NC Exchange Days 5 and 6

Beautiful blue skies when we woke up this morning. First thing after breakfast was to head to Blowing Rock to get the postcards from the post office and put stamps on them. On the way we came across a sign that said "Mowing Ahead" nothing unusual until you catch up to them. They weren't mowing the grass, but the trees! The post office had all of Laura's postcards plus one more, Laura stamped all of hers in the post office and sent them off.

Since it was sunny and blue skies we decided to head north on the Parkway since we had only gone part way earlier in the week. Great views to the east as we were above the clouds, then we would descend into a valley and go through some clouds and back up again. The photo is basically the same shot I took on our first day, but with clear skies and a slightly different angle. Stopped at the North Trading Post and picked up great ham biscuits and dried apples along with a few other small gifts for co-workers. That got us through to a late lunch which we enjoyed at the Blue Ridge Music Center.

We went through the exhibit and asked the lady inside what was going on as there were a number of people setting up outside. She wasn't sure, but thought it was a crew from Dollywood who was hoping to film with some fall color for background. We sat outside and ate our lunch while listening to a local group, the Timber Rattlers, and watched some cloggers. We were going to pack up and continue on when Laura started visiting with the lady bass player for the group and said we should stick around as the next musician would be Wayne Henderson. Of course, we didn't know who he was, so she explained that he was a guitar picker and that he has played for the president. We're glad we did, boy could he play.

We continued north into Virginia which gets tamer and more rolling hills. Still not seeing much fall color, especially at the lower elevations. Fields of cabbages have replaced the fields of N.C. Christmas trees. We stopped heading North once we got to Mabry Mill. The mill was used for wood cutting and corn grinding. Nice place to stretch our legs and talk with some of the interpretive guides. Saw to great, romping Basset Hounds stretching their legs prior to getting back in the car.

On the way South it appeared to be wooly worm migration season in Virginia, saw a dozen or more trying to cross the roads, but didn't see any in North Carolina. We came back through Valle Crucis. Ended up and Mike's Inland Seafood for dinner, we couldn't leave without at least one more great seafood dinner. We both had scallops and shrimp. The scallops were huge and just melted in your mouth. After an hour of leisurely eating we headed off to hear a concert we had seen an advertisement for. The band was Clann and Drumma a Celtic group that had a piper and three drummers. One of the drummers sang anti-English songs. Most of the band's followers were older then us with a few younger ones mixed in.

Day six was up early to clean house and do the laundry. Once we shut down the house we headed out the gate and turned Right instead of left, the way we had always gone. We knew it went toward Lenoir and thought we would wind our way back to Charlotte in that direction. Shortly after turning right we ended up on dirt roads. We made guesses on turns as nothing was marked, but civilization was there as we almost got run over by a bright red Hummer. We made it to Lenoir, a big furniture producer, but couldn't do any shopping as furniture generally doesn't fit in our luggage. Another sunny day and looks like it might hit 80 degrees.

We stopped in Hiddenite to try our hand at the Emerald Hollow Gem mine that we had seen on the travel channel. We ended up digging lots of quartz and found several other interesting stones in the sluice box. Really, needed someone to explain more, but had fun. Continued on to just North of Charlotte where we stayed with family friends of Laura's. Where Laura got her kitty fix, with the bonus of two Corgi's being available as well.