Hurricane Irene from Earth

We’ve seen Irene from space and we’ve take a look at her path coming into North Carolina but what do things look like on the ground? Lucky for us (and perhaps unlucky for him) our camera phone welding co-conspirator BobG is in surveillance mode on the coast of North Carolina. Actually he is there for work and is keeping me up to date with the latest info on the ground. More pictures after the jump.

I’ll keep adding to this gallery as BobG sends more pictures so feel free to check back and see what the evacuation and eventually the storm looks like. If you have pictures of storm damage feel free to send them along as well.

Hood Ornaments and Open Engines

Yesterday we went to the Carolina Classics at the Capital and while the cars are impressive it is the finer details of some of the vehicles that really catches my eye.  I would like to have a car with a swan taking flight or a gazelle running down the front of my hood.  I even like the old Ford and Chevrolet emblems proudly displayed on the front of the car. Maybe they represent another era or maybe I just never drove a car cool enough to have a hood ornament.

Either way – I had some fun taking pictures of them and might have to find something that would be a good fit for the Solara – what about this one? No – that looks a little too much like this from the State Fair of Texas (the last car show I went to). More hood ornaments and a few open engines after the jump if you see one you like for the Solara just let me know.

Carolina Classics at the Capital

Carolina Classics at the Capital returns to downtown Raleigh for a weekend packed with 100s of cars both in the convention center and lined up on Fayetteville Street. You saw a preview of the cars from the Random Photos post earlier this weekend but Sunday morning was a good time to go downtown, meet up with the family and look at the cars parked outside before the crowd hit.

We got there earlier on Sunday morning and had fun walking around with relatively few people out and an awesome breeze. I saw a lot of cars I would like and even more I with I could afford. We left shortly after the music started and well before the crowd filled in but I don’t think we missed any of the cars. We did opt not to go inside but should this come back again next year we may have to check out some of the cars that they were promoting like the vehicles from the TV show the Munster’s and a 1961 Aston Martin valued at over $2 million. More pictures after the jump.

And no – I am not a car expert and I wasn’t taking notes so your guess is better than mine on the particular make, model or age of the car.  My personal favorite from the show is the one to the right but I would really have to get it painted another color if I ever wanted Travis to ride in it.

Random Photos in Raleigh

At times when you are out and about you encounter unusual or eye-catching things that need a picture taken. Or you are just bored and passing the time with a shot here and there. Either way – when you check the camera the next day you have a few fun shots and some that make little to no sense at all. After the jump is a small gallery of the images that came out well enough to see or ones that could be Photoshopped back to being visible. They were all taken with the Canon Powershot in the dark. (Not this camera’s strong suit.) So for the pictures…

The beer? Guess who was drinking what.

Not sure who Igor & Red Elvises (should that be Elvii?) are but they had a well placed sticker outside of Player’s Retreat. Sometimes that is all you need to get a plug and a link from NOSVC. With songs like Drinking with Jesus, I Wanna See You Bellydance and Closet Disco Dancer they can’t suck – right?

The cars are from a car show that is going on downtown the weekend. More from BobG – here, here, here, here, here and here.

Deep fried everything? Those are collateral damage taken at the car show as a result of talking to Paul Jones about the NC State Fair and walking past a closed “we deep fry everything” booth later in the evening. Coincidence or fate – you decide.

Waverly Place Cary Facelift

Last night we went to the preview party (aka Party on the Promenade) at Waverly Place in Cary. If you’ve been there before you will hardly recognize the place if you haven’t been there before it will likely be more difficult. From what I could tell they have a lot of cool fountains and not many stores. There was a crowd because of the playground (not pictured) and the free food from Whole Foods which must count as an anchor store in a mall these days.