Our Last Day

We did a lot in our last full day of our southern vacation.  Sadly, we said goodbye to my Uncle Bill and Aunt Judy and hit the road to head back to Atlanta early Friday morning.

Since we really hadn't seen too many historical sites, I really wanted to stop somewhere.  My uncle recommended that we stop at King's Mountain, which is on the NC/SC border.  King's Mountain is considered to be the turning point of the Revolutionary War where the Patriots defeated the British.  Unfortunately, we had a day of driving ahead and had to be back to Atlanta for the Braves game, so we didn't have too much time to stop.  We did go through the museum and part of the trail.

We then stopped for breakfast in a small town near King's Mountain.  We had been eating a small, local places when we stopped and have not been disappointed.  I've relied on Yelp to help us find those places.  This was the best we could do.  It was a little hole in the wall diner.  We stuck out like a sore thumb in there.  But the food was good.  The menu's specialty item was "Livermush".  The waitress said it was very popular.  I had to look it up:

Needless to say, we didn't order any.

But we tried the grits and I really liked them.  Stan had butter, milk and sugar on them.  I'm not sure if that's how they are supposed to be eaten or not, but they tasted good that way.

Back on the road, there were billboards for peach stands and a moonshine place.  So, we decided to pull over and try them.  We got some really big, juicy peaches and nectarines and bought some  Scupernong jelly. In AZ, our fruits are usually picked while they are green.  These were totally different.  We brought some home. They are a little beat up from travel, but I am going to cut them up and add to homemade ice cream.

Then down the road was a moonshine "factory".  We went in and learned how they made the moonshine.  It is 100 proof.  We tried the apple pie moonshine and the pineapple moonshine and liked it so much, be bought a couple of jars.  It really doesn't taste as strong as it is and is surprisingly easy to drink, although you have to be careful.

Our last stop was back to Atlanta. 

Atlanta is not one of my favorite places.  I think it rivals LA with it's traffic and it's congested, hot, and sticky.  The suburbs are beautiful, but the city isn't my favorite.

 Stan had mentioned that he would love to go to a Braves game way back when I planned the trip.  I looked at the schedule and to my surprise they were playing the Diamondbacks on the day we were there.  I got him tickets for Father's Day and booked a hotel right next to the ballpark.  Originally  the tickets were for Stan and Ethan to go to the game, but since Ethan had to head back early because he couldn't get off of work, I got to go.  

If you ever get a chance, I highly recommend going to an Atlanta Braves game at the Sun Trust Park. There is a village built around the ballpark called The Battery and there is so much to do and see.  It is in a nice part of town and we felt totally safe walking around there.  We stayed at the Doubletree Atlanta Galleria and it was a beautiful hotel and right there at The Battery so you don't have to drive anywhere.

The three of us ate a Wahlburgers.  It was crowded, but the food was really good.

Nikki stayed in the hotel and Stan and I headed to the game.  It was SO HOT and STICKY that night.  We were a mess even before the game started.

Our seats were great.  We were right off of center field. Unfortunately it was also facing the sun, so we had a couple of hours of direct sun on us.

The village is a fun place to be.  On game night it is busy.  You really don't even need tickets to the game.  There is a huge grassy area right outside of the ballpark and before the game there is a live band and during the game there is a huge screen that broadcasts the game, so people just bring blankets and chairs and sit on the grass and watch the game.  

I wasn't going to take a photo because we both looked and felt gross, but my mom wanted proof we were there.  It was very strange being the away team.  There were a handful of D-Backs fans, but not many.

(turn up the volume)

The next morning, we all slept in until 10 am.  We packed and checked out of the hotel  Since we had a few hours, we shopped at a local mall and then back to walk around the Battery before heading to the airport.

Charlotte

This morning, we headed out to explore the city of Charlotte.  It was a really hot and humid day, so we didn't explore as much as we had planned.  Here are a few photos from the day:

Nikki was tired this morning.  She was awoken last night by a bag on her bedroom floor rustling.  She looked and discovered a centipede.  So, she got up and moved to the couch, not wanting to share a room with a critter like that.  As she dozed off to sleep, she felt a tickling on her arm, discovering a spider (only a daddy long legs) crawling on her.  Needless to say, it was hard for her to sleep last night.  The joys of living by the woods.  (and she will kill me if she knows I took and posted this!)

The skyline of uptown Charlotte.

A beautiful old church in the city center.  It's the First Presbyterian Church.

A cemetery in the middle of the city.  It was interesting reading the OLD headstones.

My cousin Alyssa works in the city at the Foundation For the Carolinas.  It's building has a beautiful art gallery and she showed us around.

After touring the city, we went to a cute shopping center that Alyssa recommended called Birkdale Village.  Nikki and I had a great time walking around, shopping and enjoying lunch with Stan.  The heat and humidity get to you, though, so we went back home for a nap and relaxed for the afternoon.

We took my aunt and uncle out to dinner tonight and then they showed us different sites in the area.  It was nice visiting them this week and I will miss them.  I look forward to coming back.  There is so much to see and do here.

Of course, I can't forget Smokey Joe.  Such a good dog.  I took him down to the lake tonight and "fished".  He likes to look for fish in the lake.

Tomorrow we are leaving North Carolina and headed back to Atlanta.  Our vacation is sadly almost over.  

Well, now, take down your fishin' pole and meet me at The Fishin' Hole

Do you recognize the title of this post?  It's the first line to the theme song of The Andy Griffith Show.  Today, we went to Mayberry!  It made Stan very happy.  : )

Stan, Nikki and I got up early and drove north to Mt. Airy, NC.  That is the home town of Andy Griffith and much of his show is modeled after his hometown, or makes reference to it.  The town pretty much revolves around Andy Griffith.  It's a cute, small town, almost like you are stepping back in time.  There is a museum for Andy Griffith and many shops you can walk to, of course.  Here are some photos of our stop.

Andy and Opie statue.

One of a couple of clock towers on Main St.

After quite a long stop at Mayberry, we hopped in the car and went a little further north into Virginia. We had a gorgeous drive, almost all off of the interstate.  

Blue Ridge Mountains

We saw many farms and barns on our ride.

And there were cute little churches every couple of miles.  They were small, but had so much character.  Most were Baptist.

Most of our drive was tree-lined and very green.

Can't get enough of this southern Sweet Tea!

This was in the town of Abingdon, VA.  Unfortunately, we really didn't have time to stop and see all of the sites.  I'd love to come back here.  There is a neat hotel called "The Martha"(as in Washington) that would be fun to stay in.

This was the building where the sign was.  I'm not sure if it's the original or not.

It was fascinating to me to see such old buildings and in such good shape.  We don't see things this old in AZ.

Then we headed south to Tennessee.  

We passed by the Bristol Motor Speedway.   That is a HUGE place.  

From here, we drove back to North Carolina.  It was such a fun day.  There is way too much to see in one day.  Next time we come, we will need to make sure we take 2-3 days to really explore this beautiful area. 

Tomorrow, we are headed to downtown Charlotte. 

Just Hanging Out At the Lake

We have just been hanging out at the lake for the past couple of days.  It has been so much fun boating, jet skiing, floating, and just sitting by the lake reading.  The weather has been so nice (on the news, you would think it was a major heatwave rolling through, but these people don't know what a heatwave is).  The humidity hasn't been horrible, so it has been almost perfect.

I didn't take too many pictures because really we have been doing the same things.

Ethan finally got his boating license and was able to take out the jet skis.  He had such a blast.  He would go out into the open lake and go as fast as he could and do donuts in the water.  The smile on his face was priceless. I went out with him once and all I kept hearing was, "go faster mom!"  I was fine going at my own speed and there was no way I was going to keep up with him.   Unfortunately he had to head back to AZ because he couldn't get any time off of work.  He already told us he wants to come back before the summer is over to do it again.

Stan did a lot of jet skiing.  I think he was gone for about an hour and a half today exploring this huge lake.  

One of the best parts of the past couple of days has been hanging out with my aunt, uncle, cousins, and their kids.  They are fun to be around and it's nice visiting.  

Tomorrow we are going to hit one of Stan's bucket list items...to visit Mayberry.  We are going to Mt. Airy and then exploring the area around there.  I'll definitely have more photos.