Day 1: Franklin Street and UNC-CH

The day did not start off auspiciously. First thing, I almost got into an accident when I cut a guy off when I was making a blind turn. Then driving and navigating has never been my strong suit even in my own car, and the Saturn feels like a boat next to my Mazda. However, I did make it to downtown Chapel Hill, Franklin Street, more or less intact. After parking the car, I found a restaurant in which I could eat an excellent meatball sub, keep refilling my Diet Coke, read, write, and watch the world go by.

People hang out on Franklin Street. Groups of people hang out and talk, and guys sit and watch the college girls go by. When a brief rainshower started, people ducked under awnings and waited for it to end. (It was a warm rain, and it felt wonderful.)

I made a quick stop at a drug store for some supplies. Then I went in search of a washroom, which wasn't so easy to find. (Shouldn't have had all that Diet Coke.) While I was looking, I noticed that many of the stores would be closed on Memorial Day, which started me musing about what I should do on Memorial Day.

Finally, I set off to walk around the University. One of my guidebooks described a walk around campus that I had planned to take. When I re-read the instructions, I noticed that part of it went past the medical buildings on the campus, so I decided to go take some pictures of the medical buildings for my friend.

The campus is mainly red brick and trees (well, the whole area is red brick and trees), and somewhat formal-looking. I felt a little uneasy and out-of-place there, although I don't know if it was just being an "old" person wandering around a college campus. I also found that I wasn't tolerating the humidity well, and needed to stop and rest a lot. (However, I know that it's possible to get used to it because Chicago is beastly hot and humid too.) I was enjoying looking for things to photograph.

I did find the various medical schools (Nursing, Pharmacy, Medicine, Public Health) and the hospitals. Yes, there are multiple hospitals (three, I think?) Apparently it's a really good place to get sick.

I inadvertently cut the walk short by turning left instead of right. It was just as well; I was tired and hungry. I went to a place called the Carolina Coffee Shop (which was a bit more upscale than it sounds) and had some excellent food. (My prediction is that I'll gain 10 pounds on this trip.) The thing is though, people don't go out to eat by themselves, even in fairly casual places. More uneasiness...

Then I went to see A Mighty Wind. I enjoyed it; I thought it walked the line between parody and satire quite well. (However, people don't go to movies by themselves either.) When I drove home, I got turned around a couple of times, but made it back to the hotel without mishap.

Day 2: Carrboro

I had originally planned to go to Research Triangle Park, RTP, today. (I wanted to avoid the traffic during the work week.) However, I was worrying whether the places that I wanted to go to on Memorial Day would be open, so I decided to go to RTP on Memorial Day. I decided to go to Carrboro, which is kind of a sister town to Chapel Hill, today. Its downtown has a mall that was built in an old mill, Carr Mill Mall, and I decided to check it out.

The outside of the building looked interesting. I went inside, and discovered that all the stores were closed every Sunday. (More uneasiness....) Only a restaurant, a drug store, and a grocery store were open. I looked inside the windows of the stores, and then went to get something to eat at the restaurant. The food was really good yet again. I went to the drug store and grocery store, and then tried to figure out what to do. I thought about going to Chapel Hill again and finish my walk, but I had frozen food in the car. (The hotel room has a small refrigerator and a microwave.) I decided to go back to the hotel room, and possibly go out again later.

When I got to my hotel, I noticed that the stores in the strip mall next to the hotel were open and hopping, so I got all gung ho to explore the strip mall. I found a drug store that's open late and does film processing, and several restaurants. It has other neat shops, such as a shop with bird feeders and statues of wild birds.

I came back to the hotel, called my mom, went back out to eat in the strip mall, looked at maps, started updating my journal, and I don't know how it got so late. I need to at least try to go to sleep. (I've been having major problems with jet lag.)