I just read an article about a planned resurfacing of I-40, the road I take to work every day. In April of next year they'll refresh the asphalt between 540 and the Wade Avenue exit. The same article mentions a very sensible change that's being planned for the Raleigh 440 beltway:
"The Beltline job includes plans to remove Inner / Outer Beltline signs that have confused motorists for years. Instead, the Beltline would be divided between east / west I-40, and east / west I-440."
That makes so much sense -- the Inner / Outer Beltline thing never really worked for me.
Inspired by a surprise discovery in San Diego during our vacation we visited the North Carolina Museum of Art today.
The museum's collection is wide in scope, and it's a pretty large museum. We visited the European Collection, which includes a nice selection of Dutch and Flemish art from the 16th and 17th century. We couldn't find the painting of the Grote Markt in Haarlem by Berckheyde, but there were a couple of empty places on the walls so it may be on loan.
One of the highlights for me was a painting by Ruisdael, Wooded Landscape with Waterfall. There was also a smaller painting with a traditional Dutch winter landscape that I liked, with people skating on a frozen river.
Yesterday afternoon we made road trip to Wilson, a little town west of Raleigh and about 1,5 hours from Durham.
We wanted to see a historic downtown, and Wilson showed up high in the list with Google results. It was indeed a pretty town with lots of old wooden houses in Southern style with porches and chairs outside.
We saw large and beautiful suburbs when driving into the city, but the downtown area is not doing very well. A lot of houses and businesses are abandoned, and over-all downtown looks to be in bad shape. At other hand we did see some nicely painted stores and public places: the town is making an effort to look better and especially the little square behind the hardware store in the main street is a pleasant surprise.
Later in the afternoon we went to see a nice movie and after dinner we drove back to Durham.
The train station, with maybe 6 passenger trains a day.
This morning I was with the Jaycees in Chapel Hill to help in the organization of the Chapel Hill Christmas Parade. The Chapel Hill Jaycees did that for the first time this year, and things went really well.
I was in the "walking groups" area and we made sure all the marching bands and other groups started in the right order. There were about 2,000 participants in the parade, and with 15 volunteers and some experienced community members things worked out really smoothly.
There was a nice variety of participants, I liked the Chick-fil-a cows. There was even a girl in a traditional Dutch costume and a Sinterklaas!
Early in the morning the first vehicles were getting ready. The streets were closed from 8.00 am, and the parade started at 10.00 am.
When there's a parade, you don't want to have your car parked on the street...
We made sure all walking groups were in the right order, and they lined up on the parking lot of the Moorehead Planetarium.
Lots and lots of people walking in the parade, including many kids. Almost 250 girl scouts!
Saturday morning I went to the North Carolina State Fair. I took a smarter route than last year so parking was no issue this time.
The fair is a lot of fun, many different things to see and so many different people. I spent an hour or two walking around. I liked the agricultural exhibitions: weirdly shaped pumpkins, wonderful roses etc. Food is important at the fair, and I tried banana pudding and had a hushpuppie in a corn mill.
The best part I found by accident: there was a very nice music & dance show in a big tent near the water rides at the Midway. There was blue grass and regional music, and a number of traditional youth dance groups.
Lots of pictures below.
The Midway.
Drying tobacco leaves. Tobacco used to be, and still is, a very important crop for North Carolina.
Products from North Carolina.
There was a contest for roses.
Old farming equipment.
A children's ride with real animals.
Free fall!
Carved pumpkins with the Duke, NC State and the Tarheels sport team logo's.
The Raleigh Jaycees' Turkey Shoot, where I volunteered last Tuesday.
Turkey legs. I had one of them for dinner on Tuesday.
The food on the fair is something special. You can get the strangest things deep-fried. I didn't really feel like trying deep fried Snickers, Coca Cola or pickles.
The ice cream made by NC State is supposed to be very delicious, but the line was way too long. I tried banana pudding (from the restaurant at the Raleigh Farmer's Market). A colleague from Tennessee is crazy about this and it's indeed delicious.
This afternoon I went for a long walk in the Eno River State Park.
The park is very close to us, maybe a 15 minute drive. The river Eno floats north of Durham, and the banks of the river are a State Park for a number of miles. I've been in the park before, that was on the west side of the river.
Today was notably colder than it has been in the last months. I was still in my shorts and a T-shirt but I could feel that the fall is slowly starting.
I started at Cole Mill Road, but I noticed that the trails on that side of the river are pretty short. I started the trail and took a car bridge to the other side, and walked about 30 minutes outside the part to get to the trails on the other side that are longer. I encountered a guard dog there and I wasn't really looking forward to go back the same way.
When I was on this second trail I saw that in fact there is a crossing in the river and on my way back I used that crossing. With some athletic jumps I made it safe & dry to the other side. The trail runs mainly through woods and there's a variety of wild life in the park. I saw a tiny frog, but the nicest was a close encounter with four deer near the end of my hike.
Entrance of the park (Cole Mill Road).
The trail through the woods.
A tiny little frog. I only noticed it because it was moving.
Walking outside the park. My encounter with a guard dog earlier was a surprise and I was glad it decided not to attack me.
I went back into the park, this time on the other side of the river. Geese on the river.
Ruins of an old house.
On the way back I crossed the river the exciting way.
On my way back I saw a group of four deer. They were staring at me for about a minute before they ran off. Beautiful creatures.
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.
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.
I just read an article about a planned 
Inspired by a surprise discovery in San Diego during our vacation we visited the North Carolina Museum of Art today. 
Yesterday afternoon we made road trip to Wilson, a little town west of Raleigh and about 1,5 hours from Durham. 
This morning I was with the Jaycees in Chapel Hill to help in the organization of the Chapel Hill Christmas Parade. The Chapel Hill Jaycees did that for the first time this year, and things went really well.
Today I visited the Raven Rock state park, about an hour south of Raleigh.
Saturday morning I went to the North Carolina State Fair. I took a smarter route than last year so parking was no issue 
This afternoon I went for a long walk in the Eno River State Park. 
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. 
After we visited the 
Sunday morning we visted the Orton plantation, a little south of Wilmington.
A very diverse set of gardens.
