Oh my goodness...............If I happen to die in the near future, I will feel my life is complete after our weekend trip to Wilmington, NC.
In true vacation fashion (for us, at least) the three of us took off on Saturday morning with NO plans what-so-ever. No hotel, no plans, no nothing...we like it that way, that way no one is ever disappointed. :)
Our first stop was at the EUE Studios where the set of One Tree Hill is located. For those of you who are also fans, I toured #naley's house, Brooke and Julian's house (and their twin's new bedroom, adorbs), and what used to be Tric but is not Red Bedroom Records. I literally was in HEAVEN!!!!!!!! It was the most amazing experience being able to see where it was all filmed and to actually think that those great starts were standing right where I was...geeky, I know! :) But for realz, it was amazing.
After that, we took off downtown Wilmington and toured a few locations they film outside of the studio. We visited Peyton's house, Lucas and Karen's house, Karen's Cafe, as well as.....probably the most notorious One Tree Hill location.....................THE RIVER COURT!!!! Yes, I was at the rivercourt. Yes, I sat on the bleachers. Yes, I cheered for Nathan Scott. Yes, I almost peed my pants from excitement. Literally, I thought it couldn't get better than this...but I was proven wrong.........
So after this, the girls and I decided to get settled into a hotel. In past experience, we have stayed at super #jenkhotels. We got lucky this time and stayed in a Super 8...Not the Hilton but also not the Tar Heel Motel. It worked for us. After a quick (2 1/2 hour) power nap, we headed back downtown for a few drinks and dinner. We headed around to a few different places (thank you Sara Thomas for the GREAT recommendations) for some beers. As we were seated in a super quaint little Irish Pub, I decided to get on Twitter. It was there, at 10:19pm that I discovered One Tree Hill star, Tyler Hilton, was going to be holding a concert at the Soapbox that night at 11:00pm. Obviously, we chugged our beers, closed our tabs and went to the Soapbox #asap.
At 10:30pm we were at the Soapbox waiting in line to see if we could get in. We soon realized everyone around us had tickets and we did not. Not to worry, we had no shame. We would wait in line to see if there any available tickets anyways. Thankfully we did because, not only were tickets still available, but as we were purchasing our tickets, who excuses herself by me but, Megan Park (aka Grace from Secret Life of the American Teenager). Seriously people, she said to me, "Excuse me" and I said, "Oh no problem, you're fine!" and we touched arms. Emily asked me who that was and I just stared at her. She asked me again and I just pointed and was silent. Episode #1 of being #starstruck.
So...we pay, get our tickets, and head up to the bar. As we enter the bar, we see camera flashes continually going off in the same direction. We sneak a peek to see who it was and we saw.......................................DAN SCOTT!!!!!!!! (Daniel Robert) If you are a true OTH fan, you would not be impressed with this as he is the "villain" in the show. However, we still wanted to take a pic with him because, after all, he is a star. So after waiting around for a bit, we finally make our way to him and he says to us in a super-suave voice, "Opps, sorry girls, gotta go!" We were like, "Wait, Dan! Are you coming back?!" He promised us he would and he escaped to the backroom. Needless to say, he never returned. #notimpressed @DanScott
We were left there with a bunch of crazy fans waiting for Tyler Hilton to come out. As we were waiting, we noticed a sign hanging over the only few couches/chairs in this bar. The sign read "One Tree Hill cast". We started screaming. Shortly there after, the bar starts going crazy and fans are going bananas. As we are wondering what is going on, a bodyguard crosses in front of us. Followed behind him are Chelsea Kane and Stephen Coletti! People, let me tell you how we reacted. Screaming. Laughing. Reaching to touch a piece of their bodies. Sam was holding onto my arm and felt, in the heat of the moment, that wasn't enough of a hint to tell me how excited she was, so she grabbed my pants and continued to pull on them until they were basically at my thighs. Did we react in a super cas way? No...Are we proud? No...Are we embarrassed? NEVER! Episode #2 of being #starstruck
Okay, so we have realized and come to terms with the fact that the One Tree Hill cast WILL be in the same place as we will also be. We. Are. Excited. As we grab a beer and try to "act cool", again fans start to go crazy and camera flashes start going off. Guess who it was.....Julian Baker (Austin Nichols), Brooke Davis (Sophia Bush), Mouth (Lee Norris), Millicent Huxtable (Lisa Goldstein), Chuck (Michael May) and Grace from Secret Life (Megan Park) all walk in. Again, they walk right by us and we go crazy! I am talking, within reaching distance fo sho. #ddyyyyyiiinnnnggggggggggggg
They all disappeared to the backroom and Tyler Hilton came out. He rocked the house with his amazing music! He did a wonderful job. I can't wait to purchase his new CD on iTunesamaz-balls.
Let me take you back a few hours in time to the car ride to Wilmington. We were discussing what we would do if we saw actual stars and how we would act. The main consensus was we would try to act super composed but mature. I think it is apparent that we did not act composed but instead acted like 9 year old girls screaming for Hanson at a concert in the front row.
That pretty much sums up our amazing weekend. We also did some rockin' shopping, walked along the waterfront (beautiful!), and spend some nice roomie bonding time together! :) I have decided if I ever move closer to the water, Wilmington will be the place I move. It stole my heart. Downtown is beautiful; twinkle lights were everywhere! It literally transforms and becomes this magical place at night. Breathtaking! I can't wait for our next weekend back!
I now have a short week this week with conferences on Thursday night, so Thursday is an early release day, and Friday no school for Veterans Day. My mom and Sam's mom will be flying in on Thursday night and will stay here until Tuesday morning so it will be nice to have family around! :) Then just a few short weeks and I will be home for Christmas. Can't wait to see all of you who I have been missing so dearly!
Here are a few pics from the super amazing, unexpectedly wonderful weekend we had in Wilmington, NC! :)
