Boone, NC .....

Dear Hubby and I went to the mountains of Western North Carolina (WNC) this past weekend.  We went last year around this same time.  You'd have thought we would remember to check the Appalachian State Univ. football schedule!  We didn't last year and we didn't this year.  Yup, home games. Traffic was nuts.  At least this year we checked the game time.  We ate sometime during the second quarter so there was no one in the restaurants.  We weren't so smart last year!

We stayed at the KOA in a Kamping Kabin which was great.......except for the 38 degree weather we woke up to.  Luckily, KOA had put little space heaters in each cabin and we did take sleeping bags and extra quilts.  Still.......getting up at 4:00 in the morning to run to the outhouse wasn't as much fun.  Ok, so it's not really an outhouse but it was a separate building with no heat and no shower.  Think of gas station bathroom.

We did a lot of sightseeing along the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Most of the leaves had changed but it is still beautiful.

We stopped at an apple orchard somewhere along the way.....

 

And of course we had to eat breakfast at the Dan'l Boone Inn .....

some of the best country cookin' in the Carolinas!

We even did a little hiking!

 

All in all, a lovely relaxing weekend.....

Almost forgot......remember the vacation from he** ......when Dear Hubby decided to take me to Green Park Inn for my 50th birthday?  Well, they have closed and are in foreclosure. Imagine that?!  They closed in May, were up for auction in August and had a winning bid of $800,000 which didn't even meet the reserve.  Such a shame after 100 + years in business and visited by dignitaries like Margaret Mitchell and US Presidents.  You can read about it here.  What a grand lady she was back in the day!

Blessings, Cathi

Mayberry, RFD.....Part 2.....

Sunday afternoon was the tourist thing with a visit to Andy Griffith's childhood home.....

A picture of Andy, Opie, Dear Hubby and me.....


And a picture of Gomer's old stomping ground before he joined the Marines.....




On the way home, we stopped at antique malls in Jonesville, Mt. Airy and Statesville. Among other things, I found three more enamel pots to add to the collection.

The big pot is huge. It's over 12" tall where the rest of them average only about 7"-8". The one in the middle is a creamer. Not a coffee pot but Dear Hubby thought it ought to go with the collection as well as the little cup. He said, "What's a coffee pot collection without the coffee cup?". Go figure.

I think I may have to move the Clorox bottle and add the enamel pots to the top shelf!

Blessings, Cathi

Mayberry, RFD

After reading about Carrie P.'s trip to Pilot Mountain, Dear Hubby and I decided that was where we needed to go for our last weekend off before high school football started with a vengence. We had a great time. We didn't actually go to Pilot Mountain State Park but we did hit a lot of their shops in just the cutest little downtown.

The first place we went was Pilot Mountain Peddlars. What a great prim shop!






Dear Hubby took a picture of Tammy and me ..... Tammy looked great, me not so much ....so I left it off. Hey, it's my blog. Here is a picture of what I bought at Tammy's instead.


Pilot Mountain had three antique shops, a country store, and several restaurants all on one street. What a great way to spend the afternoon. We ate lunch at Sopper's Restaurant. Excellent, excellent food but service was a little slow. They are fairly new and don't think they anticipated enough servers or cooks.


After hanging out in Pilot Mountain for several hours, we went up to Mt. Airy, about a 10 minute drive north. Mt. Airy is also known as Mayberry, home of Andy Griffith. A good portion of the show was based on this town. We went to their downtown which had a lot of cute shops, also. They had a primitive shop called Mayberry Primitives, Opie's Candy Store, Floyd's Barber Shop, the Bluebird Cafe (we went in and got Rootbeer Floats and a Malt) plenty of gift shops with Mayberry-touristy stuff.

After settling in at our hotel, we wandered way down the road to Cody Creek for dinner. It's just below the town of Dobson. It was a good 20 minute drive away but what a place. Here is the entrance drive. You have to go through this to get there.


They have a wedding chapel.....


A beautiful gazebo.....


A general store.....


And a great restaurant.


These pictures were taken the next day. We drove back down just to take pictures but it was worth it. We really couldn't see anything the night before. The food was excellent and you couldn't beat the atmosphere. Inside the restaurant was even nicer. Very laid back and casual dining. Inside they had a diarama with a waterfall, black bear, deer, etc. They had a separate smoking area no where close to the non-smoking area (I don't get that sometimes but that's for another day.). The smoking area was decorated like a wine cellar. They had a LARGE dining room that had a floor to ceiling stone fireplace. On either side of the fireplace, they had about 6' diameter wagon wheels that were windows. Wish I had taken a picture of that. The room was banquet style and probably could hold 200-300 people. At the other end was a HUGE projection screen tv. Easily 15 feet long.


After writing this post, I found it was much too long. I cut it in half and wrote another one to be posted on Friday morning. So ya'll come back now, ya hear? Sorry, that was the Beverly Hillbillies.

Blessings, Cathi

San Antonio, Texas.....

I hope I don't offend anyone when I say this but Texas to me seemed like one big shopping strip mall after another connected by a large farms.

We had a wonderful time stopping at all the antique malls. We didn't have much of a plan......just find the big billboard on the side of the interstate and stop at the next antique mall. I'll have to show pictures of the finds later....after I take the pictures. LOL

San Antonio was really fun (except for the hotel part....see previous post). I enjoyed the RiverWalk.


And I probably gained 10 pounds from all the food we ate every night. The RiverWalk was packed at night. We were there for the NATA (National Athletic Trainers Association) convention. I think there were something like 9,600 trainers, doctors, physical therapists and vendors registered!


We did get to see the Alamo. I couldn't get a picture of the front since it was so crowded but I did get a picture of the research library located on the grounds.


And this really cool cactus-thingy that Dear Hubby loved.


And this is a view out the hotel room window.


This is all I have time to post today. Maybe tomorrow I will get to the pictures of the trip home.

Blessings, Cathi

Riddle me this, Batman.....

Why is it that the more expensive a hotel is, the less it offers? After getting to San Antonio, we checked into a luxury hotel right on the RiverWalk. It was right across the street from Dear Hubby's convention. Location couldn't have been better but I am still trying to figure out the "luxury" part. The room was the worst of the 4 different hotels we stayed in, no microwave, no refrigerator, limited tv channels (remember I was going to sit for three days and sew and watch whatever I wanted while Dear Hubby was in meetings), no free breakfast, and NO FREE internet. Internet was $14.00 a day! Needless to say we had no internet or email since we left Orange, Texas last Monday.

On the other hand, we stayed at 3 different Hampton Inns. Free breakfast, free internet, microwave and/or refrig in each room. The rooms were clean and newly remodeled. Did I mention 1/2 the price?

Anyway, we arrived home at 10:30 last night. I was at work by 7:30 this morning. I have major blogging to read and write.

But if anyone could answer my question......

Blessings, Cathi

On the Road Again.....

Well, we've made it 10 miles inside the Texas state line. Want to see how exciting so far.....

First was Georgia.....

Then came Alabama.....

where we spent the night in the cutest little town just north of Montgomery called Prattville. We spent a few hours this morning walking the downtown and hitting their antique/junk shops. Some were more junk than antique but we both had some great finds.

Today was Mississippi.....

Next was Louisiana.... Okay so it was really bright and I had trouble seeing so I just took a chance, pointed and shot.



We stopped for dinner at Landry's Seafood in Henderson, LA. The Married One's actual name is Landry so I had to take this picture for her.

And finally Texas at 9:30..... a very long day.


On to San Antonio in the morning!

Blessings, Cathi

6 days and 1500 miles later.....

and I did it all by myself! I spent a few days in Staten Island then off to my BFF's house in the suburbs of NW Philly. I had grown up right across the street from BFF. We decided to visit the 'hood' Sunday afternoon. Me being the brave soul that I am, decided to speak to the man in "my" backyard. After I told him who I was (he asked me my maiden name .... I think he was testing me to make sure I wasn't a stalker) he invited me in to see the house. I must be a LOT bigger because it was a LOT smaller.


Monday morning I left for home but not before I had breakfast with another blogger!


This is a picture of me (on the right) and Leann (on the left) from The Old Parsonage. We figured out last fall that she only lived a few miles down the road from my BFF. I told her that if I was ever up there visiting, I would let her know. And we managed to work things out! She didn't mention any of it to her husband ahead of time. She thought he would have thought she was crazy to meet someone she met over the internet without checking them out first. He probably would have been right! But sometimes you just have to go with your gut.

We had a great breakfast and managed to talk for 1-1/2 hours (along with her friend from work). We even ordered the same thing from the menu! Dear Hubby and I are going back up there next June. We'll have to make more plans!

It took me 10 hours to get home but I made it safe and sound. The weather was beautiful for driving. The truckers stayed out of my way for the most part and I had my books on CD in the CD player. I have no complaints. I gotta admit, though, dear Hubby was really glad to see me when I pulled in the driveway.

Next Sunday I leave on my next adventure but I am taking Dear Hubby with me.....all the way to San Antonio!

Blessings, Cathi

The Pilgrimage.....

Sounds like an episode from "The Waltons", doesn't it?

Next Wednesday, I am making a trip up north. I will be traveling from the greater Charlotte area up I-77 to I-81 through the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Then on to Philadelphia, up I-95 and wind up in Staten Island. Yea, I know. Staten Island is not known as a mecca for vacationers, but that's where I will be going.

So my question for all of you is..... Could someone tell me where there are any quilt shops or prim shops along that route? I don't want to go too far off the interstate. I just need the name of the shop and the town. If you have a website, that would be great!

After a few days there, I am going back to the suburbs of Philadelphia to visit my dearest and longest, very best friend in the whole world. She lives in the tiny hamlet of Lederach in Montgomery County. (We both grew up not too far away in Lansdale). I am sure she knows where all the prim and quilt shops are in her area, not that she would ever set foot in a quilt shop! But if you know of any in that area anyway, let me know. She may not have found them all!


Blessings, Cathi