NORTH CAROLINA: CHAPEL HILL

 October 2022

Chapel Hill is a smallish city of about 62,000 in North Carolina dominated by the prestigious University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It is similar to the town where we currently live in both population and the university presence, but it feels a little more rural.  The climate is a bit more temperate than ours, and it gets about three times as much rain. Many of the streets look like this:

Since visiting Chapel Hill, I have learned that it is or was the home of many well-known folks, including former presidential candidate John Edwards, the musician Ben Folds, the author John Grisham, the journalist Charles Kuralt, novelist Betty Smith (A Tree Grows in Brooklyn), the  musician James Taylor, and author Thomas Wolfe (You Can't Go Home Again). Pretty impressive.

We had someone who wanted to go on a walk and hopefully chase that ball she was so lovingly guarding.

She got her wish. Not far from where our son was living when I visited are peaceful woods with wandering trails. The autumn colors were just beginning to emerge.

I was helping my kindergarten granddaughter with her "Flat Stanley" project where the child draws a picture of herself, then sends it "on a vacation" to visit a relative. The relative takes the child's self-portrait around and photographs it in a variety of places. It was fun to show "my granddaughter" the sights.

INDONESIA TRIP: SINGAPORE PART II - BOTANIC GARDENS

 Tuesday, July 1, 2023

It finally stopped raining, or at least diminished to a very light drizzle, and we could move on to what had been our first planned activity for Singapore but which got bumped to early afternoon because of the deluge: a visit to the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

We got our hopes up when we saw this sign, but alas, no wild monkeys or otters approached us.

A few steps into the garden and we already knew this was something special. Check out the waterfall around the base of the palm tree. I've never seen that before! This is one of three gardens in the world, and the only tropical garden, to be honored as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

JAMAICA: OCHO RIOS AND DUNN'S RIVER FALLS AND KONOKO FALLS

 February 18, 2023

Ocho Rios (Spanish for "eight rivers") is a town on the north Jamaican coast. Many believe Christopher Columbus first set foot in Jamaica just outside the city.

Our hotel in Ocho Rios was a once grand multi-building complex, but it is now in a bit of a dilapidated state. Our room had no hot water, no AC, no wifi, and a cockroach on the bed.

However, they had a great sign on the office wall.

We were worn out by heat, humidity, and walking, and in spite of all the hotel issues, we just needed sleep.

The next morning we were in no rush to get started. Chad was snorkeling, and we had a plan to meet at 11:00, so we drove down to the Ocho Rios Craft Market. It was about the junkiest tourist trap we've ever seen, not even meriting a photo. Nothing was original. It all looked like it was made in China. There were multiple stalls, all selling the same items, and every vendor claimed to have made the items in his/her booth. We decided we needed breakfast instead of shopping.

Definitely not a breakfast spot:

JAMAICA DAY 2, PART I: HOPE BOTANICAL GARDENS AND THE BOB MARLEY HOUSE

 February 16, 2023

At 7:00 AM we met up with Bob's relative Chad, who had arrived at about 11:00 PM and checked into the same hotel we were in while we were sleeping.  Our first stop was at the airport (which was on our way) to put Chad on the driver list for the car and to get some cash from the ATM. Totally unprepared for the exchange rate ($1 US = $153 Jamaican dollars), I pulled out too little--maybe the equivalent of $100 US--but we made it last until almost the end of the trip, not because we were frugal, but because it was easy to pay in US dollars, and we had plenty of those.

Chad ended up being our primary driver for the trip. It was nice to have that option. We may have to invite him along on future adventures!

Our first stop was Hope Botanical Gardens in Kingston. It was our first experience with the lack of signage for "tourist" spots (and one we would have over and over again). We totally missed it on the first pass, and barely found it on the second. We wondered if foreigners don't drive much in Jamaica but rely instead on tour buses and taxis. Maybe tourists are intimidated by the right-side steering wheel and left-side-of-the-road driving. Bob and Chad did great with it, the main problem being turning on the wipers instead of the blinker (which is also on the wrong side). Or maybe tourists mainly stay at the resorts.

Our first stop was Hope Botanical Gardens, aka the Royal Botanical Gardens, in Kingston. I didn't realize it when we were there, but the land the gardens are on has a dark past. Initially, a large estate including the land the gardens are on was given to the British Major Richard Hope in 1655 for his role in overthrowing the Spanish and taking over Jamaica. In the 19th century the estate land was given to a duke as payment for his lost slaves after the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. Nothing was given to the liberated people.

In 1873, a section of the estate was turned into the botanical gardens, which now comprise 200 acres.