September 26 – 30, 2024

The next day, Sunday, we set out with Nicole and one of her friends to attend the annual Durham Pride Parade sponsored by the LGBTQ Center of Durham.  This long-standing event traces its history to a statewide parade that began in 1986.  We arrived at one leg of the parade route, found parking, and having walked to a prime viewing location set up our chairs while the street became crowded around us. 

We’ve been to a number of pride parades in the past, the most memorable being the one we attended in 2014 in Brussels, the first stop of our six-month Europe trip that year to celebrate our retirement.  Although not equal to that one in size, this one made up for it with the enthusiasm of its participants.  What was inspiring was the amount of participation from businesses and other local organizations, pushing back against the rising tide of intolerance we see around us each day. 

Once the parade ended, we walked back to the car and drove a few miles to the Can Opener, Durham’s first permanent food truck park with a variety of offerings including Bulkogi, Chick-N-Que, Gussy’s, Andia’s Ice Cream, and Queen Eggxpress.  The park is named after a nearby railroad overpass (the Can Opener) which, due to its 11-foot 8-inch low clearance, is responsible for any number of truck and bridge encounters where the truck came out the loser. 

While Joanna stood in line at Gussy’s, I went inside the bar to order us drinks, for me a local beer and for her a juice and soda spritzer that was quite refreshing.  Unfortunately, it took so long forGussy’s to deliver our shared falafel in pita, that everyone else had finished their food and were prepared to depart.  We hastily wolfed down the tasty vegetarian offering though and were soon on our way as well. 

The next morning, we set out from the house on our bikes to ride on the Third Fork Creek Trail, another close one to the house.  Not real long, it was a lovely path similar to the many we would ride in Charlotte, following alongside the creek it is named after.  It was a good day for me as I was finally starting to feel better being on the bike and for the first time in a while, could see longer days in the saddle before me. 

Later, we set out to do some shopping and as a treat, and as it would turn out, we stopped for the one and only time for our obligatory southern style burgers at Cook Out.  Later that day, we’d take Nicole out to dinner to thank her for once again playing host to us.  Our choice would be a good one, Vici Ristobar, that tries whenever possible, to use the freshest ingredients that are grown and harvested locally.  We started with drinks, a local IPA for Nicole, a Paper Plane Manhattan for me and Joanna had a glass from the bottle of Bel Gloss Balade Pinot Noir we’d ordered. 

This accompanied an order of garlic bread with mozzarella, a serving so large we could have just eaten it for dinner.  For our mains Joanna had the Mussels in a nice red sauce while I enjoyed a large serving of Veal Picatta (Flour, Lemon, Butter, Capers, White Wine) with Green Bean and Potatoes.  Nicole thoroughly enjoyed here Shrimp Scampi Fettucine, and we finished by splitting a Tiramisu.  It was all perfectly cooked, and we did ourselves proud, consuming most of it there. 

With some time to kill the next day before driving to Ann and Rendy’s near Greensboro, we got in one last bike ride on the American Tobacco Trail.  The path was much cleaner that day and as we just went south this time, we rode it almost all the way to the end.  On the return we stopped at the Harris Teeter for a coffee and hoping to see the heavily armed security guy again, we were mildly disappointed with his replacement, who although armed, didn’t appear likely to storm a foreign beach anytime soon. 

Later, on the way to Greensboro we stopped in High Point at Sweet Dough Bake Shop, which we had sampled in an earlier trip here, thanks to a recommendation from Ann.  Having burned a few calories earlier that morning, we felt justified in splitting the enormous Pecan Sticky Bun between us, an outrageously good treat, especially when washed down with a good cup of coffee. 

Rendy and I have been friends since the third grade and we’ve shared many memorable moments ranging from standing up for each other at our weddings, European hitchhiking trips in the 1970’s and many overnighters, here in Greensboro as well as when we lived in Charlotte.  This stay would be a short one due to scheduling conflicts, but a short stay can be just as rewarding when they are shared with good friends.  After a warmup drink, we drove to Oak Ridge for dinner at Ridge Shrimp and Oyster, a storefront wide operation that is highly recommended by the locals. 

This place is so popular that if you don’t get there right when they open, you are going to have to wait for a table to break free, which we did outside on a warm fall evening.  Eventually seated inside we placed our orders, shrimp and grits for Joanna and the Orange BBQ Mahi for me, accompanied by a side of slaw and mashed sweet potatoes.  The fish was great as were those potatoes and the best part is how reasonably priced it all was, our total for the two entrees and four glasses of wine coming to $102 including tax and tip.

We returned home for a late evening of conversation, attempting to make up for the short duration of our stay, but ultimately coming up short as there is usually just not enough time one can spend with such good friends as these.  The next morning we’d head south to Charlotte for a week, and we’ll pick it up there in the next post. 

Links

Durham Pride Paradehttps://www.lgbtqcenterofdurham.org/program/pride/

The Can Opener: https://www.instagram.com/thecanopenerdurham/

11 Foot Eight: https://11foot8.com/excavator-on-trailer-bites-back-at-the-11foot8-bridge/

Gussy’s: https://www.gussys.com/

Vici Ristobar: https://viciristobar.com/

Sweet Dough Bake Shop: https://www.sweetdoughbakeshop.com/

Ridge Shrimp and Oyster: https://www.facebook.com/ridgeshrimpandoyster/