Big Adventure

After apologeticly letting our host, Tim, know, that I busted the lights in his basement bedroom 🫠, we said goodbye to the downtown area 😌. Kathy is one of our best friend's mom 😍. She was so kind to pick us up at 11 am and take us on a tour through Raleigh. It was by car (not on foot, don't be ridiculous 😅) - we saw the government buildings, the courthouse (where Kathy spent most of her working life as a lawyer), many baptist churches (including the first black baptist church) and some of the university campus as well.

We also drove through the Dorothea Dix Park - which is a sinister relic of the past. Dorothea Rix was a social reformer and mental health activist who convinced the state to commision the first psychiatric hospital in North Carolina. The vast area covered an oak forest, rolling fields, pasture for livestock and a recreational area around the facility. The hospital provided living and recreational space for the patients - even agriculture activities were a part of the hospitals' antrophosofical treatment. It opened it's doors in 1880 and functioned as a facility until 2012 when it was deemed unfit for modern hospital standards. After closing down, no other facility would welcome the patients housed at the Dix building, which meant that most of the people had to return to their old lives, if they had any outside of the facility. Many patients without a reliable social net became unhoused and/turned to substance abuse out of desperation and hopelessness. While still in function, our host also worked there as a legal adviser for many years, when court cases decided about the faith/ treatment of the patients or the custody of their dependants. The closed station looked like a prison from outside - I can't imagine it being a ,, good place" for everyone 🥺.

After the facility closed down, they converted the hospital grounds into a public park and today they are organising events on the former farmer fields. It is a strange sight but popular among locals nonetheless.

To brighten our day, we went to the local farmers market, where we bought fresh 🍓, hummus and flat bread, barbecue sauce and fresh veggies. We even saw a man that created acoustic and electric guitars out of cigar boxes. 😁 🎸!!!!????!!?.

After that we ate some sweet 🍩s from Krispy Creme and a delicious lunch at one of the delis in Raleigh.

Sometime in the afternoon we drove to Chapel Hill, to the warm and light house in which Daniel grew up in, nestled within the tall pine forest of North Carolina 🌲. It was a truly magical place ♥️.

-RekaLeia mais