Hey guys.  I know, I’ve been gone.  Work is really busy.  Like, really busy.  We have two giant events this week, and then our Spring Art Walk the weekend after this one, and I am mega-planning and organizing all of it and, yeah.  Also my entire family was here for Passover and then I went to New York City this past weekend.  AND I AM TOTALLY GOING TO TELL YOU ALL ABOUT THAT.  But first, I’m going to go waaaaay back to the last Saturday in March, when Jon and I took a day trip to downtown Greensboro!

My awesome friend Heather Gordon was part of a group show at the Green Hill Center for North Carolina Art.  The show closed April 1st and, of course, we waited until March 31st to go to Greensboro to see it.  Hey, at least we went!  Anyways, I’ve been living in North Carolina for over four years and I’ve never been to Greensboro, which is ridiculous because it is only an hour away.  So I figured we’d take this opportunity to explore downtown Greensboro.

We spent most of our time around Elm Street (see convenient street sign).  We got there around lunch time, so we had some lunch at Natty Greene’s Pub & Brewing Co.   I had a mediocre caesar salad and Jon had some kind of a wrap but we split some home made potato chips and those things were awesome and delicious.

We then headed down to Green Hill to see the show, which was called Word Maps.  It featured the work of four artists, all of whom do things with codes and languages and what not.  Here are lots of pictures of some art and the installation, it was a gorgeous gallery so I took a lot of photos. Oh also Heather had some work based on the game Parcheesi, which I have never played, but that is why a bunch of the pictures are of games and stuff.

Okay so all of that stuff above is by Heather, who is awesome.  The stuff below is by Vicky Essig, Paul Rousso, and Merrill Shatzman, respectively.  There aren’t a lot of photos, so you can chill.

So that was neat!  Green Hill was a gorgeous gallery, and it is part of this giant Greensboro arts complex that is really lovely.  So go Greensboro for having that.  Outside was a building that had been a Confederate Hospital, once upon a time, and also a street that had my name.  Hooray for my name street!

So after taking pictures of my awesome name street we went back down Elm Street.  We passed the famous Woolworth’s where a Civil Rights sit-in happened.  It is now a Civil Rights Museum.  I took pictures, because, why not.

Oh and then we also passed this sign about Vick’s Vapor Rub, which apparently was invented in Greensboro?

Our next destination was the Elsewhere Collaborative, which is sort of an artist commune and also a novelty museum and also a creative center in Greensboro.  So what happened was, once upon a time a woman collected tons of stuff.  i mean tons of stuff.  And then she opened a thrift store except people didn’t buy things?  And then someone decided to leave the shop EXACTLY AS IT WAS and to make of it a bizarre cultural museum and/or institution.  Elsewhere also has artists come and live in the building, and they can make art installations with all the crazy stuff that is in the building.  Except nothing can ever leave ever.  When we were there someone was playing violin, and people were cooking, and I think inventory was being taken, but wow it was a whacky place.  I took a lot of pictures, maybe they will help explain things.

Also since nothing gets moved or thrown out ever they had really old food and really old booze, like this Israeli booze.

And this baby food, which is probably from the 80s?!  What?!

Also there were all these toys that were, like, from my past.  TOYS FROM THE PAST.

Elsewhere was definitely a study in hoarding and mildew and also creative reuse and recycling.

After Elsewhere we went down the street to The Sweet Shop, which specializes in pound cake.  We got a slice, but I didn’t take a picture because it was just pound cake, but man, guys, this was incredible pound cake.  I don’t normally get excited about pound cake, but this was the best pound cake I have ever had ever.  If you are in Greensboro, and want pound cake, go to the Sweet Shop on Elm Street.  The best.

And then we headed home!  I know, a short trip, but it was fun!  Downtown Greensboro is way better than I expected.  We saw some art and ate some food and walked around and it was a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon.  Go visit Greensboro!