Thursday, February 9, 2012

Favorite Places


One of my favorite places to visit in Greensboro is the Natural Science Center. The tigers fascinate me, and I love to take pictures of them. It was a rainy day, and I had the whole place to myself when I took this picture of beautiful Kisa. She was wet and muddy, but still gorgeous, as you can see.

Greensboro is filled with interesting places to visit. We have a national park right here in town, Guilford Courthouse National Military Park . The Battle of Guilford Courthouse was a turning point in the Revolutionary War, and the park's visitor's center has a great movie that shows exactly what happened during that engagement with Cornwallis. The park itself is filled with monuments and walking trails, and each spring reinactors set up camp in Country Park, and recreate the Battle of Guilford Courthouse. It's a fun event to watch, as well as educational.

The Battleground connects to Greensboro's Country Park, which houses a veterans' memorial, lake, paddleboats, playgrounds, and picnic shelters. There is also a dog park where dogs can run free. Greensboro is filled with beautiful parks and an arboretum. A dedicated group of volunteers works hard to keep Greensboro "beautiful."

Greensboro has a wonderful historical museum that shows the history of the town and surrounding area. Recently, the International Civil Rights Museum was opened in the heart of downtown Greensboro, at the old Woolworth's building where the civil rights movement began on Feburary 1, 1960. On that day, four young NCA&T students sat down at the "white's only" counter in the store and asked for a cup of coffee. And, the rest, as they say, is history.

In 2009, in conjuction with the opening of the Civil Rights Museum, a series of sculptures, the Greensboro Coffee Cup Collaborative, was commissioned for the city of Greensboro. This is a community-based art project that is designed to give a visual celebration of that historic sit-in and other aspects of the civil rights movement. The cups are located throughout downtown Greensboro, with one at the Greensboro Coliseum. A map and explanation of the cups' locations is available at the Greensboro Visitors' Center, or online at: http://www.uacarts.org/community/documents/CCCBrochureWeb.pdf. Because the cups are located throughout downtown Greensboro, this easy walking tour is a great way to become framiliar with the city.

This is just a small taste of what my adopted home has to offer.