Day 3: Research Triangle Park (or Cloak-and-Dagger at IBM)

Today I planned to explore Research Triangle Park, which is an area that contains a lot of high-tech and biotech firms. I parked at the Administrative Building for the Park (which was closed for the holiday) and walked out to a main road. I saw a sign for IBM across the road, so I crossed the road. The gate at that entrance was closed, but it pointed to another entrance on Davis Drive, so I started walking towards Davis Drive.

It was a difficult walk. There was no sidewalk, so I walked on the shoulder of the road when there was no traffic, and in the grass when there was traffic. Something bit my ankles when I walked in the grass. Someone honked their horn when they drove past me. (I gave them a dirty look.) Finally I made it to Davis Drive.

The entrance was badge access only, which I kind of expected, with no way for a pedestrian to get past the gate. There was one building outside the gate, so I shrugged and went to see what the building was. It turned out to be the IBM Fitness Center.

The Fitness Center was impressively large. Behind it, there were softball fields and tennis courts. There was another building back behind the Fitness Center, so I went to see what it was.

It turned out to be a roofed picnic area. It was beautiful; I loved the wooden roof. There was some sort of lectern at one end, so it looks like they have meetings there occasionally. That sure beats crowding into a room. I settled down there for a while, wrote some notes, and drank Diet Coke. It was so serene and quiet (although I bet it's a lot less serene when bunches of people are eating lunch there).

I saw some wildflowers nearby, so I went over to see them and take pictures. When I was looking at the wildflowers, I saw a path and a gravel road nearby. I was leery of the path because I didn't want to get lost, but I decided to see if the gravel road led to another building. It led to a road. I started wondering if I had passed the main gate, so I walked down the road towards the main road. Sure enough, I was inside the gate.

Well, I almost turned around and left. However, the path that I was leery of taking crossed the road near the end of the gravel road. The path had stairs and a crosswalk across the road, so it was an official path. And it was heading in the same direction as a sign pointing to the main lobby, so I was wondering if the path was heading to the lobby. I decided to see where the path went, and then go.

The path was so beautiful. Sunlight shone through the trees. The path crossed a little brook a couple of times. I startled a little frog, who jumped in the water. Imagine being able to walk this trail at lunch.

The trail ended at the parking lot of an office building. I don't know if it contained the main lobby or not. It was labeled as "Building 62", so I kind of doubt it. I took a picture of the building, and headed back on the trail. This time, I took it the whole way back to the picnic area.

When I got back to the Fitness Center, a gate in front of its parking lot was closed. I don't think that it was closed when I got there because I wouldn't have squeezed past it. (Really-;)) I squeezed past it to get out. A sign on the gate said that the area was closed all day, so I don't know. Maybe someone saw me.

I crossed the road and headed back towards the car. This side of the road had a paved trail, which was nice. I decided to go past the car and head to Glaxo Smith Kline, which had an interesting building that has won some architecture awards. I took a picture of the building and headed back to the car.

Then I headed out. One thing that I don't like about the Park is that there are no restaurants in the Park, so I had to head out a ways to get a milkshake and cool off. Then I headed back to the hotel.

Points to Raleigh-Durham: I really liked Research Triangle Park. It's the first place that has captured my imagination since I got here.

( More pictures )