This has been a restful week with a couple of fun trips. Those of us who remember The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry RFD will recognize Mount Airy, NC as the birthplace of Andy Griffith and the inspiration for the fictional town of Mayberry. The real life Mount Airy is an up to date, modern town with a historic district made up of beautiful old buildings. It’s on the historic downtown Main Street that Mayberry is seen. There’s Floyd’s Barbershop, the Bluebird Cafe, Opies’ Candy Shop, and several other Mayberry-related shops. For those who like memorabilia there are Mayberry themed cups, foods, and clothing with photos of actors from the shows. We had fun looking and shopping.

image-004.jpgOn the way to Mount Airy we stopped at Pilot Mountain State Park for a short hike and picnic lunch. The park offers camping, hiking, picnicking, and canoeing. Pilot Mountain is awesome from a distance and from the top there are beautiful views in all directions. This mountain was used as a landmark by native American Indians and later used by European immigrants from the Northern Colonies moving South. Pilot Mountain is the name given by Moravian missionaries traveling the Great Wagon Road.

We enjoyed touring Lexington, NC which is just a short distance from the Campground. We visited the public library and I posted a review and pictures on my Great Library Ideas blog. We walked through a wonderful place to look and shop: Lanier’s Hardware store. They carry everything a hardware store should plus kitchen gadgets, fireplaces, wood stoves, sporting grear, sports clothing, and college memorabilia. One end of the store is full of toys for all ages ranging from Barbies to model trains with the landscaping to go along with it. They also carry radio controlled cars and boats for the “big kids.”

The Candy Factory is just down the street a few blocks and can be recognized by its red and white striped awing.  There was also an Art Pig out front; a great place for a photo op. The store is full of seasonal candy and various candies from the 50’s and 60’s.  They make and sell their own fudge.  I bought the dark chocolate caramel with sea salt but was very tempted by the pumpkin fudge that tastes just like pumpkin pie.  There is a small room in the back with antiques and antique books for sale.  On the book shelf were early readers, Trixie Beldon and other books published in the fifties.  A fun place to look and shop.

Lexington bills itself as the “BBQ Capitol of North Carolina” so we went to one of the many BBQ restaurants in the city.  We enjoyed the meal.  The pork barbeque with the vinegar based “Lexington-style” sauce we had is very different than the beef barbeque with tomato based sauce that we usually enjoy in Texas.

It was rather warm through most of our stay in the Piedmont and that discouraged us from doing as much sightseeing as we might have.  Still, we found this to be an interesting area with a lot to offer.