entire Skyline Drive through the park, so I had to go waaay up to the beginning. The first stop was the sign. After that, I went to the first visitors center, Dickey Ridge, to get a sticker for my collectors edition passport book (aka big book). Next up was the Stony Man trail hike.
It took about an hour to get from the visitors center to the parking lot at the mountain. The road was very scenic, and it was pleasant to drive. There are a lot of viewpoints, so it felt like if I stopped at all of them, I would lose the meaning for the ones I really enjoyed. Plus, I really didn’t have time to stop at more than 2.
The mountain looked easy online: 1.5mi loop, 321ft elevation gain, and All Trails had it at a 45min hike, so that’s what I put into the trip plan. I didn’t have the time for any long hikes, but I wanted to do at least one hike.
Getting to the top was indeed easy. One thing I noticed while getting ready in the car was that BB8 was missing a part! I thought maybe the Boston TSA guys had knocked it loose while inspecting him. I was rather devastated, but not being able to do much about it, I pressed on. On the way down, I took some time to try to just enjoy the walk down. To be one with nature and such. I feel like I’m almost on my phone 24/7 sometimes.
Once I got back to the car, I drove to the Byrd Visitors Center. It has a unique stamp you see, so I had to go. I also asked for advice on the southern portion of the park. There was only so much I could learn online, and so asking the park ranger at the desk seemed like an excellent idea. She was very nice and suggested three hikes if I had time (I didn’t): Blackrock Summit, Dark Hollow Falls, and another mountain close to Blackrock. (I forget what that is now.)
I actually had debated doing Dark Hollow Falls, but some of the reviews said the trail was recently teeming with bugs, so I decided to skip it. It took about an hour to get from mile marker 51 to 84.4, and once I was there, I swiftly loaded BB8 into my backpack and set off. This hike was not in the trip plan, so I had to hustle. “Lunch? Never heard of it.” Haha, this is me on most trips!
The views from the summit were awesome, and there were plenty of good BB8 locations as well. The only real bummer was that it had been taken over by an invasive species called Spotted Lantern Flies. They didn’t really do anything to me except get in my way and fly at me, but behind the scenes, they suck the sap out of trees and kill plants. I got the shots I needed and decided to get back to the car.
After that, it was just a mere 2-hour drive to Lynchburg, VA! Lynchburg is sort of on the way to Raleigh, NC, in my opinion and my good friend Julia is there. Once I got to the hotel, I laid on the bed for about 10 minutes then hopped back into the car and went over to downtown Lynchburg to meet Julia. I hadn’t seen her since her wedding so it was nice to catch up for a bit. We had dinner at the Depot Grille and the food was lovely.
After an early dinner (the first thing I’d eaten all day since Dunkin’ at the airport), I wanted to go get some ice cream. Julia had work early the next morning, so she opted out. I went to a place on the outside edge of town and sat at a table on a busy street, eating ice cream.
It was strange to end a day before 10pm, but I was thankful for the break. The first day was an awesome start to the trip. I spent a bit of time before bed optimizing the plan for the next day before falling asleep.
Day 2
Friday was all about getting something accomplished while Ethan was at work. (Similar story in Julia’s case.) I essentially had half a day to myself, and the original plan was to go do the state house tour in Richmond, then go straight to Raleigh, but after some hot debate the night before, the plan had changed.
I left the hotel at 8:15am and was at Patrick Henry’s Red Hill by 9:15am. I had wanted to go here every time I visited Lynchburg, but it’s so rural that it was hard to get to. It’s on one of those country roads that gets more empty the farther out you go. This place is pretty big, and it’s an affiliate of the National Park Service, so while it does have a stamp, it’s more of a private player in the parks system.
Patrick Henry was the guy who said “Give me liberty, or give me death!”. He was against British rule and was the first governor of Virginia. He also was a Founding Father. I’d say his estate is pretty great. It must’ve been one of the most prestigious places in Virginia during revolutionary times. I didn’t really want to spend too long there, so I made my way around the walking path, then ventured to my next stop.
After Red Hill, I drove to Appomattox Courthouse and swiftly re-got the stamp there as well as the collectible sticker for my new collector’s edition National Park passport. I have just about filled up my small passport, so I got a big book just to put extra stamps in. Usually, each park has the collection stamp plus one or more specialty stamps that are unique to that park. The passport book does NOT, in fact, have enough room for all 400 stamps. The larger book supposedly does. I have been to around 200 parks with a few affiliate parks added onto that and maybe 30-40 extra stamps on top of that. So…I figured Friday would be a good time to go to some parks I’ve already been to get the stamps again, but this time in the big passport book. There is also the park-specific sticker I mentioned before. The stickers only go in the big book. I’ve decided I won’t re-get all the stamps I’ve already gotten since some are really, really remote, but if I have the opportunity to get one again, then I will. Oh, and to add on to this, I don’t need to actually be at the park to get the sticker, but it feels more authentic to do it that way.
I was only at Appomattox for 18 minutes. Then I hopped in the car and drove to Richmond! I had to take all non-toll routes since I was in a rental car, but with my speed and limited traffic, I made good time. First stop was the Maggie L. Walker house. I went there in 2022 and did the tour, but this time I just re-got the stamp / got the sticker. Total time on the ground was 10 minutes.
Next, I was going to the Richmond National Battlefield Park. This was the site of a bunch of major Civil War battles. I’ve already visited this too. I got the stamp and sticker and continued onwards. After that, it was about 20 minutes to the Petersburg National Battlefield. I was there maybe 10 minutes as well. I’d just like to note that it was a bit awkward to pop in and out since it made me think that I was cheating in some way, but when I reminded myself that I’ve already visited and done everything, I felt a bit more justified by what I was doing.
At this point, I was running behind schedule because I had selfishly put my passport needs ahead of the planned ETA with Ethan at the airport. (He didn’t mind.) It took about 2 hours to get from the battlefield to Raleigh. It turns out that there is actually some rush hour in the city. (I had been doubtful.) I got to the airport around 4:30pm, dropped my rental car, then met Ethan on the departures level. You see, the bus from the rental place to the airport prioritizes departures before arrivals—and rightly so—but this meant I had a longer wait in the bus, so I opted to get out with everyone at departures and have Ethan pick me up there. It was a rather novel experience for me, so I thought I’d include it in the blog.
Ethan and I then went to his new house. I hadn’t seen it yet, and so it was neat to go hang out while we waited for Ethan’s girlfriend, Hannah. Once Hannah arrived, we all went to the baseball stadium in the city to watch the game. It turns out it was a great game!
The Durham Bulls won in the 9th inning with a home run. Each Friday, the stadium celebrates winning or losing with fireworks. They also have a moment where the mascot drives around the field in a go kart.
It was really cool to see the closing fireworks this time since that game was the last one of the season. Also, the stadium was super clean. I’m used to Fenway, which is clean, but not as clean.
After the game, we went to a local pizza restaurant for dinner. I got a small pizza with fresh mozzarella, Parmesan cheese, roasted tomato, bacon, and pepperoni. It was lovely. It was also a first for Ethan as well! Apparently, he always got takeout, so he had never had a pizza at a table at the restaurant. When we got home, Ethan put the Naked Gun 2025 on Prime, and we watched that before bed. I thought it was pretty good, but the original was better.
Day 3
On Saturday, I woke up around 8 a.m. Ethan made bacon, and we had bagels with cream cheese. Yum!
The bull riding wasn’t until 6pm and since I hadn’t planned much of anything, we didn’t really know what to do first. It was decided to go to the North Carolina state house! Ethan had never been before, so it was a first for both of us. It is rather small but has a unique history.
It was said that the chips on the marble steps were caused by someone dropping a case of whiskey while walking up the stairs, but the statehouse historian did some digging and found that that was… FALSE! There are chips in the stairs from repeated use of a wheelbarrow to bring firewood up the steps. The wheel on it is wood with a metal edge, and it’s sort of heavy. Not great for stairs.
I thought the House and Senate chambers were pretty small. One of the most hyped-up things on the tour was the rug in each room. It was hand-sewn on the floor and has designs that date back to the Revolutionary era. There was also a haunted section in the library. Most of the books are reprints since the State House burned down in the late 1800s. There are about 6 books that are originals, and the only reason they didn’t burn is because someone had checked them out then was late to return them. I wonder if he had to pay a late fee?
One thing you can’t miss is the big George Washington statue in the center of the room on the main floor. Back when the Capitol was built, the builders had planned for it and reinforced the floor specifically for the statue. That is still a thing today, and apparently, it’s the same reinforcement as it was almost 2 centuries before. (Might be less time.) The unmissable feature of this version of George Washington is that the statue was done in Italy, so it has more of a Roman feel to it. It was said that upon seeing it for the first time, people were upset with the statue, but hey, what could they do? After being broken in the fire, borrowed, and never returned, a replica statue is now in the courthouse.
Then we went to the museum. Now, if you know me, you’ll know I’m not a massive museum person, but Ethan insisted. Ethan would be the perfect TripAdvisor reviewer since most of the stuff on there are museums and art galleries lol. There were so many kids that I accidentally ran one over. I was looking at some ants, and some distracted kid walked in front of me.
Next up was the food market. I had a Nashville catfish sandwich, and it was tasty. (The Nashville sandwich was supposedly spicier.) Rather than have Ethan watch me eat the catfish in a crowded market, we instead went to a local bar called Aunt Bettie’s, which was just next door, and I got a few drinks. They were awesome! I mentioned that I didn’t like rum drinks, and the bartender took that as a challenge and made me one. It was delicious, and I changed my mind. Now I like rum drinks.
We went straight to Greensboro, NC, after and went to the Guilford Courthouse to re-get the passport stamp there. Ethan simply delighted in doing the auto route. It’s not that interesting from my perspective, but it does look like a good jogging or biking route.
Then we went to the (Professional Bull Riding) PBR Teams event. It was to be at the First Horizon Coliseum, and we got there super early. Parking was included, and it was easy to find a spot since we didn’t have a lifted pickup truck. There was an amusement fair going on next to the arena, but we didn’t know that our PBR tickets granted us free access until a bit later.
After some time sitting in the car, we ventured out to see what there was to do for an hour. You see, the doors didn’t open until 6pm. Just out of view of the parking lot, it turns out there was a small space with a lot of people in ranching clothes walking around. Everyone seemed to have a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, a button-down, and jeans. Even the kids. I felt a bit out of place with my shorts, T-shirt, and sneakers. Next time, I will dress for the part. Meanwhile, Ethan felt right at home.
There were girls singing on a stage, lots of beer, a cowboy hat-making trailer, horses, food, and lots of merchandise. I wanted to get a hat, but they aren’t cheap, and this was a budget-friendly trip. With not much to actually do in that area, Ethan and I opted to check out the fair. Our tickets got us in for free, but to ride any of the rides, we would still have to pay. Not really worth it in my opinion since there was no zipline ride. Booooo! Just walking around looking at the rides was rather underwhelming. There was also a lot of uncovered cables lying around. Good thing I didn’t have a wheelchair. After we each got a bottle of water, we headed back to the car to wait a few more minutes before the doors opened.
At 6:45pm the doors opened, and we went inside. Much to Ethan’s annoyance, I had bought some truly epic, but rather expensive seats. He thought it was a bit unnecessary. We were in row AA in the middle, so basically next to the arena fence. We were so close you could almost reach out and touch the bulls. Plus, we got fun little blue towels to twirl around.
We waited maybe 40 minutes, and at 7:45pm the event started. This is something that is broadcasted on live TV, so there was a whole production centered around the show. That was fun to watch. The opening ceremony was wild. There were fireworks, fire balls, lines of lit kerosene in the sand that spelled out “PBR”, and cheerleaders. Every time a fireball went off, we got roasted since we were so close.
I know the basic concept of bull riding, but I didn’t know it was so involved. What we went to was a team event. Basically, each team has 5 riders, and two teams face off at a time. Each rider gets points up to 100 based on how long they stay on the bull, how cool they look on the bull, and how epic the bull is. That’s right! The bull gets points too. There are a few other rules that I’ll explain later as well. During the opening celebration, all the teams walked out onto the stage, and the crowd cheered.
Everyone went to their places behind the cages (or pens? I’m not sure what to call them), and we all waited for the first bull rider. So the way this works is that each rider has to try to stay on the bull for 8 seconds. One hand has to be under the strap that is attached to the bull the whole time, and the other hand is not allowed to touch the bull. Points = 8 seconds + skilled rider + epic bull + no violations. Also, teams could ‘challenge’ a ride and pull up slow-mo video of it. If it looked like the rider didn’t last 8 seconds the rider in question could retry next round. If the challenge was a failure the team that issued it lost their ability to challenge for the rest of the game.
The favored team in North Carolina was the Carolina Cowboys. There are around 16 teams in the nation that do this and they travel all over the country. I’d say about half the riders are under 24 years old and the rest are in their 30’s. About half is from the US and the rest from Brazil (or a central American country). Some of these people are millionaires (top earner is $8mil) so it was wild to see someone so young but rich hanging on for dear life on the back of a bull.
They made it look so easy that I thought I could do it at one point. Most likely not, though. There was one moment that a rider got thrown off, and the bull stomped on his head. The whole crowd went silent, and for 5 minutes (felt longer), a crew of medics crouched down next to him. Nearly all of the riders wore a helmet and a vest that looked similar to a bullet proof vest for safety. The rider that got kicked had a helmet, and I think that saved his life. He eventually got up, but his getting hurt brought me back to reality. The setting was all fun and games, but there are some real-world consequences in this sport.
There were several Western-ish events that happened between the rounds. There was a “world’s longest Cornhole” game where a lucky contestant got 3 chances to throw a beanbag what seemed like 100ft to a tiny bean-sized hole. If he sunk a shot, he would win an RV. He did not, in fact, make the shot.
There was another game where people would hold up their shoes, and the announcer would pick the guy who had the worst-looking shoes. Whoever ‘won’ got a new pair of custom cowboy boots. There were several people who held up a boot, poured beer in it, and then drank the beer. One of those people was the winner, and it was hilarious (also kind of gross too) to watch different people try it. There were several other prized games, but back to the bull riding.
So the riders have all these different stats: how many rides they’ve done, the percent chance they get knocked off, how old they are, where they are from, and their name. The bulls have their own stats too. They also have some pretty crazy names. Some bulls bucked the person right off, then went straight back into the corral, and others ran around the arena looking for people to challenge. When this happened, a cowboy on a horse would lasso it and bring it back to the corral. That was very cool to see up close.
The Florida Freedom team is currently the top team in the US and is favored to win the world championships in Las Vegas later this year. That event was hyped up almost the entire show. Some of those riders could ride the bull for more than 8 seconds, jump off the bull effortlessly, and then throw their hands up and the crowd would cheer at their glorious efforts. Other riders got thrown off and would crawl away to the wall or gate. A few also got thrown off and slammed midair into the metal gate. They were okay though, I think.
One of the last teams to come out was the Carolina Cowboys. They seemed like they were sort of a mid-tier team, but as the home team, they were cheered on the most, of course. It was sort of a blessing and a curse to be last, in my humble opinion. On one side, it makes the crowd want to stay to the end, but on the other, it’s possible the crowd will be less cheerful by the time they come out. (The whole show was like 4 hours.) Teams could ‘challenge’ a ride and pull up slow-mo video of it. If it looked like the rider didn’t last 8 seconds they could retry next round. If the challenge was a failure the team lost their ability to challenge the rest of the game.
I’d never been to one of these, and neither had Ethan. This was the main point of me coming this time, and it was definitely worth the trouble. One thing Ethan didn’t mention until after the show was that he is allergic to some of the animals, and so he was starting to suffer near the end. Luckily, I had gotten tickets as close as possible to the floor.
After the show, Ethan took us back home at the end, and we walked through the door at around 12am. Apparently, Ethan was close to collapsing. I was pretty tired myself, so I went to bed soon after. It was a great day!
Day 4
On Sunday, I got up to go to the airport, and it was a quick ride in Ethan’s car. I wanted to get to the airport about 2 hours early, much to Ethan and Hannah’s distress. (It’s not a busy airport, so in theory, 15 minutes could work.) I spent my time adding some notes to the airport stats and playing Pokémon Go. The flight home was about 2 hours, so it was pretty quick, and there were no delays.
This was an awesome trip, and I got to experience the hottest 8 seconds of my life many times at the bull riding show. I also found a willing sacrifice for the ghost hunting trip idea. It’s always so great to see Ethan, and this year, I got to see him twice. How lucky am I?
That about wraps things up. See you next time!
Trip Stats
- Total estimated mi: 560mi
- Total actual mi: 575mi
- National parks visited: 5
- Rental car: Nissan Pathfinder
- Total bears seen: 0
- Total deer seen: 2
- Total pretzels had at the baseball game: 0
- It turns out that the missing BB8 piece was in my bag the whole time…I found it when unpacking at home
- Pictures with Julia: 0
- Pictures with Ethan: .5