Dallas to Raleigh NC

I spent 3 weeks in North Carolina visiting Lynette, Laura, Monti and the kids. Lynette had an additional procedure on the vertebrae in her neck and needed assistance around the house during her recovery so i went back to help out. She recovered quite well during the 3 weeks I was there, and I got to explore some more of the Raleigh Durham area while I was there - see some of the highlights of the trip!

I got a ride to the airport from one of Lynette's neighbors today which was really nice of them. I did some shopping in the gift store at Raleigh Durham airport to pick some stuff up for the kids and got ready to board the flight. Raleigh Durham have some neat statues in the concourse which I found interesting, they are suspended in the air and blend in with the architecture nicely. Interesting motive for sure. The flight was uneventful and Melody picked me up at Love Field. it was a good trip, glad I went.

So I've been searching for North Carolina tchotchkes for the kids but I've come up empty so far, nothing seemed right in the places I've been so far. My last ditch attempt was thinking that Cracker Barrel may have things with North Carolina on them that the kids would like. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. They had other things that were Carolina themed but nothing for kids per say. The did have their Halloween stuff already out (seems early?) which was interesting. We had breakfast while there which was good - I'm always up for Cracker Barrel when given the option.

We met up with Laura, Monti and the kids at a small sports bar in Raleigh called the Player's Retreat. Obviously, the theme would be NC sports around this place, they had some neat stuff on the walls. I noticed that there was a fair amount of Hurricanes items as well - hockey is doing well here. We had a good dinner and it was great to spend some time with the family. The boys are getting so big. This was one of Lynette's first outings since her surgery and she did well getting around.

So as Lynette's been recovering, I've be taking care of plants and such around the house. She really likes gardening and has a wonderful screened back patio full of plants which makes a great place to sit and relax. They have some pretty strict HOA rules around her community which stresses that your lawn needs to be maintained with no major brown or dead spots which means watering and feeding is important. I helped put some mulch around the tree in the front yard to meet specs and also monitoring the watering situation to try and make sure things are ok. Luckily, during my whole visit, there was pretty consistent rain and cooler temperatures which has lessened the need to water as much. Lynette had warned me prior to visiting that I would likely be doing a lot of watering. that hasn't been the case. Luckily she's set up a water valve system that makes it pretty easy to water sections of the yard space give the size. I do like the landscaping in the community, its not all flat and the wild area behind her house is full of trees and a water pond where wildlife lives. Most of Raleigh is very green with a lot of wooded areas and green spaces which is very nice.

This afternoon Lynette and I stopped by a Ice Cream shop on the NC State Campus called "The Howling Cow." Its on a dairy run by the university (I believe) and the students run/work the establishment. They had all kinds of interesting sundae combinations to choose from, and some great gear that i had to partake in of course. You can sit on a porch outside the shop to eat your ice cream and watch the happening at the dairy. Unfortunately today, there wasn't much activity in the dairy but it was still nice to get to sit and enjoy some good ice cream!

So today I headed downtown to visit the North Carolina Museum of History. As the name indicates, this covers all about the history of North Carolina which was really cool, I learned a few new things I didn't know. North Carolina was one of the first colonies I believe that was established around the time of Jamestown, which I didn't realize. North Carolina (like most places) has a rich history which I enjoyed going through. Some of the artifacts were amazing like the Spanish helmet, the fire arms, and other period items. I found the section on Blackbeard the pirate to be interesting, I didn't know he was the pirate who sailed The Queen Anne's Revenge. I was surprised at the small display of information about the tobacco industry, I expected that to be more significant given this area. overall it was a good museum that I thoroughly enjoyed seeing.

I also made a quick tour through the Museum of Natural History next door which was cool. They were working on a fossil of a triceratops that was moved down here from Montana so they are meticulously etching out the remains. They had some really neat fossils as well on display and the skeleton of a whale hanging in the lobby. Afterwards, I went across the street to walk around the state capital and wandered the grounds and went inside. Things there have changed slightly from the last time I visited I think. It was fun getting to know more about North Carolina, a good day overall.

So the whole time I've been here there's been pretty consistent rain every day or so. Enough that I didn't need to water the lawn for Lynette. There was a hurricane that hit the gulf coast down in Florida and its made its way up into the Carolinas. Its lost some of its intensity but there was quite a bit of rain all day, very consistent and steady with some down pours at times. No need to water today - that's for sure!

Tonight I went with Laura and Shane to a Durham Bulls game which I had on my bucket list :-). Durham Bulls are famous for the movie Bull Durham, which I loved. It was nice to see the park, and the Big Steer sign in left field. From what Laura described, there's been quite a bit of development around the park with office buildings now surrounding the place. Its a mice minor league park, and if I lived here I'd likely spend a lot of time here watching baseball. I was surprised there wasn't more homage in the park to the movie Bull Durham, but I would suspect they don't want that to be the only thing they're known for. Before the game started, there was a good rain shower that passed through which delayed the game starting - we took cover in the concourse and got some goodies while waiting for it to pass. Finally the game started and it was enjoyable. The team the Bulls played were the Striper's (the fish) which was a farm team of the Tampa Bay Rays. I saw at least 2 ex big leaguers on the Striper's team, one being Yuri Guirel of the Houston Astros and someone else I can't remember. We also met Wooley the mascot for the Bulls which was fun. I thoroughly enjoyed spending the evening with Laura and Shane - good times!

I traveled back to stay with Lynette following neck surgery to fuse some vertebrae. Initial plan was for her to spend a week in a rehab facility but due to a covid outbreak, she desired to stay and home so I went out early to prepare for this. She and Laura arranged Home Health care and physical therapy which helped a lot. I took care of other needs like shopping, cooking, running errands, plant maintenance, and some other small things around the house. For for the most part, I was just there to ensure Lynette had what she needed and didn't have to overdue it. I have to say, she recovered pretty quickly. Getting out of the hospital was a circus, she had to take home a heart monitor due to them picking up on possible Afib from some of her tests. Once she got home, Lynette improved every day which was great. I was on call for anything she needed which I hope provided peace of mind. She had some friends drop buy to visit and they sent her some really nice flowers and candy - how nice! The flowers lasted for quire a long time which was amazing. I got to spend some quality time with Niko the cat as well - she really likes belly rubs! When running errands I got to see some of the local area and I especially liked the grocery store down in Clayton, I thought their motive was cool. While staying, the Summer Olympics started and we watched some of that. I was able to keep busy most of the time taking care of chores around the house so the time passed pretty quickly. I did get to see Laura a few times and saw Monti and the boys as well which was fun. This was a good trip and I was happy to help out.