On the way to Waynesville we stopped at the Ciener Botanical Garden in Kernersville. A fairly small garden, it is free to visit and has a nice selection of specimens, especially Japanese maples. They also featured several lovely beds of spring bulbs in April.

Next, we stopped in Newton to check out Novel Taproom. Eric tried the Ciderboys Raspberry Smash, while Leandra tried a NoDa Peanut Butter Porter. Novel had a nice open space with lots of seating, including an outdoor section. They don’t have food, but you can bring your own or order for delivery.

Just around the corner was CBV Brewery + Taproom, so we also tried them out. Eric went with the D9 Wild Things: Enigmatic Cousins (a wild ale), and Leandra went with the Fatty’s Beer Works Ataraxia (a sour IPA). Their interior is smaller and shared with the brewery. Bar staff were quite helpful navigating their surprisingly large tap list.

A week later we made our way back to Durham. Our first stop was the Western North Carolina Sculpture Center and Park. A little out of the way, but a nice place to stretch our legs and explore some interesting locally-created sculptures. Pasha was a trooper and walked the whole thing with us.

After the sculptures we stopped in nearby Lenoir for a beer at Liquid Roots – they had a large L-shaped outdoor patio with spots in the sun and shade, and were dog-friendly. Eric had the very pink guava strawberry sour, Leandra the Freedom Scottish Ale.  We also ordered the pork and cheese wontons from the neighboring Infusion Smokehouse food truck.