Raleigh; Friday July 30

This day was completely devoted to seeing the various sites in Raleigh. Everything I planned to see was within a few blocks of the hotel so I walked to were I wanted to go.

First was the State Capital - currently only housing the Governor's office. There were lots of statues outside and the building was actually relativley small. It only took an hour or so to go through it. The building was actually the second capital building built on the site. In a major irony the first burned down when the roof was being sealed with zinc plates for fire proofing and something caught fire.

The two house chambers were on display as well as the original library and geologists office. There weren't that many commemorative displays in the building.




Next I went to the North Carolina Museum of History. This was an amalgum of several displays primarily showing North Carolina's participation in overall American History. In the front lobby was a replica of the Wright brothers airplane flown at Kitty Hawk, NC. Also there was a replica of a drug store circa 1920. However there were two displays at which I spent most of my time. The first was about a mixed race woodworker in pre-Civil War Raleigh and the second was about North Carolina's contribution to all of America's major wars through it's history. The section about the craftsman was very interesting. He was so skilled and his work (starting with coffins but going up to furniture and custom interior design) so highly regarded that he had much more freedom than most people of his background. He was successful enough to buy land and even own slaves (I was surprised he would do this). One of his sons took over the business but the Civil War basically destroyed it.

The section on North Carolina's contribution to various wars (up to the Gulf War) was what you would expect. Various displays of weapons and uniforms and occasional nicknacks. No pictures from this. I was again kind of moody after the display.


The last major stop was the North Carolina Museum of Natural History which had displays of various eras of geologic history on display as well as representations of many natural environments in the North Carolina area. There was a special display of live butterflys on the top floor. It must by kind of tricky to maintain given that the butterfly stage doesn't usually last that long. I got lots of pictures of dinosaurs and also several large whale skeletons that were hung between different levels of the museum. There was a large section dealing with modern natural habitats starting with forest area and going up to mountainous areas, which included an indoor waterfall.

I went over to the Executive Mansion, but it didn't appear to be open. The new library didn't really have anything for tourists. I went past the current legislature building but didn't go in.

After all the touring around I went back to the hotel. I went to a pub called the Oxford for dinner. As I was finishing up I noticed three women that were looking for a table. While I was waiting for the waitress I motioned them over and we talked. It turns out they were in town for the Chelsea Handler performance, which I was going to also. As I went to my hotel I noticed many other groups of women that I suspect were also in town for the show.

I enjoyed the show a lot. The material was rather coarse but still very funny. For whatever reason I like that she often starts laughing in the middle of her routine. It may not seem professional but it seems like she enjoys telling the stories. Again, I forgot my camera, so no pictures. My seat was too far away to really see the performance directly. I ended up mostly watching the video screens which showed camera views of the show.