This morning, I grabbed my camera and a bottle of water, drove over to the NC Museum of Art, and set out on the Reedy Creek Trail. What I thought was going to be a quick walk turned into a 10-mile adventure, but in a good way.
When I hit the end of Reedy Creek, I was surprised to find that I still had plenty of energy despite the 95-degree temps, so I decided to keep going, making my way down the Gorman Street Connector Trail and over to the Rocky Branch Trail, which took me onto the North Carolina State University (Go Wolfpack!) campus. At the end of Rocky Branch Trail, I opted to continue on for another mile or so to hit central campus.
Very nice day.
For most of the walk, especially on the Reedy Creek Trail, you'd never know that you were on an urban trail. Consider:
Unfortunately, it was after this photo that the batteries in my camera died, so I had nothing left to take a picture of the NCSU bell tower; hopefully, Google Maps' Street View will suffice. The tower, by the way, was struck by lightning and damaged back on May 5 during a hellacious thunderstorm.
And the tower marked the end of the first half of my journey. Instead of turning around, however, I decided to delay the return trip for a stop at Schoolkids Records right across the street from the bell tower. I walked in expecting to buy Sonic Youth's new release, The Eternal. I walked out 20 minutes later (sweating like a pig and probably stinking like one, too; but the record store guys were kind enough not to say anything... they work next to a head shop, so I'm guessing that they deal with stinky customers on a regular basis) with that CD plus eight used ones, including many from some of the heroes of the Triangle music scene over the last 40 years, including Arrogance (where Don Dixon got his start), Superchunk, and Sorry About Dresden (which is, of course, just a fantastic name for a rock band, in a sick sort of way, that is).
After hitting the record store, I stopped in at East Village Bar & Grill for two pints of Guinness (just days after telling someone that I don't drink Guinness anymore; I guess I lied). Quite tasty and I do like that bar; however, they must have the filthiest bathroom in the city... not Trainspotting bad, but bad nonetheless; the smell of urine combined with the hot and humid and stagnant air makes it seem like you're in an outhouse. But I was out of there soon enough, with the Guinness providing exactly the type of sustenance all hiking enthusiasts recommend for the last few miles of the hike back to the museum and my hotter than hell car.
Next weekend's adventure? Entirely dependent upon the weather.
Glad you're still blogging and drinking Guinness.
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