Christmas in Downtown Raleigh

What a wonderful day! Today Trent & I went into downtown Raleigh for my birthday present. Instead of giving me an item, his gift to me was a trip to visit some of the historic sites in our own county. We've toured lots of interesting places (historic homes, museums, parks, etc) in various other cities we have visited over the years, but keep missing out on some of the special places in our own "neck of the woods." We decided a couple weeks ago to go today so we could see the Executive Mansion with the holiday decorations. As it turns out, there were holiday celebrations and open houses throughout downtown Raleigh and it was sunny, mid-60s so the weather was perfect.

We started at the Executive Mansion. There we were allowed to peek into each of the rooms off the main corridor on the first floor. I took lots of photos. But I did get a curious look and comment from one of the security guards when I snapped a shot of a door hinge! He said most people don't notice the little details. I explained - I'm not most people. ;) I have a degree in architecture and design buildings for a living so I tend to look for the "details."

After touring the mansion, we walked a few blocks to the State Capitol Building. We've both been there before, but not since they opened the third floor to the public. It was fun to take a look around the rooms up there - the State Library room and State Geologist room.

Next we stopped for lunch at the Seaboard Cafe for a sandwich & a burger. It's a great local place and nestled into Logan's Trading Company. While tempted to wander around looking at garden decor after we ate, we hurried over to Mordecai Park to catch the last tour of the day on the Raleigh Trolley. This became our one disappointment. The trolley is in the shop so a bus is being used instead. We decided to skip the tour - as we would rather do it on the trolley for the whole ambiance of riding a trolley versus a bus. So we're saving this fun for the spring when everything is blooming again. We did spend some time touring the Mordecai house and other buildings at the park (Andrew Johnson's birthplace, St. Mark's Chapel, etc) before heading back towards the Capitol Building to see the Dinosaurs exhibit at the NC Museum of Natural Sciences.

If you've read this far, you might be as tired as my legs! I'll end this post with the card I created for today. The front is a photo of the Executive Mansion. Supplies: Bazzill cardstock; 7gypsies foldover sticker; Uniball Signo white pen.