Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: US Trip

  • 2022 US Trip – Day 11 (Crossing the Blasted Road in Raleigh where the Car is King)

    2022 US Trip – Day 11 (Crossing the Blasted Road in Raleigh where the Car is King)

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    I had caught the free Raleigh bus the evening before to get to the hotel, so I considered myself enough of an expert to get back again into the downtown area of the city. Until I realised that the local authorities seem to have forgotten to have put pedestrian crossings to get across the bloody road. When I took this photo I had already traipsed, slightly grumpily, about half a mile down the road and the crossing wasn’t until the dip in the road ahead.

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    I had already missed my bus by the time I had got to the pedestrian crossing and I merrily pressed the button to stop the five lanes of traffic each way. And does a road need five lanes of traffic each way?

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    I had walked so far down that I had reached the next bus stop by the time I was able to cross the road.

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    This is the main road into Raleigh and this is a transportation failure in evidence, vast numbers of cars and this is after the rush hour. They’re trying to encourage public transport usage and full credit for free buses, but the pedestrian infrastructure is in such a bad state they’ll have one hell of a job to get people out of their cars. Also, I hadn’t realised this at the time, but Raleigh has more cars per person than anywhere in the United States. A failure of a policy, as the congestion means that the local economy is taking a financial and environmental hit.

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    And the delays mean that the bus, which is now visible in the photo, get caught up in the traffic. They have five lanes of traffic to play with, but none are designated as a bus lane to speed them up.

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    Boarded, ready for the twenty minute journey back into Raleigh and running only half an hour late. And this is why travelling can be tiring….

  • 2022 US Trip – Day 11 (North Carolina Museum of History – 3,000 Year Old Canoe)

    2022 US Trip – Day 11 (North Carolina Museum of History – 3,000 Year Old Canoe)

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    American museums often have a difficulty that they have nearly no exhibits to explain their history before the European settlers came over, namely because a lot of items owned by the native Americans were either transient or discarded and didn’t survive. The usage of the word “ancient” can in American terms can really be relatively recent, but this is one of the oldest exhibits that I’ve seen in an American museum that’s from the local area and isn’t a piece of stone.

    It’s a thirty foot long canoe which was used 3,000 years ago by native Americans in Lake Phelps which is off towards the east of North Carolina. Generations of people used canoes in the area and in 1986 archaeologists discovered two dozen of them sunk into silt at the bottom of the lake, although they left some there for their own protection (of the canoes, not the archaeologists). Humans only reached this area around 15,000 years ago or so, meaning in terms of human history in the region, this canoe certainly is ancient. There’s more about this canoe at https://www.qaronline.org/blog/2020-06-01/artifact-month-lake-phelps-canoes.

  • 2022 US Trip – Day 11 (North Carolina Museum of History – An Old Jug)

    2022 US Trip – Day 11 (North Carolina Museum of History – An Old Jug)

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    At least I can’t be accused of clickbait with such a boring post name title.

    But, it’s a little more interesting that I might have suggested by calling it an old jug. It’s actually a tankard which was found in what is now Martin County, off to the east of North Carolina. It’s notable as it’s the earliest surviving European style ceramic piece found in the Americas, dating from somewhere between 1680 and 1720. I think there’s a little bit of magic in that, something which has survived for so long and which had some considerable meaning to its original owner.

    Incidentally, as some back history to all of this. Although the tankard itself isn’t connected to this, it isn’t that far (about 75 miles) from Roanoke Island, the mysterious lost colony that was founded by Sir Walter Raleigh and then disappeared from the record. And I mention this also because Raleigh is where the city name comes from, the locals named it after him.

  • 2022 US Trip – Day 11 (North Carolina Museum of History – Some Old Shells)

    2022 US Trip – Day 11 (North Carolina Museum of History – Some Old Shells)

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    Continuing on my theme of underselling the post with the title, these are Marginella shells which were used in trade by native Americans, with these ones dating from between 1711 and 1713. They can date this so accurately due to the Tuscarora War, when the Tuscarora people were thrown off their lands by European settlers and I think that these were used as grave goods. This falls into the category of museum exhibit which particularly interested me because of their heritage and how important they would have been to someone at the time. It’s also firmly in the middle of the period of when North Carolina was an English colony, which was between 1653 and 1776.

  • 2022 US Trip – Day 9 (Pulse – Free Public Transport Service in Richmond)

    2022 US Trip – Day 9 (Pulse – Free Public Transport Service in Richmond)

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    I’ve already mentioned that Richmond offers free bus travel, but they also have the rather excellent Pulse service. This is a high capacity rapid transport service which operates on a 7.5 mile route with some advanced technology to ensure it runs efficiently. It’s free until 2025, as is the rest of the city’s public transport, and is funded by two hospitals, with 14 stops and services generally running every ten to fifteen minutes.

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    I tried to board at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Hospital, but it was such a busy service that I decided to wait for the next one. It was clearly popular with staff from the hospital and everything seem organised and well managed, it gave the impression of being a very useful service.

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    I only had to wait for around eight minutes for the next bus, which was nearly empty. Clean and comfortable, this is a wonderful service and a positive contribution to traffic congestion in the area.

  • 2022 US Trip – Day 9 (Econo Lodge in Richmond)

    2022 US Trip – Day 9 (Econo Lodge in Richmond)

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    Despite trying to get hotels of an acceptable, and very cheap, quality, I still wasn’t sure before arriving how good this Econo Lodge from Choice Hotels would be. The reviews were mixed and so had low expectations, but I was surprised at just how clean and comfortable it transpired to be, so it ended up being good value for money.

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    These rooms often seem quite dark as they don’t have lights on the ceiling and instead rely on table lamps and the like. But it was clean and functional, with everything as expected. There was a bath in the bathroom and the usual toiletries provided, functional and entirely acceptable. There was also a coffee machine, although this particular Econo Lodge doesn’t offer breakfasts.

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    It’s a motel type arrangement, so you can look out on your car should you so desire, although that wasn’t something I concerned myself about. The large window only has heavy curtains rather than any form of net curtain arrangement, although I’m not sure that many people walked by anyway. I didn’t have noise issues either internally from other rooms or externally, I wondered whether the mixed reviews was giving them a low occupancy.

    All things considered, I was pleased with this choice as the staff member was helpful, the room was clean and the price was affordable. I’m writing this a couple of weeks later in Birmingham (the Alabama one) and I have suspicions that I might have issues with the hotel tonight that I’ll be reporting, although I hope it transpires to be like this one that exceeded my expectations.

  • 2022 US Trip – Day 10 (Hunt for Levi’s)

    2022 US Trip – Day 10 (Hunt for Levi’s)

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    One thing that I had intended to do in the United States was to get a new pair, or indeed two pairs, of Levi’s jeans from the outlet stores that they have across the country. However, the downwards spiral of the pound meant that any price advantage in buying them in the United States was lost, so I decided to just visit Ross Dress for Less (similar to TK Maxx in the UK, or indeed TJ Maxx in the US) to see what they had. To my surprise and slight delight (I don’t really ever get delighted clothes shopping, it’s just an annoying waste of time) they had numerous end of line jeans from Levi’s for about $25, or just over £20. Well, that was marvellous, I just got one pair, but ended up paying a chunk less than I would have done from the outlet centre.

    The photo above shows the large size of the store and hints at the rather erratic state of affairs in terms of presentation. Their changing rooms were also all closed, but a helpful staff member went to open one for me, but the moral of this story is never underestimate Ross Dress for Less….

  • 2022 US Trip – Day 10 (Panera Bread – Richmond)

    2022 US Trip – Day 10 (Panera Bread – Richmond)

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    I’ve never been to a Panera Bread outlet, so after my clothing purchase success I thought I’d see whether or not it would be as good as Greggs.

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    They’ve made some effort with the presentation, although the ordering process was muddled and I instead headed off to order at a kiosk. Although that didn’t help a great deal, I only ordered a drink and I wasn’t sure whether I was supposed to collect it from so I stood looking confused. Anyway, personally I wasn’t that engaged with the menu, I had been looking for something like a bagel with avocado, bacon and poached egg or something similarly decadent, but they were pushing cookies, odd looking sandwiches and their bagels only came with cream cheese.

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    The drink, a mango yuzu citrus charged lemonade (charged here means they’re claiming it’s full of energy), was rather lovely and I liked that there was free wi-fi and several power outlets. I wasn’t sure whether the drink was refillable or not, although you can buy monthly subscriptions. Most of the customers seemed to be doing similar things to those with the Pret subscription in the UK (and in the US now), namely getting the free unlimited drink and sitting without food whilst using their wi-fi and power (well, like me but without the subscription). The shop was clean and the staff were friendly, but this is nowhere near as exciting as Greggs and although it was very convenient for me to get work done, I’m not sure that I’d come here for food.

  • 2022 US Trip – Day 10 (Heading Off to Richmond Staple Mills via McDonald’s)

    2022 US Trip – Day 10 (Heading Off to Richmond Staple Mills via McDonald’s)

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    After my success buying jeans and getting a drink at Panera, it was time to use Richmond’s free public transport for the final time to get to Richmond Staple Mills, the second Amtrak station in the city. All clearly signed, I was suitably impressed.

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    The driver gets off, shuts the front door and then clears off to get some food. Another passenger gets bored of waiting for the driver’s lunch break and pushes the central door open and gets on, being followed over the next few minutes by other passengers who were unaware of the breaking and entering that had taken place (I accept I might have exaggerated a little with the breaking bit). Unsure of the protocol here, as I didn’t want to look like I barged onto the bus, I lingered near the entrance in the most nonchalant manner that I could muster. The driver did look marginally annoyed that he had a full bus, but I was able to board knowing that I hadn’t broken any rules….

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    The driver, who seemed a little stressed with life, then proceeded to miss the Richmond Staple Mills stop which confused me, as I had pressed the bell to stop, and infuriated another passenger who asked what he was doing. All this stress, as well as arriving two hours before the train in my usual manner, meant I popped to the next door McDonald’s. Well, it’s local American cuisine and all that.

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    It wasn’t packed and I was pleased to note that they were one of the few McDonald’s to actually have power outlets, I’m not sure that many in the chain actually want people lingering.

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    It was buy ten Chicken McNuggets and get another for $1. Healthy….. Note the beautiful presentation offered by the crew members, but I was pleased with the eight or so soft drinks that I managed to get through during my stay in the restaurant. I like free drink refills it has to be said.

  • 2022 US Trip – Day 10 (Amtrak Journey from Richmond Staple Mills to Raleigh)

    2022 US Trip – Day 10 (Amtrak Journey from Richmond Staple Mills to Raleigh)

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    For some years, this was the only station in Richmond, until the central station reopened after a period of closure. It was constructed in 1975 to temporarily replace the central station which had been damaged by floods and at the moment some Amtrak services only stop here, but there are plans to ensure trains stop at both stations. There had once been a third railway station in Richmond, from a time when people took trains, but more about Broad Street station at Wikipedia….

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    It was clean and functional inside the railway station, although it all felt a little dated and I’m not sure that the interior has much changed since the 1970s.

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    Mine was the 13:36 Carolinian train service which went all the way to Charlotte, where I was going later on, but today it was just to Raleigh. I was pleased to see that it was all on time.

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    Passengers aren’t allowed out onto the line until the train is ready and all parked up (or whatever the technical term for a train is, perhaps just stopped).

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    Getting ready to board, passengers are shown which carriage to sit in and then a guard comes around to check where you’re going and write that above the seat so that they can ensure you actually get off there.

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    The view out of the window before we set off and I was pleased to see the power and wi-fi were both working as expected.

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    I find it very relaxing to gaze out of the window, looking at the lakes, swamps, forests and so on. However, that is quite hard to photograph and so they don’t really come out very clearly or look anywhere near as impressive.

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    Out of focus, but I quite liked this photo, it felt like a low quality image from the 1950s.

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    My first sight of North Carolina as the train went over the state border, so my second new state of this trip, the first having been Virginia.

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    These crossings look more impressive from the train window than as photos.

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    The train interior and journeys are comfortable, these are bulky and stable bits of kit and unlike many British trains which bounce up and down on the track and where you feel every jolt.

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    The trains are clunky and industrial.

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    Things for children to play with. Or at least, they likely would if left unsupervised.

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    And safely into Raleigh, North Carolina, where I only had one day.