10 on Tuesday: 10 Great Things That Happened This Summer

Here are my answers to a new meme (the 10 on Tuesday that I do sometimes). I enjoyed coming up with this list (in no particular order, by the way); it's a really nice recap of my summer.


1) My department moved to another building, and I really like the new building and location (better than I thought I would)!
2) The Olympics--I especially enjoyed watching the swimmers (especially Torres and Phelps)and the runners (especially the men's and women's marathon finishes). I had a hard time staying awake for most of the gymnastics events, and could've done with less volleyball, but all in all, I really enjoyed watching the Olympics this summer.
3) I joined the Galloway training group and started training for a half marathon.
4) I ran/walked 15 miles one Saturday morning with the Galloway group. This is the farthest I've ever gone.
5) My parents and sister visited ERUUF one Sunday when I was the worship associate, and they got to hear me speak.
6) I finally got to visit Merchants Millpond State Park.
7) I was interviewed by two different Korean news teams doing separate documentaries on the health benefits on eating rice.
8) George and I celebrated our first year of living together and renewed our apartment lease.
9) George and I took a vacation to Winston-Salem, enjoyed being a tourist there, and visited with several friends and a cousin.
10) George and I also visited Oxford and Roxboro together on daytrips as part of my NC Odyssey Project. We do make good travel buddies; maybe we should sign up for "The Amazing Race!"


Okay, so what would make YOUR list of 10 great things that happened this summer? :-D

The End of a Short Vacation

I head back to work tomorrow after taking last Thursday and Friday off of work with George. We didn't do as much as we'd planned, but it was still a nice break.

Thursday morning I decided to get my 10-mile run in while George had an appointment in Cary. I went to Shelley Lake for the run, and ran into Donna, another Galloway groupie. It was fun to run into a running acquaintance by accident, and it was a good run, to boot.

Thursday afternoon, I joined George, his brother, and his dad for lunch at The Food Factory in Cary. I hadn't been to the Food Factory before, and enjoyed a veggie wrap.

Friday, George and I drove up to Person County to have lunch at Clarksville Station and explore Roxboro. I blogged about the excursion on my North Carolina Odyssey Project blog, where I'm keeping track of my journey through all one hundred counties in North Carolina. My Person County post is here. Friday evening, we joined George's family for Shabbat dinner.

Yesterday morning, I enjoyed puttering around while the rain and wind from Tropical Storm Hanna blew through. (I love storms, as long as they aren't harmful!) Last night we celebrated a couple of family birthdays with George's family at Bonefish Grill in Cary. Little Talia turns 3 tomorrow, so it was fun to see her really enjoy getting birthday presents this year.

I've been having trouble with my red iPod Nano lately...the screen keeps going white. I've rebooted each time, but it's gotten harder and harder to get the index screen of songs and podcasts to show up. So, I decided I'd had enough of it this afternoon. I looked online and ordered a black 3rd generation Nano from Circuit City's website, and opted to pick it up from the nearest store with one in stock. I headed off to Cary (lots of time in Cary this weekend!), and came back with a brand new iPod! I've had fun figuring out how to fill it this evening. I think I've got what I need from the old iPod on it (it's still charging, so I haven't plugged the earbuds in yet).

Getting Roadtrip Ready

On Tuesday's daytrip to Merhcants Millpond State Park, I noticed a big sign (hard to miss) about ticks, which included not only a picture, but tips for avoiding them. I made me think about what I would do if I found a tick on me while I was still on the road. I didn't have any tweezers, not to mention a full-fledged first aid kit, with me in the car! I started thinking about what I should have on hand in the car for future trips, whether daytrips for the NC Odyssey Project or longer trips/vacations. Here's a list I've started:

First-aid kit
Bug Spray
Change of clothes
Flashlight and extra batteries
Current American Automoble Association (AAA) card
Medium-sized cooler and ice packs
Umbrella
Spare key(s)
Spare cash ($20?) tucked away in car
Jumper Cables
Notebook and pen
Blanket
Car charger for cell phone
Spare trash bag(s)
GPS for car (don't have one built in--any recommendations?)
Sunglasses

Okay, so this is what I've come up with so far. Can you think of anything to add to the list? What items have come in handy for you while on the road? Is there anything you've wished you had while on the road?

Visit to Merchants Millpond State Park

Yesterday I continued my quest to visit all 100 counties in North Carolina by seeking out and finding Merchants Millpond State Park, which happens to be in Gates County. I'd been wanting to visit this state park for years, so it was exciting to finally visit and walk around for a bit. to the left is one of my favorite pictures of the day's journey. The green stuff at the bottom of the trees isn't grass.....

I drove through Halifax County on my way to Gates County, but didn't cross it off my list of counties. I only stopped long enough to take this picture, in Garysburg. I'll be back to Halifax County.

I'll post more about my visits to Nash, Northampton, Gates, and Hertford Counties (including pictures) soon on my North Carolina Odyssey Project blog. Stay tuned!

Homegrown-Homemade

A couple of evenings ago I went to hear Joe Newberry speak about his book Homegrown/Homemade: Art Roads and Farm Trails at the Regulator Bookshop in Durham. A co-worker, who gets regular emails from the Regulator about upcoming events, tipped me off about this book reading and signing, and I'm glad she did! The book chronicles places to go in rural North Carolina that deal with local arts, crafts, and food, and Peggy had heard the story about my quest to visit all 100 counties in North Carolina, so she thought I might enjoy it. I love any excuse to go to the Regulator, so off I went.

In addition to reading some from his book, Newberry also showed some slides from travels to write the book, which was edited by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension and the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. He saved time for some Q&A at the end, and also played some tunes on his banjo, guitar, and fiddle (though not all at once!). All in all, a neat way to spend an hour on a warm summer evening.

Still on Vacation

I'm still on vacation, and it feels guiltfully luxurious. This afternoon I did get some errands done, including getting an oil change and a new battery for my car. I'm thinking about going on one of my "field trips," but haven't decided which direction to go in. I'm thinking of heading west from Durham, but how far I get depends on how early I get started.

For newbies to my blog, I have a goal of visiting all 100 counties in North Carolina and documenting my travels with pictures and posts on this blog. Although I've been across the state before, I decided to start fresh with this pet project. I've dubbed it the North Carolina Odyssey Project, and I've got 5 counties under my belt.

I just had a thought--maybe down the line I'll include some videos too. I don't have a video camera, but I think the digital camera I'm using (George's) has a video feature! Hmmmm.

NC Odyssey Project: Sampson County

Today I went to Sampson County to do some genealogy research. My mom's mother, a McLamb before marriage, grew up in the town of Newton Grove. I've been to Sampson County numerous times since I started working on my family tree, and it always feels like a historical "home" whenever I drive through the county! The picture on the left is a plowed cotton field along Hwy 421. There are lots of farms in Sampson County. The picture on the right is for Spivey's Corner, home of the National Hollerin' Contest.

The county's most famous resident was William Rufus King, who was a US Representative from North Carolina, a Senator from Alabama, and the 13th Vice President of the United States! He was born in Sampson County, graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1803, and practiced law for a bit in Clinton. He had a long career in Congress, and was elected VP under Franklin Pierce. He was in failing health by that time, though, and was inaugurated in Cuba, where he's gone for health reasons. He eventually returned to his Alabama home, where he died, and was buried in Selma, Alabama, where I grew up.

I enjoyed working in the J.C.Holliday Library in Clinton this afternoon, in the North Carolina Local History Room.

Sampson County is the second largest in the state in terms of square mileage behing Robeson County. One of its most unique town names is Turkey. While driving through the county heading northwest toward home, I passed the Coharie Tribal Center on Hwy 421. I wished I stopped and taken a picture.

NC Odyssey Project: Johnston County

Today I was heading to Sampson County to do some genealogy research, so I decided to follow the brown NC Historic Site signs for the Bentonville Battlefield, and play tourist. Well, it turns out that this place is in Johnston County instead! Bonus county today! I'd planned to visit the Ava Gardner Museum in Smithfield for my Johnston County adventure, but historical things are great too.

I was glad to find the Bentonville Battlefield open today, unlike the Battle of Alamace site earlier this week.

There's a pretty good visitor center there, and this display, with lights AND sound, showed how the battle played out between Johnston's troops and Sheman's men in the Civil War.

This is a cemetery of some of the soldiers who died from battle wounds,

This house, owned by a Harper family, became a Union hospital.

Smithfield is the county seat of Johnston County. In addition to being the home of Ava Gardner, it has an outlet mall I stopped by last summer on the way home from a McLamb reunion.

One of my childhood memories of summer travel is of going through Johnston County on our way to Atlantic Beach, NC. Early on, I remember seeing the signs for Selma (the one in Johnston County), and wondering if we were close to home, as my family lived in Selma, Alabama! After traveling in the car for 630 miles from Selma to Selma, I'm sure I was wishing for my own bed! Of course, getting to the beach was always worth it!

NC Odyssey Project: Alamance County

Since I'm off work today, I joined George for lunch at his work today. He works at a company called Kidde, which is part of United Technologies, and his office is in Mebane, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and visit another county in my North Carolina Odyssey Project.

Mebane is in Alamance County, North Carolina, and is just west of the center of the state, between Durham and Greensboro. Burlington is the largest city in Alamance County, but Graham is the county seat.

Alamance County is the home of Elon University, a regional school that was called Elon College when I moved to the area. I'd intended to take a few shots of Elon to include here, but I got sidetracked! I took the exit before Elon to stroll down Memory Lane at on outlet mall I used to go to called BMOC (Burlington Manufacturers Outlet Center). Apparently, it's changed hands, though, and is now called Burlington Outlet Village. I was a little disappointed by the selection of stores--it made me wonder if I missed some of them! I certainly remembered being impressed by the area some years ago. I did stop in a FinishLine outlet store, but a customer who came in after me let me know one of the tires on the passenger side of my car was looking low. Yikes! I may have stayed longer and gotten into the shopping groove, but I decided to search out a place to get my tire looked at, since I was 30-40 minutes from home.

I found myself at Burlington Honda, and they said it would be about an hour before they could look at my tire. *sigh* I was glad to have made it there safely, though! One of the men there pointed out that my inspection was going to run out at the end of this month, so I decided to go ahead and have it taken care of there. They couldn't find a leak in my tire, so I'll just have to keep an eye on it. At least I got the inspection done, and they were friendly. I did pick up a pamphlet about the 2008 Honda Accords, as one of my 2008 New Year Resolutions is to start saving for a new car.

I decided to head toward home at the point, but I really wanted to do something touristy. I'd seen signs for the Alamance Battleground on my way down the interstate, so I decided to follow the signs and check it out. I enjoyed driving through rural Alamance County south of Burlington (about 6 miles out), but when I got there, it was closed! Rats! I did get to drive through the rural town of Alamance, though, and it was kinda neat.

Before I left the county, I stopped at a Sheetz station for some really cheap gas!!

One of the things I'd like to do when I return to Alamance County is visit some of the wineries on the Haw River Wine Trail. Having gas prices like this ($2.79 9/10) might help. ;-)

North Carolina Odyssey Project

I've decided to give myself the challenge of visiting all 100 counties in North Carolina! Although I've traveled across North Carolina since I was a child, I decided not to count anything I've done before. I want to make it fresh for me, to include friends and family when possible, and record my findings, hopefully with pictures as well as writing. I started it officially this past Friday, November 30, with the county where I live and work. Simple enough, but it counts! If you have any suggestions of places I should visit in NC, let me know! I know many of the obvious spots, but would love to hear about neat places that might be under the radar.