Cara and I visited North "Cackalacky" this past week. Apparently, cackalacky is slang for Carolina. And before you ask, I have no idea where the nickname comes from. Not even the North Carolina Miscellany website knows for sure where the nickname came from. I'll tell you this, though, there are Cackalacky t-shirts if you're interested.
But enough about nicknames, on to the trip.
We left last Thursday and got to Raleigh around noon. We met up with some friends there for about 5 minutes of lunch before they had to head back to work 
While they were busy slaving away for the rest of the afternoon, Cara and I took off to go to the Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh. The museum was really great and really free. They have dinosaur fossils, an insect exhibit and a lot of other things spread across four floors. There is also a museum of history and a museum of art nearby that we didn't stop by to see. The state capitol building is right by the museums as well, so we stopped by to see those. All in all, our first day in North Carolina provided a great learning experience. And ice cream that night.
The next day, we got up in time to hit the road around 5:35 AM. We had a big day ahead of us. We ended up seeing Kitty Hawk and the Wright Brothers National Memorial, Jockey's Ridge Sand Dunes, a lot of lighthouses, a national seashore, a car ferry and more. The Wright Brothers memorial was really neat. They had set up markers to indicate the distance that each of the first flights traveled. The sand dunes were also great. Hiking up a sand dune is hard work! And the sand was really hot. The day ended on a frustrating note when we hit a deer while driving back to Raleigh. We couldn't even open the passenger door to Jonathan's car afterwards. And their last car had been messed up because of a deer as well! So watch out for deer in North Carolina!
The next day included visiting NC State, Duke and UNC at Chapel Hill. I had no idea that all three universities were so close in proximity, but it didn't take but about half an hour to get between them. Each campus had a distinct feel and we enjoyed getting to see them. Duke had a really nice garden on its campus that we enjoyed. We also learned about Michael Jordan learning ballet. We closed the night with a visit to the movie theater to catch a cheap showing of Shrek 3.
Anyway, enough blabbing, eh? Show me some pictures, right?
Well, here ya go. Click here or the on the picture below to get to the photo gallery.
