Yesterday I went for a walk in the William B. Umstead Park.

This State Park is located between Durham and Raleigh. The entrance to the park is actually from the highway I take to work, the I40, but I had never really paid attention to the signs. The other day my colleagues recommended the park.

I started at the Reedy Creek entrance and I walked the Company Mill Trail, a little under 6 miles. It was cold but sunny and a great day to go for a walk like this, and I enjoyed it.

I walked for two hours and 15 minutes. Some pictures.

Today we went for a hike on Pilot Mountain.


The mountain is located in a National Park about 25 miles north of Winston-Salem and about two hours from our house. We arrived in the park at 1.30 pm and we had lunch at the picknick tables there. It's fantastic that we can have lunch outdoors in January!


We walked 2 trails; the first one was the hardest. It was 2 miles and classified as "strenuous". The first 15 minutes weren't very interesting, but when we were deeper in the wood it became beautiful and it was great to walk through nature. The second trail was much easier, about a mile long, and made a circle around the top of the mountain.


On the way back we picked up some really nice vegetables at a Farmer's Market near the highway.

The park office. The flag is half-staff because of the death of President Ford.

The pick nick area in the park.

The beginning of the trail.

The first 15 minutes of the path weren't very exciting, but that changed quickly.

Sasha on the mountain.

A beautiful view, looking up.

The entrance of the second trail. In the background the characteristic Big Pinnacle of the mountain.

Two weeks ago I visited the North Carolina State Fair.

The fair not only has a large number of amusement rides, but also a large number of vendors and salesman in the agricultural industry. The NC State Fair is an old tradition -- the first was was over 150 years ago.

I visited the fair on Saturday 10/20, the day before the last of the season and the weather was great: pictures of the NC State Fair 2006.

This Saturday Sasha and I spent a day exploring the area we live in.

We started by opening new bank accounts. The accounts we have are with banks in the Washington DC area and they don't have branches here. Most of the transactions we do via internet, but it is useful to have a local bank, especially for cashing checks.

As expected, opening the accounts took a while but after an hour or so we completed all the paperwork.

The lady in the bank recommended us a nice diner to go for brunch, in downtown Durham. It was busy (we were there around noon) but we got a table quickly. It's a place for classic American breakfast, and with unlimited refills for coffee which was great.

After lunch we walked through the main street of Durham. It's not very large but there are nice shops and restaurants. We bought a bread at a local bakery.

After a quick stop at home we drove to Raleigh. Instead of taking the exit to my work, as I usually do, we continued to downtown Raleigh and parked near the state Capitol building.

We went for a long walk in that area. It was quiet on Saturday afternoon -- it's mainly a business district. Later we came in the more alive areas, although many shops were closed because of the NC State Fair.

Explanatory sign at the State Capitol.

State Capitol.

Downtown Raleigh. It almost looks like a big city!

A map of downtown Raleigh.

From downtown we walked to this area, with restaurants and little shops. It was really quiet because of the NC State Fair.

Last night the tropical storm Ernesto made landfall in the south of North Carolina.

Originally it looked like the storm could go to the Raleigh/Durham area, but it stayed in the east part of the state. Except for a lot of rain last night we luckily didn't have a lot of problems with Ernesto.

Yesterday evening we went out to play some pool. It had been a while since I played that, but it was a lot of fun.

I just arrived in Raleigh/Durham, the airport. There is an internet terminal I can use, very nice.


I planned to arrive here around 1 pm, but a cancelled flight and 2 delays made that I'm here now, around 7 pm. I'm on my way to pick up my bag and rent a car. I just bought a map of the area, let's se if I can find the hotel at once.