Jenn Goes to Washington

That is, Washington, North Carolina. :) I had today off, but it was TOO pretty to sit around inside. So, you guessed it, I headed out on a mini road trip!!

The other day, a girl at work told me about a little cafe that has live jazz groups playing during the week. Well, this was one of my FAVORITE things to do while at A&M! A group of us from church/ABS would meet at this local coffee shop called Sweet Eugene's House of Java for caffeine, games, and great music. Spades was usually the game of choice when it was just us girls. :) I fell in love with one of the local bands - Big Apple Trio - so much so that I bought their CD. Good memories. This morning, after a healthy dose of coffee, I set out.

I did find the cafe, so I'm sure that's where I can be found most Thursday nights from now on. Also, in my wanderings in downtown Greenville, I found an adorable little park. It has several flags - I'm guessing all the flags that have flown over NC in its history - surrounding a memorial listing all the names of people from Pitt County that have given all for our country since WWI.

Another great thing about Greenville is that they have FREE street parking!!!! It's been a long time since I could just park on the side of the street and not do the "quarter search" through my car and belongings to try and avoid special notes from Rita-Meeter-Maid. I got out and walked around the park for a while, and I came across a HUGE sundial! As you know, I have a great fascination (or some may say obsession) with clocks of all styles. :) This sundial was called the "Millennium Sundial", but it wasn't done until 2006. (a little confusing to me) There's not a "stick" in the middle, but there is a big plaque that tells you where to stand according to what month it is. Then, your shadow will fall on the correct time. In other words, you get to be the stick in the center of the sun dial. :)

This morning, while watching the weather on the news, I saw a live camera shot of a city near here called Washington that had what looked like ocean water. :) I'd seen signs pointing to Washington before, so I headed east to see what I could find. Not that I'm a geography genius, but I do know that the ocean is somewhere east of here! :) Well, the ocean isn't at Washington, but they do have a very cute downtown. Apparently, that stretch of the Tar River (which they renamed the part that goes through their town) is famous for blue crabs since it's where the fresh and salty water starts to mix. I bring this up because I saw several rather large crab statues as I wandered around downtown Washington today!! :) Of course, I took pictures of almost all of them. So, here goes . . .

Yep, that's a picture of our first president. :)

This town is the 1st in the US to be named after him.

This was my favorite, Forestacean!! I thought that was a very clever name.

I know that's only 2 pictures, but you get the idea. My internet connection isn't cooperating tonight. :) Anyway, it's a great town with some beautiful old buildings, and they are continuing to restore more of them. It was a very fun little trip.