2016 Vacation, Durham, NC - American Tobacco Historic District

Day 6 of our 2016 Vacation in Durham, our friends had to go take care of something so we were directed to this place to wait for them. It's kinda like being Alice in Wonderland.

It's a pretty cool place to hang out.

 Yes... that is an alligator made of metal sun bathing on a rock.

 And a baby Dinosaur.

   James Buchanan Duke’s entrance into the cigarette industry came about in 1879 when he elected to enter a new business rather than face competition in the shredded pouched smoking tobacco business against the Bull Durham brand, also from Durham, North Carolina.

 The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members of the Dow Jones Industrial Average in 1896. The American Tobacco Company dominated the industry by acquiring the Lucky Strike Company and over 200 other rival firms. Antitrust action begun in 1907 broke the company into several major companies in 1911.

 American Tobacco left Durham in the late 1980s.

In 2004, the previously abandoned American Tobacco Campus (ATC) in Durham was reopened as a complex of offices, shops, and restaurants. Developed by Capitol Broadcasting and reopened as the American Tobacco Historic District, phase 1 consisted of the Fowler, Crowe, Strickland, Reed, and Washington Buildings, and included the construction of two new parking garages and a waterfall feature through the center of the campus.

Phase 2, consisting of the remaining buildings and expansion of the water feature at the north end of the site, was under construction as of late 2006. Many office spaces in the ATC are now used by Duke University. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 as the American Tobacco Company Manufacturing Plant.

The American Tobacco Trail, named for the company, is a multi-use rail-trail that begins just south of the Durham complex and runs 22 miles (35 km) towards Chatham and Wake Counties. It follows the route of the railroad (Norfolk Southern Railway (former) Durham Branch) that once served the factories, but was later abandoned when these facilities were shut down.

 There are hammocks for napping on a nice day and a chess game that is Alice in Wonderland size, surrounded by roses.

We enjoyed a beverage from Tyler's Tap Room and relaxed with our pups in the shade.

 Notice the sign - The Nature Conservancy

Made me happy :-)

We relaxed in the shade for a while relishing the breeze blowing through.

Ironically the American Tobacco Campus is a Smoke-Free Facility!

How's that for rehabilitation?

What a great example of forward movement, keeping the buildings, developing new businesses and preserving the history.

And it is Dog-Friendly as well as user friendly for the mobility-challenged :o)

We left the ATC and went for ice cream.

I've mentioned before that I love old Churches and Cathedrals. I restrained from taking photos of all of them.

But I did get this one.

And there was some interesting "ART" ...

This makes me smile. I hope it makes you smile too so this is a good place to end the day.

Travel, from a New Perspective with a New Purpose.

I started planning this last trip after my second surgery to replace my knees and repair my legs. Which made my point of view and focus different from every other vacation. My priorities are different now. I needed to have a motel room on the ground level and I discovered along the way that the Handicap Accessible Rooms are actually the best for me. It was a mentally challenging process for me. To accept that I am now a "handicapped" person and that I actually should have a Handicap Room. The emotions I felt were the hardest to get through. I'm a strong, independent, healthy woman... I just haven't recovered fully from surgery... right? I always get back up after being knocked down! I am a "beast"! I don't need a handicap room, or a wheelchair, or a walker, or any kind of special treatment... this is just temporary! Or not.
And little Awbri gets so car sick I planned to stop every hour or so. I looked for dog-friendly places to stop and get out of the car. I didn't think about me and that I would need to stop every hour or so. And Richard has his back and neck issues so he needs to stop often. I found that nice Rest Areas are an important part of a road trip. We found which states have excellent Rest Areas and which Highways have them every couple of hours. We also found which Highways don't have any places to stop. So I learned a lot on this trip about traveling as a person with disabilities and I am going to make my blog a tool for others. I have a hard time using the term disabled or handicapped.  Maybe mobility-challenged.
I have had to come to a place of acceptance. My RA has reached the level of "severe" or "end-stage" which means my joints have been damaged to the point that I can't just rest, take a course or 2 of steroids, eat all the anti-inflammatory foods, do all the right exercises, use heat and ice, get my emotional self completely calm and balanced, and I will be fully recovered. Now, my body is beyond self-repair and recovery. It is out of my control. I've been knocked down too many times to get back up and get back to normal. I can't get back up all the way. And normal is long gone.
I was so used to living with pain that I became too tolerant and didn't even acknowledge pain. But pain is the symptom of degeneration. From now on I have to acknowledge the pain and take care of it. I have to accept the immobility and deal with it.
And if I can make it better for someone else that is my purpose in life.
So... I will look forward from a new perspective. My focus is to find ways to get around the blocks that keep us from living the life we want within our limitations. Realistically but positively. If a place we want to visit is not mobility-challenged friendly I will let everyone know. I will find the resources that are helpful. I will gather the information and share it. I will be the test-dummy. And I will shine a light on the path for the mobility-challenged.