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We were up early for a change and took a look around Charlotte before heading off towards Raleigh we'd heard about a park on the outskirts of the city so that was out first destination. It's been another lovely sunny day with slightly milder temps in the high 20's.
William B. Umstead (note the dot between the B and the Umstead lol) is not huge but very nice. As soon as you go through the park gates the temp drops a few degrees. We had lunch and set off on some of the trails. There are, so they say, lots of wildlife incl deer, moose, turtles, chipmunks etc. We sighted squirrels and lizards but that was about it other than fish in the lake. We did hear something bigger in the undergrowth but never saw what it was making the noise. We also heard but didn't see a woodpecker going for it on a tree. Pete tried luring it out by hitting a tree with a stone but it didn't fall for that one lol
Some of the trees are turning and dropping their leaves, for the most part just the oaks in the park but its a start. We have hope we'll see a good autumn display when we're in New England.
When we were done in the park it was still only early afternoon so we decided to drive a bit more rather than stay nearby in Raleigh. We think we're going to need a number of days in Washington DC to see all that we want to so it should take that bit less time to get there tomorrow starting out from here in Richmond.
Richmond is heavily steeped in history. It was the confederate capital and its where the civil war ended. The day after the confederate army fell President Lincoln arrived here to inspect the fallen city. Amid the chaos and mess that Richmond then was he was asked how should they, the victors treat the POW's? His reply was essentially to treat them kindly; less than 2 weeks later he was assassinated. Perhaps his answer is very telling of what sort of president he would've been in peacetime had he lived.
Travelling today through Virginia it occurred to us that without tobacco a huge chunk of the USA workforce would be out of work. There's the massive plantations that still grow it and all the associated workers who process it, transport it, sell it etc not to mention all the medical staff to clean up after it. The Phillip Morris HQ is massive, we guess the PR division alone must be many many people. Cigarettes are still very cheap here, about $3 - $4 per packet or $22 a carton.
There's a massive new industry here, the e cigarettes which are causing a stink. They're essentially very high in nicotine so even more addictive but without the really nasty chemicals they put in reg cigs. They work on some sort of system that delivers the nicotine as a vaporised hit. There's a big movement to get them regulated but until they do big tobacco is making a killing, perhaps literally as no studies have yet been done to show what the long term or even short term effects of using these products are.
- comments
Dee A very educational post, its good to know you're paying attention to history :)
Sue Lol thanks Dee, I think! It is quite interesting actually, all stuff we sort of know but it puts it all in perspective when you're in the place it happened.