It’s a strange time for high school seniors. Normally, they would have gone to a few college open houses in the spring and fall and visited many campuses over the past year, deciding where to spend the next four years of their lives. But thanks to COVID-19, these on-campus tours and open houses have been replaced with virtual tours. It’s helpful but really not the same as walking around campus. So my friend, who also has a high school senior, and I, with my senior, decided to take matters into our own hands and take a trip across North Carolina to do some self-guided tours and also to see the western parts of the state. Since we have all moved here within the past 1.5 years, it’s hard to make a decision to move to an area of the state you have never even been to!

Our first visit was to N.C. State University in Raleigh. The campus was large and vacant of most students. We were able to walk around and see housing buildings, the bookstore and some classroom buildings. The huge, state-of-the-art library was open only to students. But the friendly security guard directed us to a large wall of windows on the lower floor, which houses the Robot Alley book delivery system. Gone are the days of sorting through a card catalog and wandering around the library in search of that book you need for class. Now students simply go online, select their book and, within 5 minutes, the bookBot takes care of the rest. We watched as the robotic crane traveled down a massive row of metal drawers, selected one, retrieved a book a student ordered and delivered it to an operator who sent it to a library location on campus via a rapid delivery service. Boy, have libraries changed since I went to college!

After our campus tour, we headed west to Winston-Salem. We tried to visit the Wake Forest University campus, but due to COVID, the campus was not allowing anyone through the gates. So we just headed to our hotel, Kimpton Cardinal Winston-Salem, instead. We arrived right on time for their wine hour, so we enjoyed an Arnold Palmer in the colorful lobby.

For dinner we found a funky little wine bar and restaurant, 6th and Vine, and dined at outdoor tables lit up with charming hanging lights. The town had lots of eclectic restaurants and stores along the main streets. After dinner we returned to our hotel and had a great time playing games in its recreation room. The name “recreation room” does not do this place justice. It was an enormous space in the basement of the building with a pool table, foosball, ping pong, a basketball court and a two-lane bowling alley, among other games.

After a fun night of playing games, I retired to a beautiful suite and admired all the small touches that make the hotel special — the wallpaper in the bathroom adorned with subtle cardinals, the interesting wall art seemingly made of painted shims of wood, the deer antlers with flowers over the bed and quirky throw pillow with insects. You can read more about my stay at the Kimpton Cardinal Winston-Salem in a future issue of Global Traveler.

— Tracey Cullen, art director