SoCar

Greetings and belated salutations race fans,

I am way behind on the old posting. SOrry about that.

After my INDY trip (see below) I had the good fortune to drive down to South Carolina from the home office in Raleigh. Unfortunately, I did not have the kind of time one hopes for to really explore the Charleston area, however,
my gracious host did give me . . .



the opportunity to take a peek at some of the nicer areas in town.

For you new urbanists, check out Ion -the NU sub in Charleston. It is typical NU and fairly well done. The big "minimal car" aspect of NU, by the way, does not work too well in places like Minot, North Dakota where the winter temps can dip well below the zero line fairly often.

I am hoping for another trip to Charleston soon. The architecture is cool and old. The people are very nice and the town has an art-edge-type-feel-thing that is pretty cool. In addition to the history, if you go, check out...

PAWLEY Island. I had the good fortune to be invited out to our representative's home to meet his wife and share a meal. They live on Pawley and it is a quick drive from downtown Charleston. Definitely a beach feel, but a little bit more quiet and peaceful than a lot of tourist driven spots. Check it out if you go.

I stayed at the Hampton Inn in historical downtown Charleston. It was pretty cool, however the parking is so-so and the bums are nearby. The cool thing is that if you hang a left and walk down about three blocks from the front door-parking entrance, you will find yourself in the heart of a pretty cool little shopping district. The college is nearby, so expect a lot of college kids. I took a left on this street -the name of which escapes me right now at 12:06 AM (the posting times on the blog are not correct, BTW). I ate fairly cheaply at MOES (the chain of taco and Southwest fare -"Welcome to Moes!") Before my fare of Charleston Moes, I walked down in the direction of the waterfront pausing to glance into the shops -one or two of which were gallaries with some nice work in the windows.

Overall, I would highly recommend a trip to this area of SC if the opportunity arises in your future.

Until next time...
-G

BRICKYARD

Greetings, Race Fans!

It has been a long, long time and I have been a bad boy. Sorry for the delay.

After North Dakota (see below) I went to the home of the Indy 500. Of course, I am talking about Indianapolis. Now here is the crazy part...

Years and years ago, in a galaxy far, far away, yours truly was attending a little university that the locals were calling "Silo Tech" or "Moo U." I called it, "North Dakota State University." I did my thesis for my B. of Arch degree on mixed used development. I decided to look at Indianapolis at that time. I knew a few people there and knew that the city was going through transformation. My whole premise was that the White river in Indy was under-utilized and should be developed and taken advantage of much like numerous other cities have done so all over the country. Well, low and behold, he river is now developed. A Gulliver before his time.

I didn't get much of a chance to look around Indy again, but I can recommend the downtown area to you. It is vibrant and the local AIA chapter has a great office and small bookstore down there. The other cool place to check out is Carmel -a nice little suburb of Indy. If you dig arts and that sort of thing, the place is pretty cool

I had a good friend in Indy at one time. The above keg picture is what his backyard looked like back then and probably looks like now. And thus ends the personal interest side of this rather personal blog post.

I will be in INDY again soon and will try to get a few more snaps of some good architecture, etc.

Until next time, please drink in moderation.

-G