Spontaneous in the Streetscape

Raleigh is really a driving kind of city.  People just don't walk around to different shopping areas or stores.  And surprisingly, there is a good sidewalk and bike path infrastructure so that it is quite accessable to be a walker, but nobody does.  I seriously will drive across the parking lot instead of walking the extra 20 feet.

For some reason, if I'm out on the street walking, I always think the cars passing me are like "hey, look at that girl walking.  Why is she walking?  Does she not have a car?  Should we pull over and help her?" 

Anyways, so on the occasion that I do walk while running errands instead of driving to each destination, I feel all spontaneous and adventurous.

The other day, we went to the library in downtown Cary (a suburb or Raleigh) near where we live.  It's a very quaint, old fashion, southern type of downtown with little boutiques and shops, and a train track running down the middle (passenger train and everything--Char's an expert!).

Instead of driving to the post office, literally a hop-skip-jump away, I decided to put Amaryllis in the stroller and walk.

Oh boy.  I felt so nervous.  Am I allowed to walk on the sidewalk here?  Will I get in trouble?  Are people staring at me?  Of course, people could care less and there was actually quite the downtown hustle & bustle going on.

So we continued.  I love downtown Cary near the library (Academy Street).  There is some good ole fashion charm about it.  It was so fun to look at things and be outside with no agenda or plan, we just kept walking and walking.

This is a cool house we always pass on the way to the library.  There are lots of very southern looking houses (some nice, some super run-down, and one that I'm dying to renovate.  more about that later).

I love looking at this flower store everytime I drive by.  

Since I was on foot this time, we strolled extra slow so I could checkout their blooming lawn.

I wanted to go into the Once In A Blue Moon Bakery, so I peeked my head in but it was so small, everyone looked over at us standing in the door.  Therefore we had to go all the way in & buy a sugar cookie--it would've been rude to turn around & leave!  Here is Amaryllis trying to figure out the best way to get the sprinkles off her cookie.

I noticed lots of little shops and restaurants I had never seen before that I definately want to go back and checkout.  And the buildings have murals on them.  Loving it!  Why don't I walk everywhere? You get to see so much more.

We continued on to this drugstore I always see a sign for when driving by.  

I about died when I saw there was an old-timey soda fountain inside the store.   How whimsical!

It is an actual factual old soda fountain, not a new Johnny Rockets knock-off that is supposed to look old.  Amaryllis, of course, couldn't stop touching things...

So we sit down in a booth  and order a scoop of ice-cream.  The soda jerk asked if AV wanted a balloon (she did) and he said "well if I pull one with 2 strings tied on it, you get a free scoop of ice-cream".........And........ours had 2 strings.  Shaa-wing!  

Anywho, this part of Cary has lots of art, statues, funky benches, etc scattered around. Amaryllis was a little unsure about this statue:

PS: All during our walk I was taking pictures with my phone and trying to do it on the sly.  I got pretty creative.  I would hold my phone up and shield it, pretending I couldn't read it because of the sun, and snap a picture.

In case you can't tell, Amaryllis was bff with her balloon (until the ride home when it attacked her in the car and she screamed in terror the whole way back; not fun).

The walk back to the car was the best because I got to get a close-up of my favorite house.  It is right next to the library.

If you look closely, you'll see it's all overgrown (but in a dainty way) with sturdy shady trees, and there is not a sidewalk-- just a worn path leading to the front porch. 

Whenever I drive past it, I drive all slow, and check things out, and think in my mind what I would do to fix it up.  Don't lie--you all have a house that you secretly renovate in your mind.

Some days when I drive past it, I imagine making it into a quarky, funky cottage: flamingo pink shutters, bright flowers, a teal door, some funky colorful porch furnature, whacky garden accessories and sculptures, etc.

Other days I prefer renovating it back to it's old southern charm: ferns hanging from the porch, the big plantation shutters, rocking chairs, overflowing windowboxes, a big magnolia tree in the front with a wooden swing hanging from it.

Then I think about how much work it would take.  Um, no thanks!

I will definitely be walking downtown Cary again.  I saw some cool stores I want to checkout: a store called Bedazzled with tons of shiny sparkly things in it, and a store called The Top Drawer that is just creative knobs and drawer pulls--imagine that!