ITB-W

So apparently it takes about three months for me to get used to/less anxious about a new living situation. Here it is, end of September, end of month three, and the weather has gotten better, the job has gotten easier to deal with, there's better TV on, and my exam paperwork is going through ahead of schedule. Sure, gas is scarce and expensive... actually, most things are scarce and expensive. The economy is poised to slide down the poop chute. I've had to quit my favorite habit (coffee). But I'm starting to feel a certain level of familiarity with Raleigh, with commuting, with being an architect again, etc. etc. Life is certainly less shitty than it was during the summer.

In between studying for my LEED exam (which is probably not worth studying for, but that's just me I guess) I decided to take my first long walk to a part of the city I haven't visited before. Actually, back up a bit. I was thinking about Rome. And how, in the few months I lived in Rome in 1999, I could and would walk just about anywhere within the ancient walls of the city. Sure, my feet would get tired, but the fact is, it's only a couple miles from Campo dei Fiori (in the center) to any point on the wall. Then I realized that Raleigh isn't that different (uh, eh) in that its center is surrounded by the Beltline highway; the Beltline is only three miles from the center (give or take). And I live kinda close to the center. So... why not utilize this great weather and pedestrianilate my way around the city, from center to wall?

Today's tour was ITB-W: Inside The Beltline - West. It will be the shortest and easiest walk. And maybe the only one. No promises. Basically, it's the area between NC State, Meredith College, and Cameron Village (where I live).

Here's the map:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&saddr=931+Washington+St,+Raleigh,+NC+27605&daddr=Gardner+St+to:Clark+Ave+to:Hillsborough+and+Beryl+rd,+Raleigh+to:35.781022,-78.650694+to:931+Washington+St,+Raleigh,+NC+27605&hl=en&geocode=%3BFcIfIgId1JZP-w%3BFWMrIgIdrV9P-w%3B%3B%3B&mra=dpe&mrcr=1&mrsp=4&sz=15&via=1,2,4&dirflg=w&sll=35.792684,-78.671165&sspn=0.027396,0.055618&ie=UTF8&z=15.

Here are the highlights:

I stumbled upon this amphitheater not too far from my supermarket... it's attached to Raleigh's Little Theater, that box behind it.

This is the kind of neighborhood it is--pretty clean, family-friendly, fairly affluent, but with some college student apartments in the mix. Decent sidewalks.

This is Meredith College, about which I know nothing aside from that it has a public bikepath along the campus edge that is fenced in, so I couldn't get off it where I wanted to and had to backtrack.

It wouldn't have made sense to not get all the way to the edge of the Beltline, right?

This place on Hillsborough Street across from NC State looks neat... but probably rife with college kids. Homecoming week starts today, and there were a bunch of coeds and frat boys out painting storefront windows with red letters and wolves (they're the Wolfpack). They play Boston University for their homecoming game next week. Hope they don't suck it like they did this week!



This is State's bell tower. You can see it from my supermarket, but I had no idea what it was until a few weeks ago.



So there you have it! It was a two-hour walk and approximately 6 miles.

Now for anyone keeping score on the weather here: it's been rainy here lately, too. In fact, the lawn outside my patio has been spongy wet since TS Hannah several weeks ago. It's been an unusually wet summer for this drought-prone area. I was surprised that, within the span of a few weeks from mid-September to late-September, we went from a temperature ceiling of about 90 degrees to one of about 80 degrees (and thank God for it). I guess ceiling is the wrong term... it went from hovering around 90 to hovering around 80. For a few days, it hovered closer to 70, but that was an oddity. In my mind, I imagined it staying hot hot into October and then peeling back a degree a week, so I was happy to get the same feeling of post-summer relief I'm used to up north. Today it's about 82, sunny, not humid... pretty ideal. Great for a long walk in shorts. Too bad I wore my jeans instead duh!).