The first day on our Inner Banks trip, we went hiking at Cedar Point Tideland. The trail is located at the mouth of White Oak River, and alternates between a salt marsh and a coastal forest. This was a completely new terrain for us. Even though it was a short hike, which we were thankful for, given the heat index that day, we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it!
ทริป Inner Banks เที่ยวนี้เราได้มีโอกาสไปเจอประสบการณ์เดินป่าแปลกใหม่แบบที่ไม่เคยลองกันมาก่อน Cedar Point Tideland ตั้งอยู่ที่ปากแม่น้ำ White Oak ทางเดินที่นี่ลัดเลาะข้ามป่าชายเลนริมฝั่งแม่น้ำ ถึงจะเป็นทางสั้นๆ (ซึ่งพอเหมาะพอดีกับระดับความร้อนในวันนั้น) แต่วิวสวยแปลกตาคุ้มค่ากับหยาดเหงื่อ
I could never get tired of this beautiful landscape! 😍
วิวสวยๆแบบนี้ดูยังไงก็ไม่เบื่อ 😍
Even the wildlife here was different! This time we saw several tiny crabs scrambling in the mud flats, a few herons hunting for prey, and tons of fossilized shells. Also colorful mushrooms!
We clocked in at a little over 1.5 miles, which took us almost an hour to finish, only because we were enjoying the scenery and stopping to take pictures and stalking the herons. 😛
On the way back, we stopped by to check out the Salty Air Open Market in Cedar Point. We love the easygoing ambience they got going but we must have gotten there way too early or something… Even though we spent almost an hour nursing our beer and kombucha, the food truck never opened up (they had been “getting it ready” the entire time 😒). We finally gave up and went to grab lunch at a different place instead.
หลังเดินป่าเสร็จเราไปแวะกันที่ Salty Air Open Market ซึ่งเป็นตลาดนัดเล็กๆกลางแจ้งในเมือง Cedar Point บรรยากาศดูดีอยู่ แต่สงสัยว่าเราจะไปถึงกันเช้าเกิน อุตส่าห์นั่งละเลียดจิบเบียร์กับชาหมัก kombucha อยู่ตั้งนาน ร้านอาหารก็ยังไม่เปิดซักที (คือเห็นเค้าจัดเตรียมกันอยู่ตั้งแต่ตอนไปถึงใหม่ๆ แถมบอกเราว่า “อีกแป๊บเดียวเดี๋ยวเปิด” 😒) รอจนสุดท้ายรอไม่ไหวเลยได้ไปหาข้าวกินกันที่อื่นแทน
Last Friday was my birthday. 😊 We celebrated it COVID style by going on a hike at Hemlock Bluffs Nature Preserve. This is a familiar trail, very close to home, and one of our favorites in the area. We have been here several times, but I just realized I never did a post on it. So I figured this is a good opportunity to do so!
There is a visitor center that houses many facilities, including a restroom, a nature center, a recycled garden, and a little outdoor playground area for kids. I imagine this would be a great place for families with little ones.
The trails here are short and nice, very well paved with plenty of mulch that feels pleasant and cushiony when you step on it. We like to come here especially after it rains because we don’t have to worry about the mud.
This time we started off on the East Hemlock Bluffs side, which leads to Swift Creek Trail. The steps leading down to it didn’t seem like much on the descending portion, but were pretty brutal on the way back up! 😓 There were a few lookout stops on the way for you to rest though, if you need to catch a breath or two. Parts of this lower loop section were these long boardwalks that look harmless but can be very slippery after a downpour. 😅
คราวนี้เราไปเริ่มกันที่ฝั่งตะวันออกกันก่อน ซึ่งมีบันไดยาวนำไปสู่ทางที่มีชื่อว่า Swift Creek Trail ตอนลงไปก็ไม่เท่าไหร่ แต่ตอนขากลับขึ้นมานี่สิ ปีนกันลมแทบจับ 😓 แต่เค้ามีที่ชมวิวให้พักเหนื่อยอยู่สองสามจุดระหว่างทางถ้าขึ้นรวดเดียวไม่ไหว ทางเดินด้านล่างมีส่วนที่เลียบไปกับลำห้วยเล็กๆปูด้วยพื้นไม้ ใบไม้ที่ตกอยู่ตามทางเหล่านี้ดูสวยก็จริง แต่เวลาฝนตกใหม่ๆต้องคอยระวังมิฉะนั้นอาจจะเกิดการก้นจ้ำเบ้าได้ 😅
After climbing back up the steps, we headed over to the West Hemlock Bluffs side to do the Chestnut Oak Loop Trail. Since this is a short one, we did it twice, first counter clockwise, then the other way round.
เสร็จจากนั้นเราก็ไปต่อกันยังฝั่งตะวันตกซึ่งเป็นทางเดินที่เรียกว่า Chestnut Oak Loop Trail ด้วยความที่ทางสั้นมากเลยได้เดินวนกันสองรอบ
Half way through the hike Joel noticed that his Apple Watch did not seem quite right. 🙄 We put ours next to each other to compare and realized the abnormally large elevation gain shown on his. (Mine does not have it because it’s an earlier series.) I know we climbed those 100 steps, but there was no way that was a 140 million feet, even though it might feel that way! 🤣 A full reset once we got home appears to have fixed whatever issue there was, for now!
Mushroom spotting – one of my favorite hiking activities! 😊
การส่องเห็ดเป็นกิจการการเดินป่าสุดโปรดของเรา 😊
We clocked in at a little under 3 miles total, which took us a little over an hour. The weather is getting a lot cooler here I think we’ll be back hiking a lot more often this fall!
When we got home, Joel made me a yummie tomato pie for dinner, followed by a tres leches birthday cake – COVID or not, that’s definitely a happy birthday in my book! 😍
กลับบ้านมาคุณสามีทำพายมะเขือเทศแสนอร่อยเป็นอาหารเย็น ตบท้ายด้วยเค้กวันเกิด tres leches ซึ่งเป็นเค้กราดด้วยนมเข้มข้นของโปรดของเรา จะโควิด ไม่โควิด ได้ฉลองวันเกิดด้วยของอร่อยถูกปากอย่างนี้ก็แฮปปี้เหลือล้นแล้ว 😍
This is another series I am introducing as the new-normal alternative travel format we had adopted during this ongoing pandemic. Since we cannot travel freely and safely like we usually do during this time of the year, I forced myself to tap into my creative outlets 🧐 to try to come up with trip ideas that would allow us to leave the house and unwind for a few days while exploring interesting spots closer to home. To minimize our risk of contracting the potentially deadly virus, I have established a few rules…
Destination must be within no more than 4 hour drive from home.
Overnight stay must be in a non-hotel venue, where we do not have to share the ventilation system with other people.
Activities must be limited to outdoors only.
If eating out, it must be at a restaurant with outdoor seating.
For our first trip, I chose a much quieter counterpart of the otherwise well-known Outer Banks area of North Carolina, a.k.a. the Inner Banks. This is where the Neuse River meets the Pamlico River at Pamlico Sound, which is the largest lagoon along the US east coast, and is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the infamous Outer Banks.
I found a really cool airbnb property in Arapahoe, which sits right at the bank of the Neuse River. It was such a perfect location, quiet and away from the crowds, yet equipped with its own private little beach and a small pier that gave us the illusion of being on a beachfront property without the usual exorbitant price tag! 😉 Despite being one of the eight identically looking houses on the same property front, we barely saw anybody during the entire time we were there. The house itself was clean and cozy, apparently with a lot more room that we needed, not that we are complaining! 🙄
We managed to get up early 😆 to enjoy the beautiful sunrise from our balcony a few times while we were there. It was painful for night owls like us, but I had to say it was totally worth it!
Apart from sunrises and one sunset we were able to catch on the way home one day, night time there provided an (almost 😝) equally pleasant view of the moon reflecting on the water by the pier. There were a few nights when it was windy enough that we didn’t have to worry about getting eaten alive by the mosquitoes 😓 so we could sit out sipping on glasses of wine, listening to the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore and pretending that there wasn’t a worldwide pandemic going on… 🥺
Besides a few evening walks along the private beach, we were able to fit in a couple of unique hikes and a few excursions during the trip, each of which I will cover in its own separate post. With the location of the house being in Arapahoe, most of our ventures involved taking a ferry across the river to get to the other side. We could have driven around the sound but that would mean covering twice the distance in approximately the same amount of time which seemed like a total waste of gas. 😣
The Minnesott Beach-Cherry Branch Ferry was nothing like what we had imagined… 😆 First of all, it was completely free, which is almost unheard of during this age and time! Second of all, it was teeny tiny! We were picturing a large ferry like the ones we use to take to visit the Outer Hebrides in Scotland… But when we got there, the only thing we saw was this tiny little thing that didn’t look like it could hold anything other than just a few cars, despite the long lines of cars waiting to board. We could barely see it from our vantage point at the front of the very last line. We first thought the actual ferry hadn’t arrived… But before we knew it, the cars ahead of us started to move, onto the very tiny platform! 😱 They just kept cramming us on, until everybody, all the waiting cars and trucks, at least 30 or even more, are packed tightly on both sides!
In the picture you see above, we were at the very back of the line, at the edge of the ferry on one side, so you can see there wasn’t much in terms of room in front of us… 😅 Each trip took approximately 20 minutes. The whole process was very efficiently run by just a few crew men directing traffic on and off the ferry. We were very impressed and grateful! One tip we can share is to make sure you check the ferry schedule before departure, otherwise you can be stuck there waiting for the next one for up to more than an hour! We did learn the hard way. 😆
Since our choice destination wasn’t located near any big tourist attractions, our options in the food consumption department was pretty dire… 😓 Fortunately, we found The Friendly Market! This chic venue in Morehead City was responsible for more than 75% of our meals while we were there. We visited twice to stock up and came back very happy with pretty much everything we got. The staff were super nice and ‘friendly’ as the moniker proudly attested! 😍
The few superstar dishes worth mentioning include their tomato pie (which we got both times!), blue cheese collard dip, and shrimp & grits. Make sure to try at least some of these if you get a chance to visit in person! 😉
This section is a little embarrassing to share but I’ll go ahead with it any way. 😆 So, I’ve seen plenty of photos of pretty blogger ladies posing in beautiful dresses by the beach on their vacations (pre COVID-19) and I’ve always wanted to recreate something like that… I’ve packed my prettiest beachy dress for this very purpose! 😊 I don’t know how they all got their dresses and their hair to blow so perfectly in the wind like that! 😅 After several dozen different takes, I have come to a conclusion we either need a better model, or a better photographer in order to make this happen properly! 🤣
We are back again with another Pandemic Pit Stop installment. 😊 I wasn’t really planning on having another one this soon… But then I accidentally came across an article about this rather famous sculpture currently on display not too far from us. When I learned that it would be leaving town at the end of August, I decided that we should go check it out while we still could! 🤔
This tour took us about an hour west to Burlington, and other small towns surrounding it. First stop is a 50-year-old barn located in a quiet little windy road in a little town called Whitsett, brightly painted with a larger-than-life Mickey Mouse. It was in such great condition we could tell that it had been maintained with tender loving care 😍 throughout the years. According to the page I found it from, the barn was built in 1971 by a gentleman by the name of Tom Kleeburg. I couldn’t find any other information about it online, unfortunately. 😔
Next stop was the tiniest church I have ever seen in my life! This miniature Friedens Lutheran Church in Gibsonville was constructed with the logs from the original church, which was built in 1745, after it burned down in 1939. There was an old well right next to it, and a set of benches surrounding some cross-shaped stone plaques with beautiful religious quotes.
I happened to notice that there was no lock on the door…so I nudged Joel to go and try see if it would open. 🤔 Two unhinging maneuvers later and voila, the doors did indeed open to reveal a fully functional church, with a carpeted aisle flanked by two rows of tiny little pews, leading to the front podium with a small wooden cross, two candle holders (one with a candle still in it), and an opened book of bible. Needless to say, our minds were completely blown! 😳
We went across the street to check out the modern version of the church that was built to replace the original one after the fire, before going along on our way to the next stop.
Glencoe Mill Village is located in the town of Burlington, North Carolina. It gave us a glimpse into the time when textile production was booming here in the late 1880s. The Glencoe Mill textile factory stood right next to the bank of Haw River and was operational until the 1950s. A little village sits nearby to provide housing for all the workers. The beautifully preserved homes, 38 of them restored by the National Register of Historic Places, sit on a neat little street, in a row of pastel-colored lineups. We spotted a few folks lounging on their front porches, just like in the old days.
This little lady appeared to be the town ambassador of some sort. 😻 She promptly came to greet us as soon as we stepped out of the car, and proceeded to give us a private tour of the village for a bit. That is, until some creature came scurrying by and captured her attention, so she had to excuse herself to go tend to the more urgent business at paws! 🤣 We spotted her again on our way back, chilling on a porch of one of the houses with whom we think was her mama (since they looked like carbon-copies of each other, except for the sizes!). As soon as she saw us, she came running right back over, followed closely by her mama. Turned out, the uber-friendliness does run in the family!
We walked over to check out the remnant of the textile factory complex, just across the street from the village. The beautiful brick structures featured several buildings, all shut down but look to be in great shape. According to their web site, some of these are available for lease as art studios at pretty reasonable prices. There was a sculpture with a label calling it “Weaver’s Tools” which is meant to commemorate Glencoe Mill’s history. At the far end, we also found 2 rusted pieces of large propellers that likely were used to power the mill.
เราเดินแวะไปดูตึกโรงงานทอผ้าที่อยู่เยื้องๆกันกับตัวหมู่บ้าน ส่วนใหญ่ตัวตึกทำด้วยอิฐและปิดตายไว้หมดแต่ยังเดินดูรอบๆได้ web site ของที่นี่บอกว่าตึกบางหลังเปิดให้เช่าเป็นสตูดิโอสำหรับศิลปินในราคาค่อนข้างย่อมเยา ที่หน้าตึกมีรูปปั้นกระสวยทอผ้าขนาดยักษ์ที่สร้างขึ้นเพื่อเป็นอนุสรณ์แด่สถานที่ประวัติศาสตร์แห่งนี้ นอกจากนี้ยังมีใบพัดอันโตจากกังหันที่เคยนำพลังงานน้ำจากเขื่อนมาสู่โรงงาน
A few steps away, at Great Bend County Park, we took a short walk along the Haw River Trail to check out the old dam that used to run the mill. A few people were chilling on the grass, and some fishing in the river.
หลังจากนั้นเราไปเดินตามทางเลียบแม่น้ำ Haw River ที่ Great Bend County Park ซึ่งตั้งอยู่ถัดไปไม่ไกลเพื่อไปชมตัวเขื่อนที่เค้าสร้างไว้เพื่อให้พลังงานแก่โรงงานทอผ้า
We finally made our way to our final stop of the day at Alamance Arts in Graham, where Seward Johnson’s infamous Embracing Peace sculpture sits at its front lawn. The sculpture was inspired by a photo of a US Navy sailor kissing a nurse at Times Square in New York City on August 14, 1945, when the end of World War II was announced. It has traveled all over the world before finally ending up here in NC last year. The installment was originally scheduled to be there from October 2019 until April 2020. When I checked the ‘Current Exhibits‘ page at Alamance Arts before we went, it listed the end date as August 2020. However, when I checked again just now, it appears they have extended it until Spring 2021. I guess that’s one of the rare perks, courtesy of the pandemic! 🙄
Besides the towering sculpture, Alamance Arts has a collection of cool art pieces scattered all over the path way that leads to the Children’s Museum, which is right in the back of it. I guess most of these colorful pieces probably belong to the museum. My favorite was this Alice in Wonderland bench cleverly designed in the shape of an opened book!
พิพิธภัณฑ์แห่งนี้นอกจากจะมีรูปปั้นให้ดูฟรีแล้ว ตามทางเดินด้านข้างยังเต็มไปด้วยงานแสดงศิลปะสีสวยหลายชิ้น แต่ดูอีกทีส่วนใหญ่น่าจะเป็นของพิพิธภัณฑ์เด็กที่ตั้งอยู่ด้านหลังมากกว่า งานชิ้นโปรดของเราคือม้านั่งรูปหนังสือจากนิทานเรื่อง Alice in Wonderland
We stopped by the cute little town square, where we spotted an ongoing protest with folks holding a confederate flag pitching their stance against a group of Black Lives Matter supporters. Quite an interesting sight to behold!
ก่อนกลับบ้านเราไปแวะเดินเล่นที่ใจกลางเมือง Graham ปรากฎว่าไปเจอกลุ่มผู้ประท้วงถือธงสมาพันธรัฐอเมริกา (ซึ่งมีที่มาจากสงครามกลางเมืองของที่นี่ และถือกันว่าเป็นสัญลักษณ์ของฝ่ายที่ให้การสนับสนุนสถาบันทาสและเหยียดผิวคนดำ) กำลังยืนประจันหน้ากับอีกกลุ่มที่ถือป้ายเรียกร้องสิทธิความเท่าเทียมให้คนผิวดำ
We ended the day picking up food from this Barbecue joint called Smokehouse at Steve’s. We didn’t have high hopes despite the rave reviews, but it actually turned out to be one of the best BBQ we’ve ever had! They had a market section in the same building and we were glad we grabbed a few extra goodies from there before we left. We were so hungry when we got home that I completely forgot to take a shot of those yummies before they disappeared! 😊
ท้ายที่สุดเราแวะไปเติมพลังกันที่ร้าน Smokehouse at Steve’s ระหว่างที่รอสั่งอาหารกลับบ้านเดินข้ามไปแอบดูอีกส่วนที่เป็นซุปเปอร์มาร์เกตเลยได้ของว่างติดไม้ติดมือมาอีกหลายอย่าง 😊 กลับถึงบ้านด้วยความหิวจัดเลยลืมถ่ายรูปบาร์บีคิวมาให้ดูกัน แต่ขอบอกว่าอาหารของเค้าอร่อยทุกอย่างสมคำร่ำลือจริงๆ
We have been getting into the habit of going out for a walk at odd times, to try to reduce the chance of running into other people. Lately, with the temperature well into the 90s, it stays hot and humid even into the evening, so we haven’t been out as much as we’d like to. The other day, there was a big storm that brought so much rain it was soaking wet everywhere. I happened to go out on the balcony right after the rain stopped and felt the rare chill which totally took me by surprise! I hurried in and asked Joel if he wanted to go out for a walk. We checked the radar to confirm no more rain was coming our way before heading out into the dark for a night walk.
As soon as we stepped foot on the trail nearby that is part of a larger system called the Cary Greenway, I started noticing all these…frogs 🐸 everywhere. With it being pitch black in some spots, we had to be really careful not to squish them! 😳 We had seen some before on prior walks, but never this many. There was one every 5-10 feet or so. I think they came out in droves because of the rain. So, I decided to turn our good old walk into a frog walk! 🤣 And hence this unplanned frog collection being presented to you here. 😊 These pictures you’re seeing above are just those that turned out decent enough to be included here, but trust me, there were many many more! 😆 Also, just for the record, I do realize that not all of them are frogs… I think some were toads…but I’m not a frog/toad expert so I couldn’t really tell which was which, but for the sake of the post, I’ll just call them all frogs. 🙄
After getting cooped up at home for months with no end in sight, I was starting to get a little stir crazy. 🤪 We usually have a weeklong trip in May for our anniversary, but obviously that didn’t happen this year… 😔 And it’s been too hot to go on our weekly hikes these past couple of months… 🥵I finally put my foot down and decided to do something about it, for my own mental stability’s sake! So here we are with the first in a hopefully-many-more-to-come weekend outing series that I’ve aptly named ‘Pandemic Pit Stops’. My only 2 criteria includes that the destination be outdoors and that it locates within a 2 hour drive from home, to hopefully eliminate the need for bathroom stops. 😝
This weekend, we drove out to Prospect Hill, a little town about half an hour south of the NC-Virginia border. In the front yard of this little house on Highway NC 86 sits the elaborate labor of love known as the Shangri-La Stone Village.
สุดสัปดาห์นี้เราขับรถไปที่เมือง Prospect Hill ซึ่งเป็นเมืองเล็กๆที่ตั้งอยู่ประมาณครึ่งชั่วโมงก่อนถึงเส้นแบ่งพรมแดนระหว่างรัฐนอร์ทแคโรไลน่าและรัฐเวอร์จิเนียบนถนนไฮเวย์สาย NC 86 ที่สนามหน้าบ้านหลังนี้มีของดีมาไว้ให้แวะดูกันที่เค้าตั้งชื่ออย่างหรูไว้ว่า หมู่บ้านหินแชงกรีล่า
Built during the years 1968-1977 by a retired tobacco farmer named Henry L. Warren, this roadside wonder consists of 27 different structures, including a church, a library, a school, a theatre, a hotel, a bank, a gas station, a water tower, and even a gym. The last of the bunch was a hospital that his family finished up for him after he passed away with cancer.
หมู่บ้านเล็กๆริมถนนแห่งนี้สร้างขึ้นโดยฝีมือของคุณ Henry L. Warren ชาวนาไร่ยาสูบที่มาริเริ่มงานอดิเรกชิ้นนี้หลังจากที่เกษียณอายุจากการทำงานเมื่อปีค.ศ. 1968 คุณ Henry ลงมือลงแรงค่อยๆสร้างเมืองเล็กๆของแกทีละหลังๆ มีทั้งโบสถ์ ห้องสมุด โรงเรียน โรงหนัง ธนาคาร แท้งค์เก็บน้ำ โรงยิม แกใช้เวลาทั้งหมด 9 ปี สร้างอาคารต่างๆทั้งหมดรวมแล้ว 27 หลัง จนกระทั่งมาเสียชีวิตด้วยโรคมะเร็งเมื่อปีค.ศ. 1977 หลังจากนั้นบรรดาลูกหลานจึงได้ช่วยกันสร้างผลงานชิ้นสุดท้ายที่แกทิ้งไว้คือโรงพยาบาลให้จนเสร็จสมบูรณ์
My most favorite part of it all were these strange whimsical pieces that can be found hiding all over the place. A stone cat, a french bulldog statue, a headless rooster, a paper windmill, a tiny action figure, a lego piece, colorful toy cars, just to name a few. Some seem original, others I believe were added by visitors over the years. At first glance, they don’t look like they should be there… But when you look at them again, you realize that they are perfectly where they belong, all bits and pieces stand together with the sole purpose to bring smiles and joy to the rogue passers-by like us!
Our next stop is just a few miles south, on the same road, at Botanist & Barrel Cidery and Winery. We sampled a delicious flight of ciders and a glass of rosé wine. They have outdoor seating in the back with plenty of picnic tables, dotted with cool decorating items made from old barrels and ancient-looking pieces of equipments. This nice gentleman introduced himself to us as the brewmaster and thanked us for visiting. He even pointed me to the pig roaster that was sitting by the trunk of a tree when he saw me checking out the yard decor. Their ciders and wine were tasty. The fruity note was pleasant, and none of them too overly sweet. We picked our two favorites to bring back home with us for later enjoyment. 😊
We ended our day in downtown Durham with some cold beer at Pour.
ก่อนกลับบ้านไปแวะกันที่ดาวน์ทาวน์เมือง Durham เพื่อให้คุณสามีได้จิบเบียร์เย็นๆที่ร้าน Pour
And a passion fruit sorbet ice cream from The Parlour.
ส่วนตัวเราไปแวะซื้อไอศครีมเสาวรสเชอร์เบทจากร้าน The Parlour มานั่งกินเป็นเพื่อน
Last but not least, nigiri omakase sets togo from M Sushi – one of our favorite sushi spot in town that just opened back up this month, after they had to shut down since mid March due to the pandemic! The nigiris hit the perfect spot, even though they were not at the same caliber as those served fresh at the counter when we used to dine in, understandably since they had to sit in the car for half an hour on our way home. Nevertheless we were thankful. And we will definitely be going back to help support the business. Until we can safely go in for freshly made sushi again, this will have to do for now… 😛
We decided on a last minute hike at Lake Johnson late Friday evening. We have hiked this trail dozens of times, since it is a convenient location, very close to home. I didn’t really expect much in terms of discovery, but it turned out to be a spectacular hike nonetheless!
อาทิตย์นี้หยุดยาวไม่มีอะไรทำ เลยชวนกันไปเดินป่าเย็นวันศุกร์ที่ Lake Johnson ซึ่งที่นี่ไปเดินกันมาหลายสิบรอบแล้วเพราะสะดวกสบายอยู่ใกล้บ้าน ไม่ได้คิดว่าจะได้เจออะไรแปลกใหม่น่าสนใจ แต่ปรากฎว่าธรรมชาติยังอุตส่าห์หาเรื่องมาทำให้เราประหลาดใจอีกจนได้
We just needed an exercise and wanted to do something quick and easy. We also wanted to avoid the crowd at the same time, so we tried to get there as late as we could. That turned out to be the perfect decision. What set this particular hike apart from all the other times, was the presence of fireflies! Hundreds, maybe thousands of them, everywhere! We set out about half an hour before sunset. As soon as we hit the trail, we started noticing specks of lights flashing up all around us. The closer to dusk it got, the easier it was to spot them. Having lived in big cities my entire life, I never got a chance to see real fireflies until I moved here to North Carolina. We would spot a few here and there when we were out in the evening around our house. But this is the first time I have seen so many of them together at the same time! Too bad it was just impossible to photograph them. 😔 Maybe if I had one of those big beefy cameras…🤔
By the time we got back to the car it was almost completely dark out. The moon was high up and beautiful. We were in such a rush when we left the house that neither of us remembered to bring our Apple Watch, so no workout shot this time! 😆 We estimated that we did around 2.5-3 miles in a little over an hour.
This is the last post on my Winston-Salem series, where I’d like to showcase several eye candies from all around town. Before this trip, I never realized that Winston-Salem has such a vibrant arts scene or that it is recognized as the City of Arts and Innovation. There are artworks to be explored literally everywhere in town!
Starting off with what the locals call ARTivity on the Green, which is located right by Trade Street. This is Winston-Salem’s very first public park. It is packed full with colorful murals. Right in the middle is the bright red sculpture in the shape of stacks with different heights. These were said to signify the city’s past industrial background.
เริ่มต้นกันที่จุดเด่นใจกลางเมืองที่มีชื่อว่า ARTivity on the Green บนถนน Trade Street ที่นี่เป็นสวนสาธารณะแห่งแรกของเมือง Winston-Salem นอกจากจะมีสตรีทอาร์ตสีสวยให้ชมกันอยู่รายรอบแล้ว ตรงกลางสวนยังมีผลงานประติมากรรมสีแดงสะดุดตาเป็นท่อเหล็กสูงต่ำต่างระดับที่ทำไว้เพื่อตั้งใจสื่อถึงภูมิหลังทางอุตสาหกรรมของเมืองนี้
Nearby on Trade Street, more street arts can be found in abundance, within just a few blocks of one another!
ถัดมาบนถนน Trade Street มีผนังหลากสีหลายลายให้ดูไม่ซ้ำกัน ยังไม่นับผลงานประดับยอดตึกเก๋ๆอีกหลายชิ้น
This one was right across from Benton Convention Center.
ตรงข้าม Benton Convention Center
And this one was by the parking spots at Slappy’s Chicken.
ที่จอดรถร้าน Slappy’s Chicken
Beautiful lamp post, right by Cardinal Hotel.
เสาไฟฟ้าเยื้องๆกับโรงแรม Cardinal
This one was near Winston Tower.
ใกล้ Winston Tower
And these were right outside the lot downtown where we parked, just around the corner from Trade Street.
หน้าลานจอดรถที่เราไปจอดกันในดาวทาวน์ ใกล้ๆถนน Trade Street
At Fiddlin’ Fish Brewing Company…
ที่โรงเบียร์ Fiddlin’ Fish Brewing Company
At Wise Man Brewing.
อีกโรงเบียร์ Wise Man Brewing
Now, moving on to what I consider the highlight of this post: Art-o-mats! I had never heard of them before I started doing research for this trip. Winston-Salem used to be one of the biggest tobacco producers in the country. As a result, there used to be these cigarette vending machines everywhere in town. When smoking started to become a thing of the past, these machines were decommissioned and they just sat around collecting dust, until a local artist came up with this genius idea to turn them into arts dispensing machines! We went to Delurk Gallery, the studio where Clark Whittington produces his unique pieces that are now displayed all over the world.
The first one above was a surprise find, right outside our room at Wherehouse Art Hotel! And the other one was inside Krankies, the coffee shop downstairs!
รูปแรกข้างบนนี้ไปเจอะเข้าโดยไม่ได้ตั้งใจ เพราะว่าตั้งอยู่หน้าห้องพักของเราที่โรงแรม Wherehouse Art ส่วนอีกอันนั่นอยู่ในร้านกาแฟ Krankies ชั้นล่างตึกเดียวกัน
This one was inside Mary’s Diner, on Trade Street.
อันนี้อยู่ในร้านอาหาร Mary’s Diner บนถนน Trade Street
And this one was inside Wise Man Brewing.
ในโรงเบียร์ Wise Man Brewing
This one was at Benton Center, where we attended the Big Sip Festival. We actually ended up purchasing this original piece of artwork in the picture and brought it home with us as a souvenir! It was a painting by David Philips Hodge, which reminds us of the California sea and dessert. 😊
ส่วนอันสุดท้ายนี้ไปเจอที่ศูนย์ประชุม Benton Center ที่เราไปร่วมงาน Big Sip Festival กัน เราไปเจอผลงานศิลปะที่ถูกใจจากศิลปินชื่อคุณ David Philips Hodge เลยได้อุดหนุนกลับบ้านมาเป็นที่ระลึกหนึ่งชิ้น ตามที่เห็นในรูป 😊
Last but not least, since I happened to snap this picture during our trip to Winston-Salem… I’d like to offer it as a tribute to the ongoing countrywide protests for social & racial injustice. Here’s to the hope that since justice did prevail then, it would do so now!
My dearest husband double-booked us again this weekend. Coincidentally, our hiking group’s last choice of destination for Spring Series this Sunday happened to be a relatively familiar section of Eno River State Park. So, we happily opted to explore a new trail on our own on a Saturday hike at Carvers Creek State Park in Fayetteville instead!
สัปดาห์นี้คุณสามีนัดซ้อนอีกแล้ว แต่ประจวบเหมาะที่กลุ่มเพื่อนรักการเดินป่าของเรามีกำหนดไปเดินป่ากันที่ Eno River State Park ช่วงที่เราไปกันมาหลายครั้งแล้ว เลยถือโอกาสได้ไปบุกเบิกเส้นทางเดินป่าสายใหม่ที่เรายังไม่เคยไปกันที่ Carvers Creek State Park ในเมือง Fayetteville แทน
I discovered this close by new-to-us park just a few months ago, when I happened upon these pictures of a dried out millpond full of cypress trees with exposed root systems. It was unlike anything I had ever seen before so I happily added it to our to-do list right before the quarantine started. Fast forward to this weekend, when we were looking for a new destination to explore, this park came to mind. However, after careful research, we determined that the section I wanted to see is likely going to be crowded on an early Saturday afternoon with perfect weather in the lower 80s. 😞 Instead, we opted for more obscure trails at the eastern Sandhills Access, hoping to avoid the throng of people. We started off at Longleaf Pine trail, then continued on the the Fox Squirrel Loop before circling back to finish off Longleaf Pine. Each section was clearly marked with different shaped and colored blazes, very easy to navigate!
เมื่อหลายเดือนก่อนตอนเรากำลังหาที่เที่ยวแห่งใหม่ใกล้บ้าน เผอิญไปเจอรูปหนองน้ำแห้งผากจนมีรากอูมของต้นสนโผล่ขึ้นมาให้เห็น ดูแล้วแปลกตาดีแท้ เลยคอยเล็งไว้ว่าจะหาโอกาสไปดูของจริง มาวันเสาร์นี้เลยได้โอกาสกะจะไปให้เห็นเป็นบุญตา แต่พอไปหาข้อมูลดูแล้วเราทั้งคู่เห็นพ้องต้องกันว่าคนคงจะต้องเยอะแน่ๆ 😞 ด้วยความที่อากาศกำลังสบายอยู่ที่ 80 องศาฟาเรนไฮต์ หรือประมาณยี่สิบกว่าไม่ถึงสามสิบองศาเซลเซียสดี สุดท้ายเลยตกลงกันว่าน่าจะลองไปที่อีกฟากของ park เดียวกันด้าน Sandhills Access ฝั่งตะวันออกที่ดูไม่ค่อยฮอตฮิตเท่าไหร่ เราเริ่มออกเดินกันที่เส้นทางเดินป่า Longleaf Pine จากนั้นจึงต่อไปยังเส้น Fox Squirrel Loop แล้วจึงวนกลับมาจบลงที่ Longleaf Pine อีกที แต่ละเส้นมีหมุดปักคอยบอกทางเป็นคนละสี คนละรูปทรงเรขาคณิต เดินง่ายไม่มีการหลงแน่นอน
The parking lot was empty when we arrived, as predicted! 😉
