Don't Wake Anyone!
EAST COAST ROAD TRIP, Chapter 2:IN WHICH WE SEE A BUTTERFLY LADY
Day2: Charlotte, NC to Raleigh, NC via Greensboro. Knowing when to be quiet is a virtuous quality, especially when you're a guest at a hotel. Thanks to some assistance from the hotel security in toning the party down a few notches last night, letting our rowdy neighbors know that midnight was time to clam up, we ended up getting a good night's sleep at the Hyatt Place.
Reading about this hotel chain in the latest issue of Consumer Reports, we noted that it ranked just behind Hampton Inn for mid-price hotels with the amenities we require (clean, well-maintained rooms, free internet service, and free breakfast)—well above Holiday Inn Express, which used to be one of our favorites. So we'll give them another try.
Our first stop today was the Elmwood Pinewood Cemetery in downtown Charlotte. We hoped to find five letterboxes there but after walking all over the cemetery just to track down clues for the first box, we had to postpone the others for the next trip. We left Charlotte and headed for Greensboro, where we had a lunch date with our great niece Emma and her dad Brian.
After a terrific lunch at a local Greensboro pizza restaurant, we all went letterboxing in Green Hill Cemetery, a memorial garden with many famous residents. We found five letterboxes there. Emma has become quite proficient at the entire stamping in process and now also writes her own trail name and notes. Since this was Brian's first letterboxing excursion, Emma was more than glad to help him get oriented.
Day2: Charlotte, NC to Raleigh, NC via Greensboro. Knowing when to be quiet is a virtuous quality, especially when you're a guest at a hotel. Thanks to some assistance from the hotel security in toning the party down a few notches last night, letting our rowdy neighbors know that midnight was time to clam up, we ended up getting a good night's sleep at the Hyatt Place.
Our first stop today was the Elmwood Pinewood Cemetery in downtown Charlotte. We hoped to find five letterboxes there but after walking all over the cemetery just to track down clues for the first box, we had to postpone the others for the next trip. We left Charlotte and headed for Greensboro, where we had a lunch date with our great niece Emma and her dad Brian.
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| Emma knows the letterboxing ropes and taught her dad well. |
When we spotted a headstone that incorporated a large brass bell, Emma wanted to get a closer look. Being her curious self, Dianne swung the clapper and made the bell ring, to which Emma replied, "We probably shouldn't do that. We don't want to wake anyone here." Hard to argue with that bit of wisdom.
Too soon our afternoon of letterboxing fun was over. We bid Emma and Brian farewell and headed off to Raleigh for the night. If our plans don't get rained out, we plan to visit our friend Ric in New Bern, NC, tomorrow so we can see his and Cathy's new sailboat.
SUNDAY, 2 MAY 2010
