Duke Gardens, and more family

It's been a long day, and it's late, so I'm not going to write much; but I wanted to post these photos from the beautiful Duke Gardens before I head to bed.

We finished off the day with a lovely dinner at Patrick Jane's, a locally sourced, mostly organic restaurant in the Raleigh/Cary area (not sure exactly where it is because I wasn't driving). I had an amazing salad with mixed greens, goat cheese, honeyed pecans, dried cranberries, and I added shrimp. It was delicious and reasonably priced. Everyone else seemed happy with their meals, as well.

Tomorrow, we leave for Parkersburg, and after that, Grand Rapids again.

I have a new sense of purpose. I'll keep you posted.

Photos below:

A view of the pond in the Asiatic Garden section.

A mother and her two young girls were feeding the ducks in the Asiatic Garden.

My fellow garden hikers coming down the path into the local plants area of the gardens. (Dad, Mom, Jeff, and Halcy.)

In this photo and the one below, Swallowtail butterflies pose for me on the local plants.

A stand of beautiful lilies.

Halcy and Jeff actually pose for me!

Looking toward the koi pond from the gazebo. (That's Mom gazing from a lower level.)

Still in Local Plants.

The koi are very friendly, as they are accustomed to being fed. We did not feed them and they drifted off.

Water lilies, obviously.

Looking up toward the gazebo, with Dad in the foreground.

Family.

The fountain in the Rose Garden. The water wasn't even cool enough to be refreshing to the fingers. Air temp was about 91 degrees, and heat index near 100.

This gorgeous tree was in a small park on Main Street near the Luna Rotisserie and Empanada restaurant where we had lunch, in Durham. I highly recommend it.