Enjoying a Stroll in the Duke Gardens NC…

It sure has been great to see the sun again after Hurricane Florence held us hostage in the RV for nearly a week without a lot of outdoor activity. We did sneak in a few rounds of disc golf and visited a few breweries or tap houses but it was pretty dismal while the storm was raging in the area. Now that the sun has returned we free to resume normal activity. The people who stayed in Wilmington are not so lucky as they are pretty much cut off from the rest of the state because of extreme flooding. 

One of our first outings was a trip to a place we always make a point to visit in nearby Chapel Hill NC, the Duke Botanical Gardens. We definitely feel Duke Gardens is a must visit locale. The gardens are a part of Duke University and are free to visitors but may require paid parking. We were lucky to score a free parking space and walked to the gardens to enjoy them.

While there are many attractions in the gardens my favorite is the Blomquist Garden of Native Plants which is home to over 900 species of regional native plants. With many of the plants donning a name placard telling what the plant is it is a great way to learn a few new plants. Sharon’s favorite garden is the Asiatic Arboretum. She loves the red Asian Inspired red bridge featured there but unfortunately it was under repair during this visit.

One thing we also love doing after touring the gardens is drive over to nearby Carrboro NC and visit the Co-op there called Weaver Street Market. We like to buy food and adult beverages then take them to a table out front under the large oak trees to consume. This is a favorite spot of ours ever since we first discovered it back when Katie played collegiate softball in the area. It is a very pleasant place to sit and watch the world go by. It is definitely a place that brings back good memories for us.

We also snuck in a visit to a Raleigh Brewery called Crank Arm where we tried a flight of beers. We weren’t too impressed with eastern NC beers last time we visited this area but there are a lot of new breweries and happily they are starting to make some nice and tasty brews.

We will remain in Raleigh until after Katie and Brooks’ wedding in mid-October and we are taking the time to take care of Sharon’s yearly medical appointments and beginning to make plans for our travel route for our return to our favorite winter destination on the east coast, Bonita Springs Florida… hopefully the hurricanes will stay away the rest of this year!

NOTE: We are now at the North Carolina State Fairgrounds again as we wait for other parks in the area to reopen…