Durham's Best & Celia

So one of the famous historical sites in Durham is the Duke Homestead. Its pretty much where the big tobacco business all started and what better to do on a Saturday afternoon than learn a little more about the history of tobacco. We had been meaning to go for ages and after 11 months we finally made it. We did it in two trips: first trip we explored the museum, second trip we took a tour of the grounds. One of our favorite stops was, of course, the gift shop. Souvenirs anyone?
In the museum there is this animatronics guy (think Showbiz Pizza except with a human instead of a bear and a microphone) who tells you all about growing tobacco. He is slightly creepy the way he moves his arms, head and eyes...
Here our man in overalls has thoroughly captured the attention of Clark and our friends Tony and Robin.
The museum is filled with life-size mannequins and interesting pictures. Robin is posing like the happy woman in the back.
And Clark was a natural at imitating this guy. I don't remember his name, but he was big in the advertising business of tobacco.
The grounds were especially rustic and pretty on this fall day. There were a number of barns used for different stages of tobacco curing and processing.
And this was the original Duke homestead. Here were are with our good friends and neighbors Brian and Clare.

And here is some actual brightleaf tobacco in the barn where it is flailed, but through a sieve and stored for pipe tobacco.
Here we are getting ready to watch a surprisingly interesting movie about the tobacco business and its influence on North Carolina and especially Durham. We certainly wouldn't be here at Duke or collecting baseball cards without it!
We also took Celia downtown to Durham's Brightleaf District. After going to the museum, I learned that brightleaf is named after the kind of tobacco they grew here.

Celia and I enjoyed a perfect afternoon strolling through the Duke Gardens. You can see the autumn is finally starting to settle in.


Another reason we love visitors is because it justifies trips to our favorite ice cream shops! At Locopops were enjoyed the capturing flavors of Mexican chocolate, black currant truffle and grapefruit basil. They were all amazing!
We also enjoyed a walk down Ninth Street where we got delicious shakes at The Ox and the Rabbit and also came across this friendly frog. How can you not take a picture with a frog like this?
We were so thrilled to have Celia come visit. She leaves in November to serve as a missionary in Argentina, and we were grateful to be able to see here one more time before she goes. She will be a superb missionary.