First two weeks in North Carolina

Arrived at the Thousand Trails Forest Lake campground and lucked out with a pull through site near the back of the campground, away from the pool and playground and activity center (translate to read noise and lots of activity). I'd like to say that we chilled for a few days before starting to explore but that's just not our style. We did take the first day off and caught up with laundry, grocery shopping and going to the pool. What a treat, they have two pools, one for families and one for adults. Guess where we went? Since we laid around on Tuesday, it was time to explore and Ernie found a bunch on wineries. So our day was spent in the Yadkinville Valley of North Carolina tasting wines. I have to say, we tried so really nice wines. Of course, there were a few that we should have not tried but you don't know that until it's in your mouth!

Went to Old Salem, a Moravian settlement founded around 1766 in Winston Salem and wandered around all day. We were able to tour several of the old settlement buildings and ate lunch at the Tavern. What's so interesting is that the Home Moravian Church is still an active congregation and the Salem Academy and College is one of the oldest educational institutions for women in the U.S. The C. Winkler Bakery stills sells baked goods made in the original dome bake oven which is still heated with wood as it was nearly 200 years ago.

Here is a photo of the Tavern menu from 1790. Wish we still had those prices!

We actually got to lay on this bed to get the full experience. It really was quite comfortable.

Of course people of those times were quite a bit shorter. Ernie would have had a permanent lump on his head if he lived back then.

We forget that there were many versions of the flag back then. I thought this one was most interesting.

 

I love this automated gate.

Since we went to South Carolina Zoo and we are suckers for zoos, we went to the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro on Friday. What an amazing zoo. So different from any other zoo we've been to. First off, it was situated in the woods on 500 developed acres that include two "continents". They have an additional 1500 acres to develop into three more continents and it will then be the largest zoo in the U.S. They have 1600 animals from more than 250 species right now. This of course translates to a lot of walking up and down the trails. We were fortunate to get on the Zoofari which just started this year. This is a guided passenger truck that drives through the Africa continent. We were on it for about an hour and drove through the animals.

 

 

We were really this close to many of the animals. And yes he pees backwards!

Obviously Ernie has the wing span of a bald eagle.

 

I was on this side of the glass where this polar bear was swimming.

He would dive down and swim away and then suddenly turn and come right against the glass. It was so cool watching him.

By the end of the day, we had walked over 5 miles. I can't imagine being able to do this zoo in one day once it's completed. If you ever near Asheboro, you must go to this zoo. Even if you're not near, make a trip to go there.

We decided to take a drive back to Raleigh and see how it changed since we lived there back in the late 60's and also to visit the J. C. Ralston Arboretum which is celebrating 40 years. It is very close to the married student housing where we used to live when Ernie was in grad school. The arboretum was quite a surprise to us since we lived there 48 years ago. The arboretum was possibly a dream for Dr. Ralston back then. North Carolina State University is now famous for the diversity of its Woody ornamental plants and unique plant collections. You can see over 6500 different kinds of plants collected from around the world and displayed in just 10 acres of garden settings. What was so special about this place was that almost everything was labeled.

Took a drive to Rocky Mount afterwards. Again another trip down memory lane. We moved there from Raleigh and the boys were born there. Of course, supper was pulled pork barbeque, fried chicken, Brunswick stew and corn sticks. Yum!

Sunday we packed up and headed out for Western North Carolina. We checked in to Pride RV Resort which has a Waynesville NC address but is much closer to Maggie Valley. We are at an altitude of 2530 which is not outrageously high but you definitely know there's something different in the air. We first heard about Pride when we were square dancing in Austin. Two of our favorite callers hold 'dance weeks' at the resort at various times through the year. We decided it would be nice to be in the mountains and cooler weather and have access to a lot of dance - along with a lot of sightseeing. There is a regular dance every Tuesday evening at the campground and then club in Asheville, Hendersonville and Brevard. Basically we are dancing at least twice a week. There will be back-to-back dance camps in August that we will attend. That's 5 days of dancing each week.

Besides dancing and enjoying the pool, we have checked out some wineries and they were good. We also went to the North Carolina Arboretum in Asheville - different from the one in Raleigh but just as breathtaking, including the bonsai garden.

This is a madrone tree and is really that color.

I've never seen pitcher plants this color.

The sculpture below was in one of the gardens and there was a plaque with a statement from the artist: Are the green tips on these brown branches all that's left, or are they the beginnings of a new greening? The answer is in the hands of those who tend the garden.

We also drove to Mingo Falls one day (near Cherokee and on the reservation land) and walked up the 150 stairs to the trail to the falls.

I couldn't get a photo of the complete falls with my camera. If you look closely at the lower left side, you will see someone in a blue shirt. He, his wife and their child (around 8 or 9 years old) climbed over the barrier and were climbing up to get closer. Stupid is as stupid does! We took fly fishing lessons several days after this and were told that you have to use felt soled wading boots when on the reservation waters. All other types of boots are banned because the rocks are so slick and felt soled boots are the only ones that grip these rocks. These folks climbing the falls were in sneakers. What were they thinking?

Ernie doesn't look too tired coming down but he felt it the next day!

We also visited the Oconoleftee Visitor Center and heritage farm one day. The visitor center is just outside the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park.

I love these fences! The timbers are not nailed together, just laid on each other and anchored with the cross timbers.

I think Chris should put one of these in his backyard. Not a functioning one but just as yard art.

Check out the gutter on the home. It is one timber that has a trough hollowed out and then anchored yo the house with tree limb. Quite ingenious.

Elk have been re-introduced to western North Carolina about 5 years ago. The herd was actually introduced on the other side of the mountain. The herd grew and split and several came over the mountain to now reside by the visitor center. Unfortunately the day we were at the center the herd was nowhere to be seen. Luckily, the day we went fly fishing, we passed the center early in the morning and this is what we saw:

They were right on the side of the road. Magnificent!

Let's see......what else have we done over the last two weeks besides dancing. We went to the Judaculla Rock Petroglyph (pronounced tsu-tla-ka-la in Cherokee). The Rock is carved with approximately 1,500 designs, more than any other known petroglyph Boulder in the eastern U.S. Archeologists believe these carvings began about 1500 years ago and continued until about 300 years ago. Unfortunately the rock sits in the open in a farm field and weather has taken its toll.

We also drove to the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute one day. This is in the middle of nowhere in the Pisgah National Forest. Today PARI is a public not-for-profit foundation dedicated to providing hands-on educational and research opportunities for users in science, technology, engineering and math disciplines. It is a "dark sky" site for astronomy protected from man-made light pollution and radio interference. During the early days of the nation's space program, NASA recognized the intrinsic value of the location and, in 1962, built the Rosman Research Station to be the primary east coast facility for tracking satellites and monitoring manned space flights. In 1981, the NASA facility was transferred to the Department of Defense and used for data collection. At its peak, about 350 people were employed at the PARI campus.

In 1995, the facility was closed and DOD operations were consolidated elsewhere. After several years of inactivity at the site, the government was planning to dismantle the facility, but a Greensboro businessman led an effort to save it for public science education and research. A public not-for-profit foundation was established in 1998. In 1999 the site was gifted to the foundation and PARI was born.

Of the government investment over the years, it is estimated that what was left at the PARI campus represents a value of about $200 million. Since 1999, PARI has invested millions into restoring the facility and its instruments to the level necessary for scientific and educational purposes. Today, PARI has a fulltime salaried staff, several part time employees and a network of consultants and volunteer workers.

Ernie was in his glory talking with the docent and the assistant manager of the facility. They were both very familiar with 3M products particularly products Ernie worked with. They were also familiar with the product he developed that is used on every rocket that goes to the international space station. You should have heard them. It was beyond me but they were a bunch of "chatty Cathy's".

 

It appears that Ernie also had another round-about connection with the space program from his days at Michelin.

 

We also spent a day gem mining in Cowee NC, near Franklin. No great finds just some garnets, a few small sapphires and some other small gems. We live doing that. In fact, we're going to go gem mining again tomorrow.

Oh yeah, we went to the Shelton House Museum of North Carolina Handicrafts in Waynesville yesterday (Saturday). They have a very comprehensive collection of handcrafted wood carvings, pottery, period furniture, Cherokee and Navaho artifacts all displayed in an 1880 Charleston-style farmhouse.

That brings us to today, three weeks from arrival, and we drove through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. A beautiful drive into an over-crowded mountain tourist town. Tons of people and traffic and probably not the wisest day to go but you make the best of it. We found a great parking space and started wandering through town. Wound up at the Sugarland Moonshine Distillery for a moonshine tasting and a tour of their brewing process. We tasted about 12 different flavored moonshines. Some were pretty good and a few of them were weird, like peanut butter and jelly moonshine. Didn't buy any and had a lovely afternoon.

It is now 9:30 and I am signing off. Am going to try to post every day instead of publishing books. Hopefully both my intentions and my resulting actions will match. Time will tell.

 

 

 

 

 

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South Carolina and North Carolina

So we left Savannah after a great two weeks and stopped in Lexington South Carolina (near Columbia) and spent several days with a dear old friend from our days in Simpsonville SC, Chris Connolly.we arrived on Wednesday and Chris was at the campground a few hours later. We caught up on kids, travels, health, politics and all sorts of other things over some good wine (no surprise there). She took us to Fatz for dinner and we had some of the best ribs! We only had four days there and didn't let any grass grow under our feet. The next day we met her at the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia. What a great zoo but the most amazing building was the aquarium. They had the most extensive display of water animals! I would definitely say this was one of the best aquariums I've ever visited.

Never saw storks on the nests with eggs before.

This guy was just laying around until they started feeding him.

This was a learned activity - raising his legs. He actually did one at a time and then both together. They actually had him hop up and down.

What a face!

 

Yes these Galapagos tortoises are really doing what it looks like.

The next day we went to the South Carolina State Museum. Really interesting and quite impressive. It started with this view into the gift shop:

I saw this and couldn't believe my eyes! It looks like Aunt Jemima or at least something to do with slaves. I knew we were in the South and this was a museum so figured there was some latitude here but not that much.it actually is a baseball hat on a stand over a t-shirt. The hat has a black bill and a black triangle in the fron and a white hat. Realizing this was a hat restored my faith in racial sensitivity in these times.

Check this out. The art work is made entirely out of soda bottle caps.

This sign was in a 1960's display.

Following the tour of the museum, we drove downtown and took Chris to one of our favorite general stores - Mast General Store. We first discovered the original store in upper Western NC a couple of years ago and were so impressed with it. Yes the prices are high but the selection of clothes, shoes, bric-a-brac, kitchen stuff, outdoor stuff, old-fashioned toys, games and candy makes it a total delight to go to. There are several Mast General stores across the south east. As it turns out, there was one in downtown Columbia and Chris had never been. She so enjoyed it and couldn't believe it had been there for years and she never heard of it. From there we went to a Braxilian churascarrio for dinner. Yet another new experience for Chris. Following a couple bottles of wine and a lot of really great food, we finally said good night and we all went to out respective homes for a good night's sleep as we had another fun day ahead of us.

Anyone who knows Ernie and I know we are always on the hunt for good barbeque. Now, in Texas, that means, beef brisket, ribs and sausage. In the deep South, it means pork! Mainly pulled but also chopped. We fell in love with pulled pork barbeque when we lived in the Carolinas and have never gotten it out of our system. It is our first love when it comes to barbeque. We have been enjoying a lot of really good pulled pork and some OK pulled pork on this trip. While watching an Anthony Bourdain show a couple of weeks earlier, he was in South Carolina and talked about a barbeque joint in Hemingway SC and said that it was considered in the top 5 of barbeque joints in the US. Well, it was about 2 hours away from Columbia and we just had to make the trip. We were on a quest on Saturday to find this little piece of barbeque heaven. Boy were we surprised when we got there. This bbq joint is in the middle of nowhere - literally at a crossroads in the country.

The quonset hut style building houses the pits. The store is just that, a country store and a very small kitchen where you buy your food. Drinks are in a soda refrigerator.

 

Across the street was an overhead shelter with picnic tables. That's it! We waited about 30 minutes to get to the front of the line to order. Besides BBQ plates, you could order pork by the pound or have a whole pig cooked (had to pre-order that). They also had bags of fried pork rinds and boiled peanuts.

It was delicious!!!!! Some of the best pulled pork we've ever eaten. While we were eating, the line just kept getting longer - curling around in the store and eventually out the door.

We just had to stop in and meet and thank Rodney for his work. What an operation!

 

Rodney burns his wood in this metal barrel and then carries the coals to the pits.

Here they are flipping over a pig.

 

The drive home was all through back roads and little towns. When we told Chris that we wanted to go to Hemingway for barbeque, she thought we were a bit crazy because there was really good BBQ in Columbia but she was up for the ride. When we got to the crossroads, we all looked at each other and laughed and decided this will make a good story if not good eating. As we stood in line and talked with folks from Georgia and other far away places, the stories were all the same - either grew up near here and had to come every time they were back for a visit or simply drove over fir the food. When we finished eating, all three of us agreed that this was a great find. In fact, Chris was going to bring her friend (a BBQ aficionados) to Scotts.

After three full days, we decided on a day of rest (no touring anywhere). Ernie stayed at the camper to get some stuff ready to leave the next day while I went to Chris's house for one last visit. You know how you sometimes have a friend or cousin that you were really close with when you were younger and then you lost touch with them or you only get together with them every few years but when you do get together, it's like it was only a week ago that you last saw them ----- well, I'm so fortunate to have several friends like that and Chris is one of them.

Monday morning we said goodbye to South Carolina and headed for Advance, North Caroline for a two week stay. More on that in my next posting.

 

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