Life on Paws and Wheels

Simba and I visited Umstead Log Art in Raleigh, North Carolina , an incredible outdoor sculpture hidden along a wooded trail in William B. Umstead State Park ! What originally looked like an ordinary fallen tree had been transformed into a remarkable work of art, featuring beautifully carved owls, foxes, squirrels, rabbits, birds, and other woodland creatures. Even more impressive, the entire sculpture was created primarily using chainsaws! Located just off the Graylyn Multi-Use Trail , this unusual attraction was one of Raleigh's most fascinating hidden gems. The enormous red oak trunk measured approximately 25 feet long and stood several feet high, providing a massive natural canvas for two talented chainsaw artists. The sculpture was created in November 2017 by artists Jerry Reid and Randy Boni of Smoky Mountain Art , who spent approximately one week transforming the fallen tree into an elaborate woodland scene. For nearly nine years, the carved oak became a beloved destinatio...

Simba and I visited the North Carolina Museum of Art Park in Raleigh, North Carolina , an incredible 164-acre outdoor destination filled with giant sculptures, unusual artwork, scenic walking trails, rolling meadows, and beautiful gardens! Officially known as the Ann and Jim Goodnight Museum Park , this remarkable attraction combines art and nature in one of the largest museum parks in the United States. Located along Blue Ridge Road , the park surrounds the North Carolina Museum of Art and features an extraordinary collection of permanent and temporary outdoor installations. Unlike a traditional art gallery, where visitors observe artwork inside a building, this park allows people to discover sculptures while exploring forests, open fields, landscaped gardens, and winding pathways. Some sculptures tower above the landscape, while others are partially hidden among the trees or integrated directly into the earth. The collection includes enormous abstract metal structures, unusual stone...

Simba and I visited Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky in Raleigh, North Carolina , a mysterious, hobbit-like stone structure hidden among the trees at the North Carolina Museum of Art ! Built into a wooded hillside with a grassy roof, circular stone walls, and a small wooden door, this unusual outdoor sculpture looks like something straight out of a fairy tale. But what makes this little structure truly extraordinary is that the entire building functions as a giant camera that turns the outside world upside down! Created in 2003 by British environmental artist Chris Drury , Cloud Chamber for the Trees and Sky uses a centuries-old optical principle known as the camera obscura . When visitors enter the darkened chamber and close the door, sunlight passes through a tiny opening in the roof, projecting an inverted image of the surrounding trees and sky onto the interior surfaces. Instead of looking upward to see clouds drifting across the sky, visitors can look downward and watch their m...