Another hot day of soaring humidity and regular thunderstorms - but that didn’t put us off!
Raleigh still has some sweet treats in store (literally in the case of the Krispy Kreme shop) and some hidden gems to reveal.
Having failed to manage much more than 10 minute stroll last time at the Museum of Art we decided that, it being a tad cooler, and decidedly less sunny, we would venture further afield in the outdoor sculpture space. This time we would see the Henry Moore up close and personal and delve in to the deeper corners of the park. Great idea except for the effect of humidity on walking up hill! The art was worth it, no doubt, but about an hour and a half later, you could have wrung us out and filled a sizeable bucket. There are more pictures on the gallery page.
So what do you do when you are so dehydrated and your underwear is sticking to your bum? Water, obviously. No, you go to the home of Krispy Kreme doughnuts and order a box of 12 and wash it down with black coffee! To be fair to us we actually only got through 8 of them, although the group of 6 next to us managed 2 boxes! Yes, 24 doughnuts, mostly cream or custard filled - thats 4 each, and I ha e strong suspicion that one guy took more than his share! I think I’ve spotted a problem here! Outside there was an advert for managing type 2 diabetes - hmm.
Technically the home of KK is Winston Salem, but thats in North Carolina so I reckon Raleigh is close enough - and when have I ever been bound by precision?!
We couldn’t end our city tour without a visit to see Sir Walter, after whom the city is named, dispute the fact he never set foot in the place. And a sneaky pint in a “proper” pub rounded off the day nicely - it was of course raining when we walked back to the car, but that just disguised the perspiration leakage due to the 100% humidity!
And so our last day in Raleigh came to a close. Its has been a terrific visit, some great places visited, too much food eaten and just possibly the occasional excess dram.
But most of all it has been absolutely wonderful to spend almost a week on this side of the pond with Helen - singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” (badly) while splashing our way back from the hot dog shop in the torrential rain, was worth the price of the flight in itself.
Tomorrow Jo and I head to the Outer Banks for an over night by the sea, before heading back to Washington to fly home on Tuesday. What has been just a week feels much longer. Watch this space for reflections on the very first flight - tomorrow night we stay in Kitty Hawk.