Decorah, Iowa
solo travel
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Grand Haven
Another cute western Michigan town!
Holland, Michigan
One of the cutest little towns. Flowers everywhere!
Ann Arbor
A quintessential college town.
Travelers Rest
Nine miles north of Greenville is the quaint, charming town of Travelers Rest (TR). Since I am traveling solo, I plan “field trips” to find things to do and places to explore. TR has a continuation of the Swamp Rabbit Trail and bikers and walkers crowded the lanes despite the heat and humidity today.
I walked the trail to Trailblazer Park which was a large green space and event venue. Then back on the trail I noticed all the beautiful murals. I stopped at Upcountry Provisions for lunch and just enjoyed my peaceful walk.
Two miles away is the esteemed Furman University. It is the oldest private university in South Carolina. The grounds were stunning and the campus buildings dignified. I think this campus is one of the prettiest I’ve seen. The lake trail is manicured with ducks lazily gliding in the water.
Greenville, NC
I decided to brave the rain and take advantage of a short dry spell and explore downtown Greenville. Even with the lousy weather, lots of people filled the sidewalks, restaurants and shops. Parking was challenging but I landed a spot, grabbed my umbrella and headed to the riverwalk and over the Eugenia Duke Bridge. It is named for one of Greenville’s female entrepreneurs (Duke’s Mayonnaise). It crosses the Reedy River and pointed me perfectly to the Liberty Bridge and Reedy River Falls. This beautiful 345 foot suspension bridge gives pedestrians a perfect view of Reedy River Falls, the gardens (Falls on the Reedy Park) below and an entry point to Swamp Rabbit Trail. The park allows you to get right on the water and take pathways to swings and other seating.
I walked down South Main Street to the West End. Apparently this area was the former location of Furman University. While walking around I enjoyed beautiful public art in the form of murals, statues and glass art including a Dale Chihuly. Pedrick’s Garden was next to the Chihuly piece. This two-acre garden honors a local community leader and was in full bloom.
I visited a fabulous bookstore in the former Greenville County Courthouse. It was another great example of repurposing a historic building for a new era. This bookstore had several nooks, murals and creative displays. It hosts lots of writing classes and events, too.
Greenville feels small in size but large in personality. The downtown area was clean and very walkable and served as a great introduction for my two weeks in Greenville. I look forward to exploring more in the upcoming weeks.
Old Fourth Ward in Atlanta
Never wanting to get too comfortable, I accepted a dog sitting gig with Trusted Housesitters in the city (as opposed to where I am staying in the suburbs). I’m staying in the Old Fourth Ward which is MLK Jr.’s birth place and a popular neighborhood to live in Atlanta since it’s on the Beltline, Ponce City Market (a previous Sears warehouse) and Krog Market (food hall and shops).
What I love about the neighborhood is its walkability and numerous cafes and restaurants. There’s also a ton of green space including the Historic Fourth Ward Park.
It’s obvious it’s trendy because there is construction everywhere. But the kind of construction I hate. Small, modest, historic homes are being replaced with monster modern monstrosities. I know it’s the thing to do – it’s happening in Portland, too.
The dogs got lots of walks as I meandered the neighborhood. Scotch and Pete got along well and the weather was perfect. It’s so easy to make a dog happy with just walks, treats and scratches behind their ears!
National Center for Civil and Human Rights
Today I visited another amazing museum. I’ll be honest I didn’t have high expectations after the Legacy Sites in Montgomery. After visiting so many civil rights museums, I do really enjoy seeing the different ways of presenting information and the power and impact those messages can make.
This museum decided to address human rights, in addition to, civil rights. Upon entry, the civil rights section was really crowded so I decided to go upstairs and do the human rights section first. I’ll admit I got emotional almost immediately. This museum leads with powerful stories and shares how average, ordinary people took risks to promote human rights. The exhibit “A Mile in My Shoes” was particularly powerful as I listened to personal stories of complete strangers. Each story is linked to a real pair of shoes worn by the person you’re listening to. This delivery really humanizes their experiences.
The second floor also housed the Action Lab. Of course, I’m incredibly action oriented and so this exhibit definitely struck me. The visitor learns about a variety of issues and causes, and then is given ways to find resources and opportunities to be involved with that cause.
Downstairs is focused on civil rights. There was a ton of information, pictures, videos, and other multimedia that presented details about civil rights. For example, there was a full sized depiction of the Freedom Riders bus with all the pictures of the Freedom Riders. You could pick up a phone and listen to their stories. There was also 1,100 books from Dr. Martin Luther King’s personal library. And two quilts from Gee’s Bend!
But the most powerful thing in this museum was the lunch counter sit-in. Museum visitors are invited to sit at the lunch counter with a menu in front of them and place headphones over their ears, close their eyes and place their hands on the lunch counter. Audio begins and depicts what folks at the lunch counter heard and experienced. The sound quality of the audio was really amazing. I could literally hear somebody breathing in my right ear. I felt that there was somebody right behind me and the screaming was truly scary. The audio lasted one minute and 25 seconds and mimics being at the lunch counter. It is an experience I will not forget. And it really showed me how courageous the college students were that sat at these lunch counters.
There are so many layers to this museum and I loved how it coupled civil rights with human rights. If you’re in Atlanta definitely visit this museum.
Centennial Olympic Park
This morning, I got my workout done early so that I could head into Atlanta to visit the National Center for Civil and Human Rights. Since it wasn’t open yet, I decided to take a walk and I landed at the Centennial Olympic Park. What a nice surprise since I didn’t realize it was right next to the museum.
It was raining, but plenty of people were out. The park is beautiful and I love the different features, including, of course, the Olympic rings the various water features, flowers and open spaces. Definitely a nice walk on a Sunday morning.
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