On the heels of family visiting at the end of May, my aunt offered to watch the girls while Bill and I headed out for a date night. Instead of gorging ourselves at a new restaurant, we decided to dust off our bikes and chomp away at another segment of the Neuse River Trail between the Bedford neighborhood and US-401 (followed by beers at a new brewery, Compass Rose Brewery).
For our bike ride we parked in the trail parking lot at 10888 Bedfordtown Dr in the Bedford neighborhood in North Raleigh. We followed the access road to the trail, turned right to head south, went over a small bridge and then bared to the left to stay on the main trail. This part of the Neuse River Trail is mostly flat and shaded with several bridges (including covered ones) to pass over and under. We passed several folks biking and running on the trail and even more folks canoeing and tubing down the river. Here are a few highlights along our route:
milepost 3.5 – look over the river to spot old gas or electricity lines running across an old steel bridge- milepost 4.5 – access to oxbow in the river due to years of erosion and sand deposition creating a really sweet swimming hole with sandy beach. The water flows very slowly in this spot and we saw a few younger kids fishing. I’d love to bike with the girls down here and bring a picnic and bathing suits.
- milepost 5 – large bridge access to (presumably future) Wake Forest trails
- milepost 6.5 – access to WRAL soccer park
- milepost 7.5 – access to Horseshoe Farm Nature Preserve (still under construction, set to open August 2015)
- milepost 8 – suspension bridge near US-401
For two people who hadn’t ridden bikes in at least 4 years, this was the perfect ride to ease back into things. Overall the ride was a little over 11 miles total (out and back) and provided a lot of great scenery and ideas of future outings for swimming, biking and maybe even some tubing!
Thumbs up: access to swimming hole and several parks along the way, relatively flat and shaded trail, variety of water activities available
Thumbs down: nothing to report
At the end of May family visited us for the weekend so we headed out on Sunday morning with my aunt, sis-in-law, and niece to explore a new park in northeast Raleigh, Spring Forest Road Park. I’d been wanting to check this place out ever since I heard earlier this year that it was going to be one of the parks to host the Hot Air Balloon Festival. With such a massive open area surrounded by a walking trail and shade trees it’s no wonder it was chosen for such a festival.
We passed several small groups of folks walking that morning and noticed signs advertising walking programs held through the City of Raleigh/Wake County on their information boards. They also advertised several zumba and kickboxing evening classes held here, which sound like a fun place to meet up with neighbors and friends in the evening. The paved trail is 1/2 mile loop with a few small hills and passes through some shady spots. The surrounding open space must be one of the largest open fields in the whole park system, especially if it was large enough to house a hot air balloon festival. We also passed a baseball field before returning to the parking lot where the large pavilion with restrooms and tennis courts with backboards are located. Several types of flowers were in bloom and the trees were full of leaves throughout the park making you forget it’s just a short distance from busy Capital Blvd.
Today would’ve been my Aunt Pam’s 59th birthday. For as far back as I can remember, she lived in a large ranch house off a very long gravel road in Carbondale, KS, but she grew up 30 minutes from there in 
Despite Harveyville’s decrease in population over the years (my dad recalls a total population around 300 when he graduated high school in 1971), it was very comforting to explore a small town, especially one where my dad and aunt grew up in. Harveyville is all of 0.13 square miles, so it was hard to get lost. We drove to my dad and aunt’s childhood home, which is now home to the pastor who delivered my aunt’s funeral service. It’s a lovely two-story home with an enclosed front porch. My dad recalled the strangeness of having to visit the pastor at his home to discuss my aunt’s services, but I’m sure being in his childhood home again helped with the healing of losing his sister. While driving around Harveyville, I started to imagine a simpler life with simpler expectations, regular community/family gatherings, finishing high school with your same preschool friends, and working as a teenager in one of the local shops or farms.
After seeing their childhood home, we passed the new church that was rebuilt after being flattened during the 
Just across from the park is Harveyville Grade School and Harveyville High School, where my dad was part of the last graduating class in 1971. It’s a beautiful brick building full of windows on the front with a large bell out front and a water tower in the grasslands behind the building. At a closer glimpse, I noticed dogs barking behind a fenced-in area attached to the high school. Being the curious type, I walked up the steps of the school and noticed the lobby was full of sewing materials and I heard voices coming from inside. I knocked on the front doors of the school and a sweet woman about my age greeted me at the door to tell me they were preparing for a weekend-long felting retreat. She gave me free reign to explore the school as she was super busy. Old classrooms were turned into shared guest rooms, bathrooms were updated to include showers, and the gorgeous gym contained all the tables, chairs and supplies needed for a felting retreat. The Harveyville Schools are now home to the 
This summer we explored Eno River State Park in Durham over Memorial Day weekend. Despite a 40 minute drive and a lot of preschooler crying when we first arrived because there was no playground in sight, we enjoyed the short hike across the swaying footbridge and to the river.
After we reached the bank of the river, we followed the trail over a narrow suspension footbridge that seemed like a much, much less dramatic version of the foot bridge Indiana Jones crossed in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It’s less than a 15ft drop to the river, but with large openings in the sides of the bridge I walked Ashley slowly across the bridge, trying to reiterate the importance of no jumping on the bridge.
On our hike back we stopped in one of the several swimming holes to splash around a bit, promising to bring the girls back again soon with bathing suits in tow. Other than over 25 miles of hiking, Eno River State Park offers fishing, camping, canoeing, educational programs, the annual 
In early May I took some time by myself to visit Haywood Hall, a recommendation from friends who were married there over 10 years ago and a lesser known public garden in the Triangle according to 
The house faces south and on an early May afternoon the front lawn was mostly shaded. Both sides of the gorgeous brick herringbone path were outlined with yellow and orange flowers and remnants of previously bloomed daffodils and azaleas. A white picket fence outlines the perimeter of the property with large oak and magnolia trees, small patches of grass and shady spots for benches and walks on the front lawn.
I followed the brick path towards the side property where a white tent for special events was erected over a large brick patio with nearby pergolas. Another brick path leads to the back of the house and the outside restroom facilities, where a kitty was sunning. Roses and irises were in bloom and hostas were beginning to pop out. I followed another brick path to the gazebo shaded by nearby trees where I noticed several bricks surrounding the gazebo and pathways contained personalized messages. In visiting Haywood Hall’s 
