Alamance

Today, five Fellers headed out to Alamance County to learn a little more about the towns that are nearby. After learning about 287g and the immigration issues that Alamance seems to be having, we certainly had developed a particular perception of Alamance without ever having been there. We decided a field trip was in order, so we headed out on this rainy and overcast Saturday morning to visit the county next door. We first stopped in Mebane, a very small little town near the Alamance/Orange line. Today was supposed to be the second day of their annual "Spring Shoppers' Stroll" through the downtown, but the rain moved the sidewalk festivities indoors. We then headed to nearby Graham, wandering around its downtown for a little while before stopping in for lunch at the Graham Soda Shop. It was certainly an enjoyable day, and I think that we'll all do a better job of venturing into the places nearby in the future. We talked about the importance of getting out of the Chapel Hill/Carrboro (even Raleigh and Durham) areas and into what might be a little more representative of the rest of this very large state.

It was very interesting for me to ride down NC 54 with planners, an environmentalist, and a social worker. Not only was the conversation interesting (generally); everyone had various insights to offer as we saw different developments popping up. It's really neat to listen to how others' areas of study and research influence the things that they notice when driving down the highway. I played camera woman today; the Fellers were relatively patient with me as I snapped photos of them and the things that we encountered along the way.

The above photo is in downtown Mebane, where we started our journey.



One of the fellers in front of the Mebane newspaper.

There is a very large mural painted on the side of one of the buildings in downtown Mebane; we had to get a closer look.

A few Fellers in front of the Mebane Mural in downtown Mebane.

Just outside of "downtown" Graham.

Two of the Fellers in downtown Mebane; we were deciding our next move.


This is downtown Graham; it looks as if they've very recently updated the downtown traffic square (the signs confirmed this, stating that the work had been completed in 2007). Downtown Graham is much bigger than downtown Mebane, but still has the same "charm" that Mebane seems to have. The people who we encountered in both towns were quite nice, informative, and friendly. In both towns, too, we heard that folks from Alamance are nicer than folks from Orange.


Fortunately, our visit to Alamance was relatively uneventful. The very large building in downtown Graham (the country seat) was, from what we could gather, the Sheriff's Department. It was closed on this rainy Saturday.


There were plenty of promises for home cooked food in Graham and Mebane; this sign caught my eye as we walked underneath it. We went back to the Graham Soda Shop (nearby) for "the famous" Alamance cheese dogs...


Coleslaw, chili, onions, ketchup and mustard inside a hot dog bun, with melted cheese! No hot dogs in these buns... they were pretty yummy. Sweet potato fries, too. We all finished our lunches.

Despite our best efforts, we very much enjoyed ourselves and our visit to Alamance. (Meant tongue-in-cheek, of course!) We've learned a lot from each other this semester, but we've also learned that we actually get along quite well and are a bunch of rather strange and fun people. I'm glad that Jess, Erin, and Michael were adventurous enough to go along with Marc's and my half-baked field trip plan into some new-to-us neighboring towns.

We totally got caught taking a picture of Jess by this fancy car (by the owners). They offered to take a picture of all of us. : )

And that was our day in Alamance County! We certainly only "got our toes wet" in terms of learning about the county, but it was good for us to get out of Chapel Hill for a little while and to wander around two small towns that are part of the very diverse county that we've all heard so much about this year.