Road Trip: Southeast
Day 8: Wednesday, September 28, 2022 - Charlotte, NC
Day's statistics:
Weather:
Steps: Steve 8,089; Linda 5,536
Drove: 296 miles
Knoxville and Columbia were the only two cities we stayed two nights in a row during this trip.
One reason - for Columbia, at least - was that, frankly, there really wasn't too much to do in Charlotte.
No offense to anyone that lives there, but from a tourist perspective, not much. Plus, at the time of planning,
we were possibly going to meet with my former coworkers. But in case that didn't work out, we weren't committed
to staying in Charlotte. Further, we were originally going to visit Congaree this monring.
Today's breakfast was just like yesterday's: Linda had a bagel, and I had a couple toasted waffles.
After breakfast, we traveled the hour-and-a-half from Columbia to Charlotte.
En route, we crossed another state line.
Rather than get roped into something time consuming or anything, since we had a scheduled lunch time, we decided
to go to... the library. The library was only 15 or so minutes from where we were going to have lunch.
The library shared its building with City Hall.
Lovely wife at a sign before going inside.
And a selfie before going in too.
Inside.
Should a library really have a fireplace?!!?
We only had about 45 minutes to hang out.
When planning, we were considering meeting with three of my coworkers - I mean former coworkers. As we got closer
to the trip, we found out that one coworker quit, and a second had an appointment that couldn't be changed.
At least we were able to have lunch with Marcio.
We met Marcio at Kabab-Je Rotisserie and Grille.
We sat outside. It was borderline too-cool out. Well, too cool when the breeze was blowing.
Linda had chicken shawarma sandwich with hot tea.
And I had the lamb meshwieh sandwich.
We had a nice hour and a half lunch and chat. Unless you work with Marcio, then we only had a fifty minute
lunch because he had to get back to work. Yea, that - fifty minutes so he could get back to work.
Before we parted ways, we took a selfie.
After lunch we planned on going to the Mint Museum. It was a brief drive "into town".
We tried to get a picture of the skyline, but the phone kept focusing on the dashboard or the windshield,
so we don't have any good ones.
Anyway, we parked in a garage across the street, and headed to the museum.
We started to make our way up to the fourth floor and work our way down.
On the way up, we captures this large, three or four story wall of windows that were decorated / painted.
In the same open space as the windows, there was this rope thing hanging on the wall.
There were quite a few pieces on display, and we captured some of them that we liked for one reason or another.
Replicated Self #2, by Douglas Eng, is made of corrugated cardboard and foam core.
Delphiniums in a White Vase by Grant Wood.
Edward Redfield's Birches and Harbor, Maine.
Sunflowers by Charles Ethan Porter.
Still Life with Flowers, Fruit, and Bird's Nest by Severon Roesen, with a close-up of one section because
the dew drops look SO real. The three eggs in the birds nest are also thought to suggest the Holy Trinity.
Adelheid Dietrich's Wild Flowers in a Glass Vase.
Moonlight in Venice by Thomas Moran.
Ca' D'Oro, Venic by Robert Frederick Blum.
Julius LeBlanc Stewart's Five O'Clock Tea.
Madame de Pompadour (nee Poisson) Soup Tureen by Cindy Sherman, with a close-up of one of the faces.
These two pitchers were cast from almost identical molds yet were produced at potteries in different regions of the country.
La Petite Pesée by Thomas Ball.
Dragon Vase manufactured by Rookwood Pottery, decorated by Kitaro Shirayamadani, including a close-up
of some of the vase artwork.
Some pieces by a group called "Saturday Evening Girls", including one called Bowl With Geese.
Three pieces by unknown makers, titled - from the top, clockwise - Holy Water Basin, Holy Water Stoup,
and Holy Water Basin. For the unknowing, the basins would all hang on a wall / doorway at the enterance
to a church, and the stoup is used for baptism.
I tried to capture Gisela Colón's Hyper Ellipsoid, but the pictures don't quite do it justice,
partially because it has a 3D effect. The side shot hopefully helps show the perspective.
The work itself is blurry, that isn't a bad picture...
There was an Andy Warhol of Marilyn. But after being in the
Andy Warhol Museum
in Pittsburgh, this was just... meh. 😁
A glittery Nina Simone by Russell Young.
This 800 stacked sheets of glass illuminated by LED piece, Threashold by Danny Lane, is fifteen
to twenty feet wide, and eight to ten feet tall.
Glass can be very interesting, such as this Segmented Sine Curve by Harvey K. Littleton.
A few different angles and a close-up of Pacific Rose by Jon Kuhn.
A large glass orb - probably a foot in diameter - Verdant Ceres by Josh Simpson, with a close-up
trying to show the 3D effect of the piece.
Some glass pieces specifcally require lighting in order to help bring out their design. This piece,
Wolf Crest Hat by Preston Singletary, is one of those pieces.
Rainbow Chair, by Patrick Norguet and Cappellini Design, is another piece requiring light to highlight
(no pun intended) its design.
After visiting the gift shop, we departed the Mint after about two hours.
Next door to the Mint was... this place, with a sculpture out front.
There was a banner that indicated there was a Warhol display. Between the sculpture and the banner, it can
be inferred this is another museum. And, again, having visited the
Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh,
we just looked at the outside.
Between the Mint and the place above, was the Knight Theater, also with an artsy motif.
We walked across the street, toward the parking garage. There was a one-block long park - technically on
the roof of the underground garage - that we walked around in a little.
The park seemed to be a literature-themed park.
There were plenty of flowers in bloom.
We grabbed a selfie while walking through too.
Some sculptures, other artwork, and a couple general sights.
The stepping stones actually make a phrase.
It appears to be "Two eyes, your two eyes you be, I see your two eye for me."
It looked like this fountain was being worked on when we passed through.
There were pairs of whimsy "city mileage distance" signs in the names of some famous authors.
These city mileage distance signs were just for other locations named Charlotte.
Along the sidwalk, there were some speakers that emitted some sounds of insectes and running water.
At the far end of the park - from where we entered - were a couple stacked-books sculptures, each taken from
two directions.
After the we made our way into the garage. On the wall in the stairwell was this humorous "map".
We got into the car, and headed out.
Before heading to Raleigh, we visited another "hole in the wall" sort of restaurant. This one was call Miguels
and it was a Mexican restaurant. It offered outdoor seating too.
We got a basket of chips and two small bowls of salsa for an appetizer.
We finished our first basket of chips, so the waitress decided - on her own - to bring us more chips. It didn't
take long to finish the rest of the salsa... and the waitress brought us another bowl of salsa.
The meals were tasty and reasonably priced.
Linda had the spinach quesedilla.
I had a burrito and a soft taco.
We finished our meal and headed out to Raleigh.
Our hotel in Raleigh was another Super 8.
In the past, we have had good luck with Super 8's. Since we pretty much just sleep, try to have breakfast, and leave
to go wherever, we don't feel a need to spend too much on a hotel. But sometimes... you get what you pay for.
While this motel only provided one towel and no bath mat, we called down to the front desk to get another towel
and a bath mat. We realized, based on the check-in and how long it took before the towel arrived, that the motel
may be short staffed. So I went down to the front desk to get the towel and bath mat. But when I went down to
get those, at the same time the manager / check-in clerk was on his way up to our room. It turns out that someone
else - we were told - was dispatched to deliver the towel and mat, but went to the wrong room.