Holiday Trip : North Carolina

Taking the time to recount our trip to North Carolina. Visited my bro Greg and family, between Xmas and New Years Eve, in aRaleigh, North Carolina. First time we'd been there, first time we'd really been in 'The South' (Florida doesn't count, and I'd once taken a rafting trip near Gatlinburg). Interesting mix of Civil War historical sites, southern hospitality, and rampant development. We mainly made it a 'cities' tour, didn't get to the natural wonders of the mountains or the beach, but spent a lot of time visiting. I'll run down the events, and interject and observate along the way :

• Friday 26th : Got in, in the late afternoon - checked out local faves Sheetz and later Smithfields for BBQ, hush puppies, and sweet tea. And potato salad & cole slaw with heaps of sugar.
  
• Saturday 27th- Bonnie arrived in the morning, we went back to the house & opened presents. Then to shopping haven of A Southern Season where we had lunch as well. Our destination for the day was Chapel Hill : Chapel Hill museum (w/ a James Taylor section), downtown area off of UNC campus, UNC science museum. Observation: Greg pointed out Civil War, and even Colonial era historical sites as we drove around - right in the midst of all the development & widening roadways & the like. Later, they made dinner at home, and we got some Dairy Queen before settling into movie night - "Elf".
  
• Sunday 28th - made an early start to Charlotte (with Vicki's friend Robert driving). On the way, we stopped at the mall & Outdoor World. Parked in the lot for the Discovery Museum, but we were early so we walked around Charlotte a bit - saw a settler's cemetery just off downtown. Observation: given the area's growth from family-centric properties, there were many leftover family plots everywhere. Even right next to new apartment complexes, in urban nooks, and butted up against parks & schoolyards. We got into the museum when they opened, and made it over first thing to the Pompeii exhibit. Observation: very fantastic, really painted a picture of life & times, then had serious impact with the final room filled with the famous "negative corpse space" plaster castings. There was also a natural history floor, and a great hands-on area for the kids (featuring "Science of the Circus" exhibit, which we had seen a couple years back at the Lawrence Hall of Science, when Greg was visiting then...). While the kids played, Bonnie and I walked around downtown some, including the Bobcats arena, and lunch at BoJangles. Had a sleepy drive home, grabbed dinner at home while my nephew Sterling played video games, then the adults played euker into the nighttime.
  
• Monday, 29th - Tour of Durham, courtesy of Vicki's co-worker, Ken. Saw some of NC Central campus; the neighborhoods of downtown, Brightleaf District, the re-imagined Tobacco District, where the Durham Bulls play; and a visit to Duke, included the famous Duke Cathedral and Cameron Indoor Fieldhouse! Observation: the 3 cities with the world-class universities & the 'Research Triangle' gives a rather atraditional view of the South. Heavy arts culture; large and highly-educated immigrant population (there was a Korean Baptist church, and a Hindu temple in Greg's hood); eco-friendly philosophies. Dinner was a to-do, at Angus Steins classic steakhouse, along with Vicki's co-workers.
  
• Tuesday, 30th - Our last day, so we hit even more locally - Raleigh. Drove around more with the family to see Elise's charter school on NC State Campus; hit the Natural Sciences museum, with its Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit; then walked by the State Capitol (with its Greek revival statue of Washington); and a bit through Downtown. Then back & packing up, heading to the airport at 5.
  

Overall, a nice trip & a great visit. Very nice to catch up with them in a more casual setting, and longer timeframe, and to spend time with the kids. Now to block out time for a Michigan trip this year...
Big update on me : started my new job at Image Movers Digital in Marin! It's a feature animation studio (as opposed to VFX, which is what I did before joining PDI in 2005), run by Robert Zemeckis and his producing partners (performance capture, in the style of Polar Express and Beowulf) but is technically owned by Disney. More info soon...