Finding UNC

We left the Duke campus in search of the University of North Carolina which is just down the road from each other so it wasn't long before we found it. We made our way to the mega huge Dean Dome hoping for the same fortune in gaining access to the floor, but alas it was not to be. All the doors on the entire perimeter were checked hoping to find one unlocked but is was to no avail. We were reduced to peeking through the front doors and discovering the team UNC was going to play the next afternoon on the court practicing.

Pushu.

We wanted in!

We had to be satisfied with the outside....we were not...and so after we had thoroughly exhausted any attempt to break in, and took some pictures, we were on our way to have a look at the rest of the campus.


This is where the tarheels play their games. It's enormous.


Another view.


Love their flags.


In case you didn't already know, this is tarheel territory.


Carlie finally found something to be happy about.


She's still happy.


Looking for open doors? Nope locked up tight as a drum.


Maggie's pacing and very much not at home here.


One person's happiness is another person's roll of the eyes.


OK she's trying to put on a happy face for a sec.


Umm Caitlin? What?


Carlie's joy can't be squashed.


Still outside the Dean Dome.


Melanie and Carlie would be attending the game the next day.


Are we both excited?


No idea what this place is.


Huge buildings were everywhere but we had no idea what they were.

They were all lovely as well but as you can see, VERY different from Duke's architecture.

Then we found this place which was lovely but we knew nothing about.


So once again I went to the handy dandy Internet and found out info about the structure behind Carlie.

The Bell Tower was built in 1931, is 167 feet tall and contains a dozen bells weighing from 200 to 3,500 pounds each. The bells were manually played until they were programmed to play solo in 1967. The Tower was a gift of John Motley Morehead, class of 1891, and Rufus Lenoir Patterson, class of 1893. Every fifteen minutes the bells chime, and several times a day it plays various songs. It is a tradition for seniors to climb the belltower during senior week.


UGH!! Apparently there were bells ringing everywhere and we missed them all. I'm so sad we didn't get to hear the sounds ringing in the afternoon air. I'm certain it would have been enchanting.


And once again as you can see, the campus was deserted. That may have been my favorite thing about the entire trip. We checked to see how many students attend both schools and discovered the combined total was 40,000 students! Can you imagine what it would have been like trying to navigate the streets on campus with that many people walking around? It would have been a nightmare for reals. But instead, it was ours to crawl around going 15 miles an hour for 2 days. Yes indeed we had it so much better than we could have imagined.


Another lovely part of the UNC campus. There were so many pretty places to walk to but we just didn't have enough time and it was ALWAYS raining.


We were specifically looking for a well located on the campus. This well was and is a big deal.


With very little trouble we found it and of course we had to take pictures to document that we'd been there.


So I looked up info about the well and here's what I found out from the university's website.

At the heart of the campus stands the visual symbol of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. For many years the Old Well served as the sole water supply for Old East and Old West dormitories. In 1897, the well was given its present decorative form at the direction of President Erwin A. Alderman, who described his beautification project as largely derived from the Temple of Love in the Garden of Versailles. In 1954 the well was given added beauty with brick walks, plantings, and benches. Students can bring good luck with a drink from the Old Well on the first day of classes.

Carlie's taking a sip but not for luck.


Ummm delicious.


Almost all the girls were present.


It's a lovely little gazebo but it was too dark to get a beautiful picture of it.


We're still happy to be here though.


And even though we don't really know what all that is behind Carlie, it's all very lovely.

I also learned this from the university's website.

This university was founded in 1793 when the cornerstone was laid on October 12 marking the construction on America's first state university.

I had no idea about any of this.

Carlie's still pleased.


The campus was covered with old oak trees and lovely buildings. There was so much of the campus that had to be accessed by foot though and therefore we didn't get to see as much of it as we would have liked. We needed at least 2 more days to just walk around and look at all the history there.


There was always more to see.


We just needed more time, lots of daylight and sunshine. And keys to buildings!


And then Caitlin began her ridiculous picture taking.

She took so many and none of them made any sense. I'll have to gain access to them and post some to observe the ridiculousness.

After we had seen both campuses, we were off to the hotel to check in and then to Pei Wei for supper. We also did lots more riding around. I'll have more about that later. But check out the car pics below. I love a good or even bad car picture. It's just something I can't explain.

Check out Maggie's face. See what I mean. I love stuff like this. It makes me happy.


Caitlin hasn't relinquished the camera yet. But check out that face.


Finally one good picture of everyone. Apparently Maggie's telling me, one more chance to get it right.


Everyone quit looking at me except for Olivia. Thank you Olivia.

We had so much fun even though it went by so quickly that we passed ourselves on the highway.

It's already been a week since we left.

Time freaks me out man!!

It freaks me out!!