North Carolina Museum of History

Established in 1818 as the state capitol Raleigh’s first museum, it has a wealth of information on state industry on the first floor. For example, in 1840, the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad stretched 200km and was the longest in the world, famous pirate Blackbeard blockaded Charles Town with 19 captured Read more

North Carolina Museum of Art

Just on the outskirts of the state capital Raleigh, the museum was founded in 1965, so it’s mostly a contemporary and modern art museum. The East Building has mostly black art and the West Building has everything. There was an interesting exhibit on Afrofuturism in fashion design, especially when represented Read more

Raleigh, NC

The first time I heard the name Raleigh I was watching the Andy Griffith Show and thought it was spelt “Rawley.” Google promptly asked if I meant to search for “Raleigh” instead. I didn’t give visiting the state capital of North Carolina a shot until I saw it on a map and Read more

San Francisco, CA

The first time I visited San Francisco was through GTA San Andreas on my computer screen. I parachuted off the top of the Transamerica Pyramid countless times after evading the police. The first evening I got into town by Uber I saw homeless people on every single street corner. Even Read more

WWII Pacific War Memorial Hall

Of all the nations that fought the second world war, Japan remains the only country whose government systematically denies the atrocities it had committed until this day. The memorial hall is less of a museum and more of a collection of stories of the war against Japanese aggression from Chinese Read more

Walt Disney Family Museum

The Disney Family was from Normandy in France originally called d’Isigny with the family name anglicized when they moved to to Britain. The family with infant Kepple Disney moved to Ireland before settling in Goederich in Ontario. Kepple married Mary Richardson in Goederich before moving to California during the gold Read more

USS Hornet

Constructed in just 16 months, the USS Hornet aircraft carrier is the eighth and final ship to bear the name. It recovered the Apollo 11 crew after they landed in the ocean and performed it’s final mission retrieving the Apollo 12 crew. It’s permanently docked at the same pier the Read more

Transamerica Pyramid

That pointy building in San Francisco that’s said to be earthquake resistant? I’ve parachuted off the top of it many times in GTA San Andreas while trying to evade the police. At 42-stories tall, it was the city’s tallest building from its construction in 1972 until the Salesforce Tower was Read more

SS Jeremiah O’brien

The US made 2,710 liberty ships to carry supplies across the Atlantic Ocean during the second world war. It only took 60 days to make one, which helped because they needed to make ships faster than he German U-boats could sink them. This one moored in San Francisco is only Read more

San Francisco MoMA

This is the natural habitat of the San Francisco liberal arts student. The blue-haired, orange leggings, faux leather jacket-wearing, dark eyeliner-painting, frilly choker-donning type. Also, the latte-drinking, Lululemon bag-slinging, Apple watch-wearing, crop topping type.  “My roommate did a thesis on chairs, but then she switched to cups,” one young lady Read more