Cruising Greensboro NC

As new Carolinians after being Californians for almost two decades, we are taking in the sights and smells of the southeastern United States one weekend at a time.

This time we drove about 100 miles north to the city of Greensboro NC, established as a result of the old cotton and tobacco economy just 50 years back.

Lee Jeans owner VF is among the brands still in the area. Although a much smaller form of the erstwhile boom town when tobacco was king there is still marginal presence of ITG the company that represents brands like Salem, Kool which were cool once.

Today there is the UNC Greensboro campus just outside downtown followed by some manufacturing that supports the economy. Volvo Trucks has a presence as do some other light industries. There is also legacy retail money here. The founder of Tanger outlets a chain of outlet stores was from here and has bequeathed large sums to the city for its beautification.

We took advantage of such generosity that truly makes some of the well tended gardens and parks a sight to come and see. Below some pictures from the trails scattered around the north part of town and a great lunch of pastrami and hashbrowns at the Green Valley Restaurant.

much like the sculpture we were on the fence about going west to Greenville again or exploring new town of Greensboro - the latter won

replica of an old grain mill

boardwalk in Bog Garden in Greensboro NC

Arboretum

thanks to an entrepreneur who settled in the area the restaurant at the O.Henry hotel has good fare to fill up at lunch

atop the hill is the downtown

Murals and decor inside the O.Henry where we dined

All in all it is a nice small town in two hour driving distance from the major hubs of Raleigh and Charlotte NC and afford the visitor with enough material to fill a day enjoying the sights and relaxing in its many green spaces.

Comments

Costa Rica

Our first foray into Central America. That elongated isthmus that forms the geographic boundary between two vast continents of North and South America. Specifically landing for NYE 2026 in San Jose, Costa Rica. Capital city for this region that does not have its own army, instead relying on its big bro the Estados Unidos to the north is a metropolis of approx. 500K people. Largely wilderness and with both a Pacific and Carribean/Atlantic coast the country is rich in bio diversity. In Spanish it means the rich coast so named by Columbus landing in early 16th century and being mesmerized by the local tribes sporting gold jewelry. Our stay included visiting the foothills of a large strato volcano called Arenal and enjoying the naturally heated thermal baths for a while. Lunching amidst lush forest and watching indigenous species of avian noise makers fly overhead. Toucans, some sort of pea hens, multiple song bird species completed the spectacle. Iguanas and a lonel...

Charges attract

It is said that opposites attract meaning people with contrary viewpoint sometimes find chemistry to be together. But I'm referring to a modern twist where people are merely attracted towards a common place because their uber communication device aka smart phone is about to die. The charging station. From airports to hotel lobbies or even bathrooms, when in need they are attracted to this power outlet like moths to a flame or a junkie to a needle. A whole new business of supplying these hyper connected folks is now born whose lifesaver product is a backup charge. Asian tourists perpetually carry a phone sized battery pack stuck to their latest Apple phone updating their status to folks in Hong Kong or Shanghai or Bangalore as they pose for selfies with weird facial expressions and fingers pointed out in a letter V. Vain? PS: I dis'charged' my blogger duties making this insightful observation as my phone is about to breathe it's last and my flight gets call...

Veni Vidi and Videod

Julius Ceasar is credited with a Latin phrase that reads - Veni, Vidi, Vici as in he came, he saw and he conquered. The summer vacation for the child meant we needed to do what we do as an annual event. Go see a new place. Italy won the draw this year. So we went for a couple weeks. To check out the land of fairy tales, of great warriors and amazing inventions; birthplace of Christianity and its current CEO, land of Romeo and Juliet, a land in many ways similar to our home state of California. In terms of its geography and populations and their respective shapes CA resembles Italy a lot. Both have a grand coastline, they both have multi cultural groups of people residing in its lands and mountains, both have northern edges covered by snow covered high mountain ranges that are formed of volcanic and tectonic activity over millenia. What we do not have in the Golden State is the renaissance, the art, the history. It was a particular interest of our d...

Brown Motion

Search This Blog