Inspiration from the Capital City

The more time I spend in Raleigh, the more I'm inspired by the stuff going on in the Capital city.

The recent influx of young entrepreneurs, artistic expression, and community-focused development in the past few years is sprouting a seemingly endless supply of Raleigh spots worth exploring.

Last week, I was fortunate enough to take an entire day perusing the city (accompanied by an extremely patient girlfriend), and got to check off a few things that had been on my Raleigh to-do list for quite a while.

Here's how the day unfolded:

Tom Shields's Forest of Chairs brings

wooden furniture back to their natural habitat

First stop was the North Carolina Art Museum's sprawling outdoor art walk: Art in the Park. 

NCMA commissions artists to create pieces that are interlaced with the natural surroundings, stretching across 30 acres of land between Blue Ridge Road, Wade Ave and 440. 

Varying in size, scale and subject matter, the Art Park exhibits sparked some great ideas and conversation, while we tried to decipher the artist's message about society and our current role interacting with nature. There were also some cool old chairs hanging out in trees.

We wandered through the Art Park trails, back up towards the NCMA main buildings, and came across the Rodin Sculpture Garden. 

FRESH. Ice Cream

I have a deep rooted attachment to ice cream.

According to family legend, a few days before I was born my mom polished off an entire pint of Rocky Road without batting an eye. I like to think that thanks to this ravenous pregnant appetite, my infant body developed an undeniable physiological need for ice cream, as if chocolate covered peanuts and marshmallow swirl now course through my veins alongside plasma and white blood cells.

I say all this to properly explain how excited I get at the prospect of eating ice cream, and how much MORE excited I get when I find a Triangle ice cream spot serving a quality product that's not only naturally made, but also locally sourced.

FRESH in Raleigh has me practically giddy.

Peanut. Butter. Cup.