North Carolina IV--Raleigh

On Sunday, May 4, 2014, we attended Church in Jonny and Jenny's ward.  The building and program were comfortingly familiar. We enjoyed meeting Jenny's good friend, who was a Mormon convert from Russia.  We then stopped by the Raleigh Farmer's Market, where we stocked up on that staple, fresh strawberries.

The North Carolina Museum of History was not yet open when we arrived in downtown Raleigh.  We wandered around the State Capitol, built in the 1840s, with its statues of US presidents born in North Carolina, including Andrew Jackson.  We also walked down the main street of Raleigh, roped off for a food festival.  Raleigh has skyscrapers, but also quaint old store fronts.

The Museum of History was world class.  It was housed in an elegant, modern building, and had well-designed displays on many aspects of North Carolina history, from the state's earliest Native American residents to its pirate heritage (Blackbeard prowled the Outer Banks), to its prominent roles in the Revolutionary War (it was home of the Swamp Fox guerilla fighters against the British) and the Civil War.  The displays also portrayed Reconstruction and creation of a modern economy based on tobacco and furniture making...and now the inventions from the Research Triangle.

 

Sunday dinner was the Indian buffet at the Dawat Restaurant.  Sam takes his baby food spicy.

 We settled down for Sunday naps, and then enjoyed a stunning North Carolina sunset from Jonny and Jenny's apartment complex.  Photo courtesy of Jonny.