8 May, 2009
Sarah P. Duke Gardens and Downtown Raleigh
Posted in : Travel Guide for Durham - NC, Travel Guide for Raleigh - NC on by : The Gourmez
I’ve had a couple of visitors in the past month, the first being my good friend, Jessen. She came down from Boston to spend a couple of low-key days with me on her spring break. We tried out Mez, named tunes at West 94th Street Pub, and did a couple daytime exploration trips.
The first of those was taking in the mid-spring blooms at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. As always, the terrace of lilacs was gorgeous, though we were scared away by a school field trip.
The tulips were also lovely and I swear, I took nearly the same picture two years ago, when I went with my sister.
We spent the next day exploring a few blocks of downtown Raleigh, with the help of Walking Raleigh/Durham by Rebecca Mann, a guidebook I picked up when we first moved to the area. We mainly checked out the statuary on the capitol lawn and I really must take a tour inside the building sometime.
We also explored out the Knights of the Black Flag exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of History. I can never say no to pirates. The exhibit was well put together and I was most intrigued by this reproduction of a navigation system used in the 1600s.
I’m determined to work something like that into a fantasy story. Doesn’t it just look fascinating? Also interesting was the display on how x-ray is used to identify the artifacts found in what is believed to be the wreck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, Blackbeard’s last ship. The curators also did a great job of linking pirates from their earliest history to today’s profiteers in Somalia and Indonesia. Definitely check out the exhibit if you have a love for pirate lore. It will be in town through the end of the year.
For more pics of the Duke Gardens and downtown Raleigh, check out my photo website at http://yellow5labs.com/photos.