On Monday morning we had breakfast together and Sasha and I left for work. Joost and Ankie spent the morning in the mall, and then came to my office and we had lunch together.

We went to Ole Time Barbeque, a great BBQ place near my work where they serve traditional East North Carolina BBQ, in a vinegary sauce. I don't come there often (it's not exactly light & healthy) but it's very delicious and the people are very friendly.

After lunch Joost and Ankie continued their journey; next stop Asheville. It was really nice to see them again and spend time together!

Guus, Sasha, Ankie and Joost.

Leaving the house.

BBQ for lunch.

On Sunday morning we left at 11.00 am for a road trip to Hanging Rock National Park. That's near Winston-Salem and the trip was supposed to take about two hours. It took a bit longer since someone wasn't giving me the right instructions, but we had a lot of fun in the car. It's a beautiful trip, especially the last part where we left the highway.

I didn't realize that the park is in Danbury, which is where I went tubing with the Jaycee's -- we passed the cafe where you can rent tubes.

It's a beautiful park. We took a moderate trail to the top of the Hanging Rock, from where we had a great view over the surroundings.

Entrance of the park.

Joost & Guus.

Looking at nature.

A tree, growing under a rock.

The hanging rock.

View from the top.

In the evening we went to Southpoint Mall, to see a real mall. We had dinner in the Cheesecake Factory.

I'm in New Jersey for two days. There's a training day tomorrow near our office that I'll attend.

My flight in the morning had over an hour delay because of the rain in Newark.

Yesterday evening I saw an outdoor Christmas tree. Either it's been decorated the whole year or they are very early.

The weather... it's raining!

On Saturday morning Joost and Ankie arrived in Durham. They started their trip in New York a week ago, and traveled by car via Washington to North Carolina.

We had coffee the four of us, and then we went for a walk in downtown Durham, and did some shopping. Joost and Ankie took a lot of pictures -- architects have an interesting view of the world.

Later we went to Duke University, where we made a walk over campus. We also visited the Gothic Reading Room which has an exhibition on the history of Duke University.

Joost and Ankie arrived.

Photographing downtown.

Looking at the chapel.

Inside Duke's Gothic Reading Room.

Architects often choose different subjects for their photographs...

...but they did include the famous Duke chapel.

We went for a walk in the Sarah P. Duke Gardens.

Our close friends Joost and Ankie arrived today in Durham. They are on a journey along the East Coast, and traveled from Washington D.C. today.

We went to Duke University and downtown Durham and in the evening we all went to the Emily's and Christoph's house warming party. It was a very nice day -- it's great to see them.

I want to cut back on the amount of coffee I drink. Over the last couple of weeks I've noticed that I crave coffee, especially on the weekends, even if I had quite a lot of coffee that day.

My goal is to only drink a large of cup coffee in the morning, and not drink coffee in the afternoon. This is the pattern I used to have, until about a year ago. Now I drink coffee both in the morning and the afternoon, combined with drinking a lot of water.

So this morning I got a Starbucks Grande Coffee (372 milligrams of caffeine) and drank it slowly over the morning, and told myself: that's it for today.

Right after lunch I caught myself thinking about a second cup, but I remained strong. Sure enough, around 2.30 pm I started getting a headache. I had small zip from Sasha's coffee when I came home, but at 9.45 pm I still feel the headache, though milder.

I've done this before, and it usually takes a couple of days.

Yesterday afternoon I traveled back from Newark. There was a lot of traffic because of Labor Day weekend so I took an alternative route to the airport which worked out well. It was a very productive and good week.

In the car I was listening to the Jersey Guys, a funny radio show. The radio hosts apparently don't like the state's administration very much.

The flight back home was uneventful, although we had to wait in line with the plane for quite a while. Sasha at Esteban and Belen's place, so I went there and was right in time for a delicious desert.

After we visited the Orton plantation we made a stop next to a lake where we saw our first wild alligators ever. After that amazing experience we returned to downtown Wilmington where we had lunch at the river side in a nice French restaurant.

On our way back from Wilmington we stopped at the Moores Creek National Battlefield. This is a small park with a visitor's center to commemorate the battle in the Revolutionary War between Loyalists and Patriots.

The battle was short but it was significant because it was the first battlefield victory for the Patriots and it inspired the state of North Carolina some years later to vote for independence of Britain.

Part of the field where it all happened is now left to nature.

Sunday morning we visted the Orton plantation, a little south of Wilmington.

The plantation used to produce rice. Nowadays the rice fields are a nature reserve. The gardens are open to the public to visit but the residence is still used by the owners of the plantation as their home.

The gardens are beautiful and very diverse in style. We were happy that we arrived early, as it got really hot when we left.

The private residence of the plantation owners.

A very diverse set of gardens.

Here used to be the rice fields.

Magnificent trees.

Saturday morning we left for a 2,5 hour trip to Wilmington after a quick stop at Starbucks. It's very easy to find from Raleigh: take I-40 and follow it until it ends.

The weather was great and we had lunch in an outside bar overlooking the Cape Fear River. Later we went for a walk through the city. We also did a tour in a trolley that was pulled by two horses that were too slow to work for the Amish in Pennsylvania and got a tourist job instead. The tour gave us a good view of the beautiful historic downtown where many old historic homes still exists in the old Southern style.

In the evening we went for dinner in Caprice, a restaurant by the owner of Cafe Bruxelles in New York. The food was excellent, and although it was not primarily a Belgium restaurant it had many great Belgium dishes and of course superb French fries. The restaurant alone is worth a trip to Wilmington.

Cape Fear River.

Trolley through Wilmington.

A street side restaurant that featured in Dawson's Creek, which was filmed in Wilmington.

Apartments overlooking the river.