Carolina Trip Highlights - before I forget

1. Petersburg, VA, looks like it has been recently abandoned. The stores are largely empty (or at least a lot of them are), but the buildings (19th century, 3 and 4 stories, commercial red brick row buildings) are all standing. This old, historic city, just south of Richmond, in the middle of Civil War History, near Appomatox, on I-95, should be restored as a tourist mecca. (I thought of what has happened to Galena, IL, which has a similar feel, but a much more remote location). Why isn't anyone doing it? (Why did Petersburg get abandoned? I am told it largely had to do with malls built in neighboring towns.)

2. Wise, NC. Hardly a town, but rather the first agglomeration of rundown buildings south of the VA-NC border on Route 1 (which then parallels I-85, on their way to South Carolina and Georgia), is located on a rather barren section of this historic national highway (i.e., there is nothing nearby..... at all). There is a gas station/cafe/general store there that, from the outside looks quite unattractive. But, when you go inside, there is no way to call this facility unattractive. Rather, it is the most awful commercial establishment in the country. The store looks like things have never been straightened, the cafe looks like a place no one ever ate in twice (perhaps not even once), and the rest rooms, accessed through a hallway disguised as an abandoned warehouse corridor, have never (and I mean never) been cleaned. It is owned by an Indian (not Native American) family. The wife was hidden out of site, somewhere behind the cafe, a young daughter was playing, and the father (clearly the head of the family) was yelling on a cell phone in an unintelligible language, holding the phone at least three feet from his mouth, the entire time we were there. I bought a NC/SC road map for $3 dollars. I felt very lucky he looked at me long enough to hear my question and, snarling at me, say "Over There!!!). They do not look healthy and wealthy in Wise.

3. The Carolina Inn, right at the UNC campus in Chapel Hill, is a little too staid and formal for my taste. They did have a temporary exhibit in the lobby -- of bird houses made by craftsmen. Many, many birdhouses made by craftsmen. The UNC campus looked just fine.

4. Our Chapel Hill meal, at Vespa, was so-so only. Our waitress, new that day, was a native Italian whose Italian was so good, and her accent so authentic, that you were sure that she was faking it, and it irritated you. She needs a different career. Breakfast at the Carolina Coffee House was better. Our waitress had bright pink hair for Easter. She was good.

5. Larry Doby of Cleveland Indian fame, and jazzman Dizzy Gillespie come from almost-neighboring towns, Cameron NC and Cheraw, SC.

6. North of Rockingham, NC, the Nascar track looms over everything. It is enormous. Where do all the fans sleep? (In their cars?)

7. Easter Sunday lunch at the Holiday Restaurant in Rockingham is an experience that can be missed.

8. For a description of the SC state capitol building and grounds, and the history of USC, see previous blog.

9. The food in Columbia was not particularly good, and not particularly bad. Our lunch at a health food store and cafe was quite good. We need that here. They have a couple of them there.

10. Cary NC is a suburb of Raleigh and looks pretty upper middle class suburban. Our La Quinta room was fine and, surprisingly, we had a very good dinner at the restaurant next store, Lucky 32, a casual American restaurant (as another restaurant was described to us, it is an "upscale Friday's").

11. The arboretum of NC State in Raleigh was worth a spot, but Raleigh itself seemed a very brusque and business like place. Grey buildings packed together, busy streets, no trees. It is not Columbia. We did, however, find a mighty fine book store there. Mighty fine.

12. Highlights also, of course, were seeing our friends. That goes without saying.