A Mansion and a Port

It's been a pretty cool last two days travelling for my internship.  On Tuesday, Governor Perdue hosted a reception at the Executive Mansion for the 64 state government interns.  Let's just say it was not a great day to be walking across downtown Raleigh in a suit.  I had to stop in the History Museum just to cool off.  The Mansion is really nice, as you might imagine.  I couldn't help but feel bad looking at portraits of the "first spouses", as Bob Eaves (Bev's husband) was the only man up there.  It was also cool to see a basketball goal in the back yard.  Anyhow, got to talk to several people, most notably Moses Carey, Secretary of the Department of Administration and Carolina alum.  The Governor gave a brief speech at the end of the reception.

On Wednesday, I traveled down to the State Port at Morehead City to represent the Governor's Office at a luncheon held by the Port Authority.  The event was held to celebrate the opening of a new woodchip facility at the port.  The facility will allow trees grown in eastern North Carolina to be turned into woodchips and exported overseas, creating jobs and hopefully helping to rejuvenate the region's economy.  After the luncheon, we got a tour of the port facilities.  Driving through a massive warehouse with rubber, we were told that Morehead City is the second largest recipient of rubber on the east coast behind only New Orleans.  On the far side of the port, we came to the M/V Stellar Grace, the vessel that will take the first shipment of woodchips.    We got to go on-board for a tour by the captain himself.  Leaving with its cargo from Morehead City, NC, the ship is bound for Istanbul, stopping only at Gibraltar.  I couldn't help but feel that North Carolina pride when thinking that our state's exports were bound for Turkey.  That's pretty cool.  For a state that once produced 96% of the nation's naval stores in the 19th century, it's interesting that North Carolina trees provide a global export for the state here now in the 21st century.  Go North Carolina!