Tag North Carolina

This has been an interesting year of short excursions around America, several road trips and a few flights across country. We’ve traveled across numerous states and have seen a great deal of geographic variance as well as changes in people, food, music and culture. This really is a big country and sometimes, especially when it comes to places like Texas and the U.P, little alcoves of America seem like their own little countries. Here is a roundup of some of the places we visited this year.

Travel to the Olympic National Forest in Washington, USA

I traveled out to Washington for a wedding and was overjoyed that it was an outdoor affair full of swords, ferns and coffee. It was a wedding that fit the beautiful surroundings of Port Angeles. The redwoods were tall, thick and stunning, and the lakes raging like the rest of the wilderness around the national forest. Coffee, the main staple of the Seattle-dweller, is strong and drunk black. The people are so in love with the outdoors that they carry backpacks instead of purses, and wear boots instead of heels. That’s a win in my book. Overall rating of the scenery, people and food: 9 out of 10.

Travel to Ocean City, Maryland, USA

Visiting Ocean City in winter is an odd adventure. It is like visiting a carnival before it opens. The clowns and bearded ladies are still there, but they aren’t yet smiling for the crowds. I walked along the beach and was the only person out there being pelleted by the whipping wind and freezing waves. Domesticated squirrels would run up to my legs and beg for food while disenchanted locals would push them out of their way with booted toes. If you ever wondered, restaurants at the beach are overpriced year round– not just in the summer.

Travel to Beaufort, North Carolina, USA

We spent a week at the beach and rented a small house on the shore within a stone’s throw of public access. It was a glorious blur of sand, sunscreen, and bright colors. We go every year and every year it gets busier and the crowds get thicker and the seagulls get more aggressive. It’s a beautiful spot, but since it is getting so crowded I imagine it won’t be beautiful for long!

Road Trip to Justin, Texas, USA

I drove myself, my mother and my toddler to Justin, Texas from North Carolina. We stopped in Nashville, Texarkana and finally Justin. If you have never driven in Texas be forewarned the road signals hang horizontally across wires and (surprise) I got a ticket for running a red light when I thought the yellow was one of those flashing warning things. Anyways, live and learn. I also learned that Texas had a boatload of excess money that they use to put in TONS of spaghetti-roads and then decorate them with the lone star. No, I didn’t end up buying any boots– although  I did look! Also, if you ever fly out of Dallas– be warned that it is the most chaotic airport this side of Heathrow. I had to pay just to drop my mother off at her terminal! Not a fan of the airport, but I’m quite a fan of the rest of Texas that I saw.

Travel to Marquette, Michigan, USA

We come up to the U.P every once in a while to visit family and this year we were fortunate enough to come up to the U.P twice, once in the summer and once in the frozen winter. Winter is my favorite season and the U.P is about the best place to experience it. ATVing in the snow, snowshoeing, ice fishing, sledding, and all kinds of other frozen festivities await you in Marquette and the surrounding towns. Hey, Jeff Daniels spends his time up here, so it can’t be all bad!

Travel to Beech Mountain, North Carolina, USA

Since we live relatively close to the mountains of North Carolina, we get to make a few trips a year up to Beech Mountain, near Boone. It’s a delightful small down with all the amenities nearby of a major metropolis. On top of Beech Mountain is the highest bar on the east coast, I hear tell. Yes, we’ve been there. You have to ski your way down after a few very strong, locally brewed drafts. Well, you don’t have to but it’s way more fun!

Travel to Washington, District of Columbia, USA

We went to Washington D.C a few times in 2014, mostly because we have friends in the city. It’s an amazing capital and truly befitting the country. All the major museums are free and it’s a delight to get to explore so much history for free– as it should be! There is always something fun going on. Last time up in DC I saw a group of people preaching the good word, loudly– almost violently, in China Town. At other times there are demonstrations near the White House. On one other trip I was fortunate enough to get to stay out in Leesburg, where we did a night time stroll of the town’s haunted sites (yes, it was Halloween!).

Happy 2015. May the year bring you more travel, more freedom to roam and a better appreciation of the wide, wide world!

These days we don’t really get to Abandon the Cube as much as we’d like, but this week we’re in sunny Atlantic Beach living the dream.

And by dream I literally do mean living a more vivid dream. I read once that people along the coasts dream more vividly and live life a bit more wildly. At the same time, more great thinkers, philosophers and dreamers have come from coastal cities than inlanders. I knew this before we arrived at the beach and I was looking forward to insane dreams with M.C Escher stairs with droopy Salvador Dali animals running up and down. Oddly enough, the sun has made me more tired so I haven’t been dreaming at all. On the other hand, I had an awesomely deep conversation about the pitfalls of the Machiavellian state vs Confucianism this morning, which was unlikely to happen back inland so there is that….

Dreaming

One thing I’ve always hated about the beach is how commercial it is. And it’s not just American beaches. I went to the beach in Turkmenistan a few years ago and there was a guy selling inflatable bananas, crocodiles and beach balls just like the guy on the coast here in sunny North Carolina. The only beach I’ve ever been to without capitalist swarming all over it was in Olympos, Turkey.

Olympos, Turkey

You had to hike through a jungle following a wall built in the Hellenistic period and the jump around a wall made during the Roman Empire to find this stunning blue lagoon full of hippie backpackers. It was paradise. If I found out tomorrow I had an incurable disease you’d find me the day after on the beach in Olympos looking out of crystal waters with ancient ruins behind me in the jungle. Truly awesome.

Atlantic Beach

And the beach here in North Carolina could be like that if it wasn’t so developed. My uncle has a place along one of the canals and across from his home is an uninhabited island jungle that looks amazingly fun to explore. I bet the pirates of old have buried treasure out there somewhere.

Pirates of North Carolina

I’m also reminded, while looking out at the ocean, how close the Nazi subs were to this very area, and how many ships met their doom at Nazi hands right off the coast here. As one historian put it, “It wasn’t the US Navy or Coast Guard that controlled the Atlantic coast in 1942, it was the Nazi U-boats.”

One U-boat captain told his son (who survived him through the war) that he was most amazed at how life continued on as normal in the US despite it’s being at war. People were on the beaches every day, boats went out on joy rides ride near the lurking subs (unbeknownst to them obviously) and at night the coast was lit up from all the bars, parties and general merriment. This may be one of the reasons Americans have a reputation abroad as always jovial, never serious.

U-Boats Prep for the Atlantic Campaign

Pretty stunning how much history there is right off the coast. (Not even counting the stuff in Kitty Hawk–the first flight of the Wright Brothers.)

Wright Brothers in NC

I’m happy to announce that I have begun selling my artwork. You can find paintings, custom hand-painted furniture and home decor by me at Fernweh Originals on Etsy.com, Facebook or browse originals and reconstructions at Melange in Winston Salem, NC.

Original artwork and headboard by Fernweh Originals

I want to thank all of you for being supportive of my art over time. It has been amazing hearing many of you encouraging me to list and sell my artwork. I want to thank my family– and Kristin and Heidi in particular– for their recent encouragement.

Gallery Showing:
I will be holding my first exhibit this summer. Please stay tuned for more information!

Lauren: Designer at Fernweh Originals

What’s Online?
My paintings and home decor are listed on Etsy.com, and include shipping costs. As friends and family, if you would like to buy a painting you can contact me directly and I can arrange to deliver it to you if you live on the East Coast (The D.C area to N.C).

Original artwork available on Etsy.

What’s in North Carolina?
Much of what I have for sale is presently in the Piedmont. You can find larger items (like refurbished furniture, chandeliers, home decor, etc.) at Melange off University Avenue in Winston Salem. You can also find items at Farrago, off Hanes Mall Drive. Contact me if you see an item you like and I’ll direct you to it’s location!

Custom, French-inspired piece. Available at Melange in W-S, NC.

Custom Artwork:
I will be creating commissioned, custom artwork in addition to the selection you can find online and in the Piedmont. To order a custom piece, please contact me directly with your ideas to receive a quote.

The Process:
You can find many of the items I’ve created for sale in my blog roll. I sometimes have before/after photos of furniture I refurbish, as well as art pieces that are on-going or over-sized. To find anything related to my art, search Fernweh Originals as a keyword on the ATC blog, or DIY.

Thank you all for your ongoing, loving support and for encouraging me to pursue my dreams!

Love,
Lauren

Abandon the Cube !!!

Well… I went to my first ever gun show last weekend in Winston Salem, North Carolina, USA. As part of the south, the gun laws are more lax than in other states (NC recently legalized carrying guns in public parks, for example). At the same time, you need a permit to buy a handgun (not a rifle though) and you need to take a class before being granted a conceal and carry permit. So, there is some control but it seems more like red tape than actually controlling anything. Anyways, I was excited to see what it was all about. (Please excuse the photos, I took them with my phone.)

For starters, the paranoia over the second amendment being revoked seems entirely unfounded. There were two groups of people at the gun show: 2nd amendment buffs (of which there were around 1.5k) and protestors (of which there were about 7). I don’t think many folks out there want a total repeal of the second amendment (the right to bear arms, fyi) but after seeing some of the SAMs (surface-to-air missiles) at the gun show I may agree with a minimization of what people can buy on the open market. And here’s why:

1) Without more comprehensive background checks how can we ensure that the people owning these ridiculously powerful and advanced weapons are sane enough to use them responsibly? What does a responsible person do with a SAM? It is in all of our best interest not to have lunatics with rocket propelled missiles, SAMS or even heavy caliber machine guns. I wouldn’t want to encounter an angry mentally challenged person with a box cutter– let alone an arsenal of crazy shit only useful in an actual all-out war. These weapons are not designed to protect your home, your rights or your possessions–they are designed for wars of attrition.

That being said, I think that if the background check process were cleaner, more efficient and had more defined criteria I may be more prone to consider the options. As it stands now, we’re looking at a criminal history report were felonies prohibit some rights. What about all the other signs of instability? I’m open to hearing ideas on how to make a fair background check process but not open to the idea of allowing anyone who wants one to have an arsenal of military-grade equipment in their basement. Case and point: at the gun show in WS, NC I was accosted by a man of questionable mental status who clearly did not understand normal social boundaries. He grabbed both of my arms and stood inches from my body and proceeded to ask if I was married, to whom, and if I’d consider a divorce. The man was obviously not all there. What was he doing at a gun show? I’d be scared to meet this kind of man in the parking lot alone if he were armed and I wasn’t. I don’t think the solution is an ever-escalating arms race between the sane and the deranged wherein I’d be safe in that same parking lot if I were also armed, quick to draw and had a high enough caliber weapon to ensure I was safe. That just seems silly.

I think one point in that defense is sufficient. Moving on…

I was impressed, to some degree, by the amount of expertise on the ground. I met one young man (under 30) who was offering detailed information on a replica revolver from 1880. He was fascinated and grew more animated as he talked. He knew when I walked up I couldn’t afford the revolver but just wanted to share in his excitement about that piece of history. I really enjoyed that, and the other antique or replica items on site. Some of these people are real patriots with a deep sense of history, and I admire that greatly. That, to me, was worth the ridiculous $9 admission fee.

Outside the show there were a few protestors (see crappy cell-phone image below as photos were discouraged at the show). I admire the protestors and their belief that standing out in the sun for hours on end with signs will have an impact. They are preaching to the wrong crowd, but at least they are preaching. I loved the dichotomy of the gun show folks vs the protestors and how peacefully it was all transacted.

All in all, I probably won’t be a gun show attendee in the long run, but it was quite an experience. My favorite part of the day was when a man with a rifle that looked like something out of CounterStrike came up to me to tell me I didn’t have the right to take photos. Ha! The second is strong with that one, but other freedoms–not so much.

We moved to North Carolina! Yup, we’re staying in the ol’ US of A for a while and have settled in a second-tier city on the east coast called Winston Salem. The town was home to the Reynolds Family, and, of course, the seat of much tobacco growing and wealth. But it was originally a Morovian community, and much of that heritage exists today in pockets in what was once the Salem part of the two towns.

Aside from tobacco, other big businesses have sprouted in WS, including Wachovia, Hanes, Texas Pete, Krispy Kreame, and Piedmont Air. The single most facinating thing about WS is the fact that it exists on a space-time continuum, or a black hole. Sine it wasn’t a planned city, like Beijing for example, the streets in Winston Salem flow like wild rivers. One road may weave and twist and turn and possibly even cross over itself all without changing its name. Getting lost in town is easy and a sense of direction is lost on this place where even magnets give up trying to find north.

The weather shoots up and down like the ball on a mobile yoyo. We’ve been here a month and we’ve has hypothermia weather and sweaty, humid gross weather. I’ve seen people out in shorts with blue patellas, and other folks out in snowsuits scratching their heads with woolen mittens as they suffocate in the heat. And all this oscillating means things bloom, die and then try it all over again on the next warm day. This includes the plethora of oddly over sized spiders that inhabit the mounds of kudzu.

Winston-Salem isn’t a hotbed of tourism, and that’s great because it’s a well kept secret. It’s only a few hours to the mountains and only a few more to the beach, so it’s location is perfect for the weekend warrior vacationer. You’ll find a decent amount of trees in the area, in fact it’s the largest selection of diverse trees in the USA. For that reason, it’s also the hub for furniture in the country, and you’ll notice all kinds of furniture stores and outlets along the highways. Golfing is a big activity in the area, and loads of snowbirds flock south from the frigid tundra up north to enjoy mild winters in NC.

Of all the attractions in NC, our favorite was visiting with family. We were able to see a whole lot of family all at once. A fun, crazy, wild ride that included a trip to the mountains with one uncle and a trip to the beech with my mother. We also went to see Carmen in downtown W-S with one aunt, and were lucky to be able to stay with another aunt in her lovely downtown apartment. We visited friends in Wilmington, and had a party at another uncle’s place. We even got to see my aunt’s new restaurant outside of town. And of course visiting with my amazing grandparents was a joy. We got to enjoy so much family; it was a treat for us and for Gwen, who was, as always, the belle of the ball.

If you happen to find yourself in ol’ W-S don’t skip the historic old Salem area. This was pretty neat and included old structures from the original town that have been converted into nice shops. Downtown (the new part) was also thriving, and we enjoyed an amazing dinner at District, dancing at 6th and Vine and deep fried pickles at Finnegan’s Wake. W-S is great for food, and the finer things in life.

In terms of food, we ate so much southern cooking we put on several pounds in the month we were in North Carolina. We discovered Dickies southern style BBQ, the best BBQ on the planet perhaps. We also fell in love with Darel’s, more BBQ. And of course we loved Bo Jangles and all the chicken. I don’t know how anyone with constant access to this food remains slim.

We were very sad to eventually leave North Carolina and the fifty or so family members who live there. But the road is long, and we have miles to put on the car.

Driving from North Carolina to the Mid-West

When it was time to depart the East Coast and North Carolina the issue of how to move forward was pressing.  We wanted to continue our trip as close as possible to the ways and methods we had used while abroad and treat our time in the United States like we were simply traveling through another country.  Not having the population as other countries of comparable size (China) and with a developed culture and auto industry focused on the American family owning automobiles, we have found getting from A to B more difficult.

Taking the train from Florida to South Carolina, we already had found it to be comparative to a flight price-wise.  However, it was much more enjoyable.  Traveling by public transportation in the United States is difficult in the sense that there are fewer schedules, they are more expensive, and although you can get around by these means, you are stuck at your destination unless you have a car or someone picking you up.  When you arrive in town you can’t simply take a bus or walk as you can in other countries.  This was confirmed as we walked for hours in the rain in Columbia, SC.  Luckily we found a bus driver who explained we could not walk that far, switched buses twice, waited for about an hour, and found a bus driver nice enough to drop us off in front of the hotel we were looking for – which was actually way off her route.

Naturally, we would have loved to take the train from North Carolina.  We even got excited when we learned we would have to take the Northbound train to Washington D.C., where I have family we could have visited, and then take the East / West bound and travel to Chicago.  However, the price for doing this per person was $240 USD.  Direct buses to Chicago were slightly over $100 USD per person, but would have left us in downtown Chicago.  We would have then had to take a $18 USD p.p. bus ticket to Rockford.  I then searched for hours and discovered that we could rent a car and pay for gas to transport the two of use from Winston – Salem directly to Rockford for a fraction of the price.  I was surprised to discover this and was at first really disappointed that this method was cheaper, but then I appreciated the American importance on independence and easy of the highway network system…although it would sure be nice if public transportation was a little bit more affordable.

I must have looked pretty pathetic the morning we arrived at the Avis agency in Winston-Salem because I pretty much begged the guy for the cheapest possible option, and a hybrid if possible to save on gas.  Unfortunately, that was not an option, but he took pity on us, set us up with a 15% discount, and a $20 discount for taking a car that “had not been cleaned.”  We ended up renting a car for $150 and only spent about $50 in gas.  Therefore, we got from A to B for exactly $100 a person and it was much faster and thrifty than the bus or train.  If you are interested in traveling through the U.S. make sure you ask or search for these discounts or coupons when making your arrangements.  If you are not from the U.S., I highly recommend using couch surfing or similar websites to find a place to stay once you arrive in your destinations, as we have heard that many a times, these people are willing to come pick you up at the train or bus station once you arrive.  Although making these travel arrangements in the U.S. is more difficult, once you decide and arrive on a particular method, it is pretty much headache and hassle free, which is something I can not say about most other places we have been.