Mayberry, Here We Come!

Our last full day of true vacation was SO FULL!!! We got up super early and drove two and a half hours from our friends' house to Mt. Airy, North Carolina. Both Ryan and I adore The Andy Griffith Show and since we were going to be so close to Andy Griffith's hometown of Mt. Airy, we had to stop by for a visit. Unfortunately, we underestimated how much time we really could spend there, so it was a whirlwind tour, and we'll just have to go back and be more thorough later.

When we arrived, it had just begun to snow, and apparently this part of North Carolina is not really accustomed to snow, nor do they like it. So the freaking out amongst the locals was already in full swing when we arrived. And as you'll soon see from the pictures, at times it came down pretty hard!

There's a little place on the edge of town that offers replicas of the places everyone knows from the show: Wally's Filling Station, the Courthouse, etc. They're set up to be great photo opps! (You can also take tours in the squad car, but we didn't have time for that on this trip.)

 We lucked out and got there right after a squad car tour had departed and right before the charter bus arrived, so we had the place to ourselves for a few minutes!

 Just call him Otis.

 The face of justice, apparently.

 Ain't Bee's Kerosene Cucumbers

 "I already 10-4'd ya."

 Barney impersonation...

We stopped for breakfast/lunch after our photo opps. The Snappy Lunch has this famous pork chop sandwich that is actually North Carolina's state sandwich. (I didn't even know state sandwiches were a thing!)

 So of course, Ryan has that. Quite an assortment of things on this sandwich, including onions with staying power, coleslaw, and chili.

 Just breakfast for me. I have never received a side dish of butter and jelly, but it was quite cute!

Here's the thing that cracked me up. The guy who sat in the booth behind us clearly smelled that we were tourists (hello, camera) and said to us, "I own the candy shop a couple of doors down. I should be back in about ten minutes. Stop by!" They really do close up to eat breakfast! It is Mayberry!!!

On our way to see him, we stopped in Floyd's Barber Shop. Floyd was a real person who inspired the barber on the show, and though he has since died, his son keeps the barber shop open as a tourist attraction. They do still cut hair there, but because of the weather report, he'd told all the people to stay home the day we were there. Floyd's son is a retired schoolteacher, but he pretends to cut hair to give people photo opps. I think this was Ryan's favorite stop of the day! They had a great time talking!

 LOVE this old cash register. And see all those pictures behind it? Every inch of wall in that shop was covered with such pictures.

 See what I mean? And there's the real Floyd!

 I wish these prices were still in effect.

 One of the actual stations still in operation today. (Notice the pictures in the mirror's reflection!)

 A child's size chair that they use for photo opps when kids come in.

 Ryan wanted a picture in the chair and would have been content with just that, but Bill offered to give him a "haircut."

 Getting ready...

 If you can't see, that's a hammer and chisel he has in hands. When you only have one hair...

 Wait! I know I cut it off...where did it go?

 Such a fun stop!

We stopped in at the candy store and walked around just a bit more, before we decided we better get on the road. We still had another 2.5 hours to drive, and with the snow picking up, we had no idea how much longer that might actually take!

 We didn't have time to go to the museum on this trip, but we did try to get a picture of the Andy and Opie statue. It was easier said than done in the snow!

And then it was time to drive! Here are just a few shots from the road...in the state that never gets snow:

By the time we got to our hotel, the snow had piled up fairly significantly! We were glad we had a reservation, because by the end of the night, there were no vacancies!

North Carolina Day of Fun!

Thursday was our last day to be with our friends Nate and Jenna, and they helped us have a great day in North Carolina! :) Nate actually had to work, but Jenna took us around and showed us some fun sights!

Okay, first of all, we have to talk about the donuts. Leslie, I'm assuming you've had these, since I know you guys love a good donut shop. So therefore I have probably read about them on your blog and just hadn't remembered them specifically. But you and Erica (and Jenni!) are SO LUCKY to live near Duck Donuts!!! Have any of the rest of you ever had these?

Revolutionary. Life-changing.

I actually don't like cake donuts. I don't like them because they are always hard and crumbly and not that exciting. These redeemed all cake donuts for all time for me. Warm donuts, iced with fresh frosting right in front of you (also warm frosting, if you're keeping count of the goodness) and really good coffee, too. (It's actually hard to find good coffee at a donut shop.) Ryan and I decided if we were independently wealthy, we should open a Duck Donuts in our area.

I could go on and on, but if you heard the podcast, you know I already DID go on and on, so I'll move on for now. (BUT SERIOUSLY!!!!!)

Jenna then took us on to the Museum of Natural Sciences, which is a cool museum that is also FREE! Yay! We love free! (Almost as much as we love Duck Donuts! Oh wait. Sorry. I derailed.)

There were a ton of field trip folks there that day, but we still had a great time. Lots to see, including a butterfly garden!

(The butterfly area was crowded with aforementioned field trips, and the keepers of the room were a bit in my space, so I didn't get the most amazing pictures ever. It was still fun!)

Oh, by the way. Ryan has a new adoring fan now.

I mean, can you blame her?

Before we went back to Nate and Jenna's, she took us to see this yard of Christmas in Raleigh. Here's the story. Apparently there's a show on ABC I'd never heard of called The Great Light Fight. Places with lots of Christmas lights compete for a $50,000 prize. So Jenna was telling us about this yard in Raleigh that was on that show.

Now.

Keep in mind we saw it during the day, so obviously some of the full effect is lost:

It may not have been night, but that's still a LOT of Christmas!

Here's the crazy part. I learned via the magic of Facebook that this show I'd never heard of was actually filming IN KOKOMO while we were gone. They came to our We Care park (a neighborhood that puts up tons of lights to raise money for charity) to film.

And the show is hosted by Carter Oosterhouse, who was one of my favorite TV people back in my single days. Carter was in Kokomo and I was gone! One of the guys from our church posted to Facebook that he had no idea who this guy was, but when he got out of the limo, all the women screamed. I told Ryan that made perfect sense to me. Ryan rolled his eyes. And then later he asked me something about Carlson Palmer. I said, "Who is Carlson Palmer?" He said, "You know. That guy from TV you think is so dreamy?"

CARTER OOSTERHOUSE!!!!!

But dreamy though he may be, he's still in no competition with my beloved Ryan or our new friend Duck Donuts. Just sayin'.

;)

After we got back home, we just hung out with Nate and Jenna the rest of the day. It was really nice to have a low key day because oh my goodness - Friday was going to be SO BUSY!!!!!