Days Six to Eight: Raleigh

Monday was Independence Day in the USA, so after dinner on Monday evening Tim and I decided to walk into town and see whether we could find the location of Raleigh's fireworks display. We found that some buildings were lit up in patriotic colours.

This sculpture was illuminated too, though the colours weren't quite so patriotic.

I found out that Raleigh is also known as the "city of oaks" because of all the trees and green spaces it has, hence the giant acorn statue  

The fireworks display was due to happen at 21.30 in a park called Dorothea Dix Park. We walked in what we hoped was the correct general direction, soon having that confirmed by the hundreds of other people going the same way  

The park turned out to be enormous and we had a fairly long walk across it in the dark before we got to the place from where we'd be able to see the fireworks. But we made it, a few minutes before the display promptly kicked off at half nine.

It was a really good display, which went on for over twenty minutes.

There were lots of people out in the park to watch and it seemed like a really good atmosphere.

And there were some really big fireworks!

Every time we thought we were getting towards the end of the display, there was something bigger and better.

But eventually we reached the very colourful finale

Then all that remained was a very long walk back out of the park and towards the university! The town centre looked pretty at night though...

...and we found another building with a patriotic red, white and blue lighting scheme!

Nothing quite so exciting as to rival the fireworks happened on Tuesday! Tim was teaching all day, I was working and we just went out for a walk around town in the evening, once the weather had cooled down a little bit. 

One interesting thing which we did find on our travels was this house, which had a very unusual flag on display. It had stripes like a normal American flag, but then a Union Jack in the corner rather than stars. I assume it must be something historical!

I had a very early start on Wednesday, with a 4-hour client meeting starting at 7am. Luckily Tim brought me some breakfast and coffee, otherwise I would have struggled to get through the morning!

I went out for a walk once work was over, walking in a different direction to normal this time.

Before too long I came across across a park.

It was only a small one but it turned out to be absolutely full of wildlife. First of all I saw a rabbit...

...then I found some colourful birds...

...and there were squirrels absolutely everywhere.

The biggest excitement came towards the end of my walk when I saw what I think was a chipmunk  

Animals aside, the park was very pleasant.

There were some enormous trees...

...and some welcome shade on what was a very, very hot day.

The weather forecast had suggested it was 36 degrees today and it definitely felt like it in the direct sunlight.

At one point when I was trying to take photos, my phone told me that it was too hot for the camera to operate and closed down  

That was the point at which I decided it was probably time to head back to the university!

I needed to get back anyway because we had an unusual activity planned for this evening; we were going to our first ever baseball game!

We were going to watch local team called the Durham Bulls, who were playing a match against a team from Memphis this evening. The game was taking place in Durham, a city about 25 miles away from Raleigh.  Durham was once the headquarters of the American Tobacco Company and the area we parked in was part of a redeveloped factory/warehouse complex which used to belong to the company.

We just had a short walk from the car park...

...and then we were at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Once we were inside we climbed the stairs and got our first glimpse of the baseball field.

We didn't have too long to wait before the game kicked off.

Initially I didn't have any idea what was happening, but as the game progressed I began to understand a little bit.

This board helpfully kept track of who was winning. The screen was showing pictures of the players who were about to come on next.

We also realised towards the end of the game that there was a display showing the speed that the players were throwing the ball  

The whole experience was very American. Before the game started, we all had to stand up and take our hats off for the national anthem. Then somewhere in the middle everyone was asked to salute the troops for no clear reason.

In between watching the match, there were plenty of opportunities for food and drink. Tim bought himself some pulled pork nachos, while I had pulled pork on a bed of macaroni cheese. It was amazing!

There was plenty of beer available to drink in the stadium, but wine was a little harder to come by. Tim managed to track down a can(!!) of rose for me and it may be the most expensive wine I ever drink in my life: $20.43 for this!

(If it looks like there are people waving dogs in the air in the background of my photo, that's because there are people waving dogs in the air in the background of my photo. We'd inadvertently got tickets for an evening called "Bark in the Park" where people could bring their dogs to the baseball game for free )

It had been very hot when we first arrived at the stadium and difficult to watch the game even with sunglasses on because the sun was shining straight at us. As the sun started to go down, the temperature became much more pleasant...

...and it became easier to follow what was going on on the baseball field.

By the end of the game it was completely dark, though still very humid.

We had a couple of slightly bizarre interludes where the mascot of the Durham Bulls, Wool E Bull, drove around the field on a quad bike.

Here he goes!

By the end of the evening, the home fans had the result they'd been looking for.

And Wool E Bull came out onto the pitch to celebrate!

The stadium emptied quite quickly after the match and we walked back through the tobacco area, towards the cars.

It was quite an exciting evening and very different to anything we've ever done before!

Thursday was a less exciting day in comparison. We attempted to go for a walk after dinner, but the weather wasn't cooperating and we soon heard the ominous sound of thunder in the distance. Before we knew what was happening, we were caught in a torrential downpour and had to take shelter in a McDonalds until it passed!

Hopefully the weather will be a bit drier on Friday