I started planning, planning, and more planning. I got a list of all the locations they've filmed, mapped them out, and set us up with places to visit each day while we were down there. I joined forums to exchange info with other fans so we could help each other out with filming information while in town. I researched the cast's favorite hangouts in Wilmington, NC. And then, finally, the day arrived!
February 18, 2011:
Having hardly been able to sleep the night before, Phil and I set out on our 9 1/2 hour drive to Wilmington, NC. We drove south through Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, D.C. Virginia, and into North Carolina. Ten and a half hours and some aggravating traffic later, we were there. The minute we entered Wilmington, NC I could hardly focus on anything except how cute the town is and "Do you recognize that? What's that building called? Do you see any cast members??" Phil was very patient with my fanaticism and started snapping pictures left and right. After checking into our hotel, we set out to see downtown and get some dinner. We ended up at The Reel Cafe, an incredibly delicious restaurant that has the added benefit of being both a former filming location and a popular hangout for many of the actors. I wasted no time in searching for any bits of info I could and asked the waitress if anyone from One Tree Hill had been in tonight. She said no one had but had no problem gushing about the show and each actor's favorite meal to order at the Reel Cafe. I was alert throughout my whole meal and probably scared some people that entered the resto, but all we left with that night was a full belly.
February 19, 2011:
Very busy day ahead of us! After getting ready for the day, we stopped at where they filmed Keith's Auto Shop, Lucas and Karen's house, Haley James' house, and Peyton's house. We then headed to the Screen Gems studio for their tour at noon! This was such an awesome experience since seeing the sets that you watch every week is so much different to see in person. We were showed Nathan and Haley's second house, Brooke and Julian's house, and Red Bedroom Records. One fun fact is that the stairs in any of the houses lead nowhere, they just drop off. So whenever a character is shown coming down the stairs, it's really just the actor standing there and then walking down the few stairs they've built for the set. Pretty crazy how things are so much different than how we picture them on TV.
After the tour, we continued on our ventures to more filming locations. We went to visit where they film the outside of Nathan and Haley's house and then set off to Airlie's Gardens. Wow, was that beautiful. With its arrangements of flowers, sculptures, trees, and paths along the water, it was definitely one place I was glad we visited. One Tree Hill has filmed here multiple times and it was fun recognizing the sites as we made our way around the gardens. My favorite part of this place (aside from the filming locations, of course) was the bottle sculpture building. If you're ever in Wilmington, NC or around the area, I definitely recommend visiting Airlie's Gardens!
The last stop of today was the Indepedence Mall. Yet another filming location but also a way for us to just unwind after a busy day by just walking around and browsing. Well, that didn't last long since the business of the day quickly caught up with us and we were exhausted by 9pm. Don't think excitement can't drain you, because it definitely can. So, tonight was an early night for us.
February 20, 2011:
Back to filming location scouting!! Most of the places that they film are all downtown, so we were able to cover most of the places I had mapped easily and quickly today. The places we saw today were: Lucas and Lindsay's wedding church, the bridge from the intro, Tree Hill High, Clothes over Bros/Karen's Cafe, Keith and Jules' wedding church, Lucas and Brooke's first date (Blue Post Billiards), CD Alley, lingerie store that Brooke set up on Naley's scavenger date, Dixie Grill, Hell's Kitchen (where Taylor worked), spot where Lucas and Keith crashed, police station, courthouse, Tric, rivercourt (my favorite!!), and the riverwalk. Along our fun journey, we ran into two other One Tree Hill fans, Heather and Amanda, at Nathan and Haley's first "date" table when Haley starts tutoring him. After talking for a bit, we ended up exchanging information so we could help each other out if we spot anything!
Later that night, we met up with two other fans for dinner, Carina and Julia, who had traveled all the way from Germany! I had met Carina on Twitter and found out that we were both coming to Wilmington the same week! It's always fun meeting other fans :) We ended up at the Reel Cafe again. Another one of my recommendations if you're in the area.
Finally, the four of us set out to walk around downtown and, on our way, we ran into Lauren and Heather again! We grouped together and began our search for cast members. All the bouncers knew our names by the end of the night and were very helpful in sharing any information they had. We got to see this cute town at night, get to know our new friends rather well, and try out a few of the locals bars. It was a very fun night! Finally, about 1am, we decided to split ways for the night and headed back to our hotel.
February 21, 2011:
For breakfast, we made our way to the Dixie Grill, a place we had heard rave reviews about and, oh, it just happens to also be a season 6 & 7 filming location :) The hype was right, it was a very cute diner with fun decor and killer food! As we were waiting for our breakfast, Phil spotted a familiar face walk in. Mark Schwahn! Who is he you ask? He, my friend, is the creator, the mastermind, the genius behind this show called One Tree Hill. I quickly approached him and exclaimed, "Mark Schwahn! I love your show!" After an autograph and a picture, I managed to hold it together enough to get filming locations for the following day; what luck!
After our successfully delicious brunch, Phil and I went to visit where they filmed Jamie's school, Dan Scott Motors, Brooke Davis' house in high school, Felix & Anna's house, the house they used in "I Will Dare", and the Scott house. We also drove by the cemetery they use for any grave scenes. Later, we visited Wrightsville Beach since it was a nice day and, you guessed it, they've also filmed there. The weather turned against us and the wind drove us back to our hotel to get changed and relax for a bit, before dinner.
We met up with our four new friends again for dinner at...the Reel Cafe!! I was ready to try something new, but Heather and Amanda hadn't been yet, so we enjoyed yet another delicious dinner here. After dinner, the six of us headed to Wilmington's International Airport. Carina had worked her magic in finding out which flight Sophia (Brooke), Austin (Julian), and Rob (Clay) would have to be taking back to Wilmington in order to make it in time for filming the following morning. So yeah, we waited at the airport for them... I like to think that I went there to see it since they've filmed airport scenes here, but I know the fan in me was really hoping to see the three of them get off that flight. By 10:45pm, everyone had deplaned and no celebs had shown up. We left, disappointed, and were then even more crushed when I found out the following morning that other fans had waited longer and saw them show up at 11:00pm! I would be more devastated if the next day hadn't gone the way it had...
February 22, 2011:
Since we had gotten the list of filming locations from Mark yesterday, we all planned to meet at Sea Path Yacht Club near Wrightsville Beach where they were supposed to be filming the majority of the day. When we got there, we saw makeup trailers, equipment trucks, and vans they use to transport the cast. It was such an awesome experience to see everything happening in action. I am so used to seeing the final product in every episode, but here I was seeing it happen from the beginning! James Lafferty was filming here today and we actually got to catch some of the filming! We heard "cutting" "rolling" "play back" and saw all the hard work that goes into filming just one scene. It sure does give you some appreciation for the filming industry. After a few hours, we got comfortable and grabbed our blankets and peanut butter sandwiches. James had told us earlier that he would come out once he'd wrapped filming, so no way were we planning on leaving until then. While we were all sitting there waiting, chatting, and trying to keep warm in the 30 degree weather, we hear someone say "They're taking pictures over there!" In one big leap, we grabbed our stuff and ran to the source, only to see the one and only, Sophia Bush!! She had come outside to greet all the fans waiting. She was very sweet and patient enough to take pictures with everyone there. My first words to her were "Hi, you're so pretty." Yeah, I tend to babble when I'm excited and nervous. I also asked if she remembered me from some exchanges we'd had on Twitter and Crowdrise, and she did! It was very very cool meeting her :)
After that, we continued to wait for filming to wrap. Finally, James came out and kept his word! He came and said hello to everyone, took pictures, and signed autographs. I couldn't believe I was talking to Nathan Scott!! :)
Afterwards, Julia and Carina had to catch their flight that night since they were off to NYC before heading home to Germany. We all had dinner together one more time, this time at the Front Street Brewery, and then said goodbye to our two new friends!
Heather, Amanda, Phil and I then went to Blue Post Billiards to enjoy a game of pool! We had asked the crew earlier today where filming would be tomorrow, so we were set.
February 23, 2011
Today was all about finding and watching filming. We knew they were filming at the airport, Tric, and a hospital. We made it to Tric before filming had started and saw Austin Nichols drive up in their infamous white vans shortly after we arrived. He was kind enough to come over after I screamed "Austin!" ;) I chatted with him briefly and got a photo and an autograph. Score. After Austin left, Jana Kramer arrived! She also responded to my shout out and came over to greet us. Talk about an awesome start to our day! Later, we saw Michael May and Stephen Colletti show up since they were filming at Tric. Once we found out that Stephen would be filming all day and wouldn't come out until he'd wrapped, the four of us set out to grab some lunch (Papa John's) and then went to visit the high school where they'd filmed the Tree Hill High gym. Emsley A Laney High School is also where Michael Jordan graduated and his jersey number just happened to be 23 (Nathan in the show is also number 23). We were admitted as visitors and got to look around the whole school. The gym looked quite different than it does in seasons 1-4 since the crew probably brought most of their own props to showcase the Ravens. It was still cool to see though :)
After, we headed back to Tric where we waited another two hours before filming finally wrapped. Stephen did come over and we got to meet our third cast member of the day!
After Tric, we quickly drove to where they film hospital scenes (at Cape Fear Community College-they bring their own props to make it look hospital-like). We got to see Sophia and Austion (Brooke and Julian) film a scene for Julian's documentary in season 8. It was a very brief scene and after it wrapped, we made our way over to the River Room on Front St. for a wonderful charity event!!
Sophia had told us about it Tuesday afternoon when we met her, and had invited everyone to be a part of the charity for a crew member, Amy, who needs a transplant. Of course we went. It. Was. Awesome. When we got there, we saw James Lafferty, Robert Buckley, Stephen Colletti, Michael May, Sophia Bush, and Austin Nichols. We were able to grab pictures with both Robert and Michael since we hadn't met them yet. Everyone aside from Sophia and Austin left shortly after group photos, but boy was it something to be in the same room with all these people from my favorite show! I had to keep reminding myself that, yes, this was actually happening. The night ended around 9:30-10pm, and we had gotten to chat with both Sophia and Austin. The actual charity event was a huge success, raising over $10,000.00 for Amy! The top prize was a private tour offered by Sophia and Austin that went to two different groups for $1200 each.
The four of us left the River Room in a daze, not quite believing that we had just partied with the cast of OTH! All of us left the following morning, so we took one last long walk around downtown Wilmington. While stopping at one of the last few spot we'd wanted to take photos of, we landed in front of Deluxe Restaurant. Someone came outside and asked us how we ended up in Wilmington. After we explained, she told us "You didn't hear this from me, but the cast of A Cinderella Story 3 is eating inside." I had heard they were filming here and knew that Lucy Hale is starring! She is in another show that I watch, Pretty Little Liars. We made our way inside and I was able to meet her and grab a pic. I was the only one who cared since Heather and Amanda don't watch the show, but it was very cool to meet her!
Finally, we had to say our sad goodbyes to Heather and Amanda and then head back to the hotel to pack.
February 24, 2011:
Time to go home. Much to my dismay, we packed up our car and headed on our long journey back to reality. I could definitely live in Wilmington, NC someday. It's beautiful, peaceful, cute, and full of such nice people! It took us 11 hours to get home and we hit a lot of traffic. But, this trip was one that we will not soon forget.
