GO PACK!
The kids have been wanting to go on a picnic this summer. They've also wanted to go walk around the NC State campus to see where Daddy & Mommy met and fell in love! So this weekend, we decided to kill two birds with one stone - a picnic at NC State!
We loaded up a basket with homemade sandwiches (Ashleigh helped me wrap them), baggies of chips and some lemonade.
And homemade brownies for something sweet!
For our picnic, we chose a spot overlooking the Court of (North) Carolina.
Dave recalls having many religion classes at this outdoor classroom near the Court. When I met Dave, he already had a degree in Management, but was pursuing a second degree in Religious Studies. His plan at the time was to go onto seminary after undergrad. So, I was "almost" a preacher's wife! But, he decided later not to follow that path.
Walking across the Court towards the rest of the campus
This is Daniels Hall, the Electrical Engineering building. When I was accepted into NC State as a senior in high school, I was accepted into the Electrical & Computer Engineering program. However, I quickly found out my brain is not compatible with engineering, so I changed majors! But some of my first classes as a freshman were at Daniels Hall.
This is Harrelson Hall, a completely circular building. My math classes were here, as well as some other electives. The first floor of Harrelson currently houses the campus bookstore.
Looking out onto the Brickyard. I remember walking out here between classes for lunch. The student center here had the best taco salads! This was also where you would find Gary the Brickyard Preacher. He would basically yell we were all heathens that were going to hell!
DH Hill, the main campus library. We went inside, partly to cool off from all our walking! The inside has been updated with lots of modern decor, complete with a bunch of swivel egg pod chairs and touch screen tables. There's also now an ice cream shop, downstairs snack bar and tons of lounge/study areas. I briefly held a job at the library stacking books, then working in the inter-library loan department.
Leaving the Brickyard, we headed to central campus via the Free Expression Tunnel.
As its name implies, the tunnel is an area where students are allowed to express themselves. The kids thought it was so cool you could spray paint on the walls without getting in trouble!
Leaving the tunnel, we saw some changes to this part of campus. The student c-store (convenience store) and bookstore building had been torn down as part of an expansion project for the Talley student center. These cool metal wolf sculptures are also new additions.
And this is my old dorm, Carroll Hall. When I came to NC State as a freshman, the dorm was all girls. But, by my sophomore year, it became co-ed.
And directly across from my dorm, was Dave's dorm Owen Hall. Similar to Carroll, it was all guys initially, but later became co-ed. Dave was an RA (resident advisor) at Owen and has many fond memories of hanging out with his friends and fellow RAs. Dave was able to get a peek inside the dorm and was saddened to find the Owen 50th Anniversary mural that was painted while he was living there, had been painted over.
And this is Tucker Beach were people would play volleyball, throw around frisbees and lay out. The building on the other side is Tucker Hall and where most people on this side of campus went to use the computer lab.
Heading back towards our car, we walked by Reynolds Coliseum. Before the larger arena was built off campus, this was where the Men's Basketball team played their home games.
And of course a tour of the campus is not complete without going to the Bell Tower. The tower was built as a monument to honor alumni that died in World War I. There are no actual bells in the tower. It has an electronic chime system which sounds off every hour. However, a student movement was started back in 2008 to raise money for actual bells!
Mary Ellen
