Mount Airy, NC March 21-27, 2017

Day 6 Tuesday March 21, 2017 We departed the service center about 8:45AM and drove the 150 miles to Greystone RV Park in Pinnacle N.C (near Mt. Airy). We chose site 6 and setup with a full view out the windshield of Pilot Mountain. This park is only 4 years old and only has 10 sites all with a great view on Pilot Mountain and rolling hills and woods. I talked to the owner and they have planes to add about 6 more sites if they can get the required permits and also add flagstone patios to each of the existing sites.

View of Pilot Mountain from our windshield

Day 7 Wednesday March 22, 2017 We drove over to Hanging Rock State Park, to checkout the displays in the Visitor's Center and walk one of the trails down to a couple of water falls. Due to lack of exercise during the Winter and the higher elevation and the numerous rock steps required us to take a few more rest breaks than normal. When we got back to the parking lot the Oscar Meyer Wiener Mobile was parked just behind our Jeep. We checked out the campground but it is just for tents and small popups campers.

We stopped on the way back to our RV park in King at the most unusual looking Dairy Queen we have ever seen. We stopped there about 4 years ago when we were in the area. Lena said she got the best hamburger she has had in a long time.

Day 8 Thursday March 23, 2017 After lunch we drove into Mt. Airy. We checked out several shops and stopped for a cup of coffee. Later we got a quick supper and then went to the Earle Theater. When we went in there were about dozen kids, probably 8-12 years old setting around taking music lessons. They departed and at 7PM several local musicians went on stage and played Blue Grass and Country Music until about 8:30PM.

Day 9 Friday March 24, 2017 We went back to Mt. Airy to eat lunch at Chile Rojo (a Mexican restaurant) for lunch. One of the campers parked near us told us the food was good here and it was very good. Then we stopped at a local Amish Health Food store to get a few items. We drove through Pilot Mountain State Park and stopped and talked to the Volunteer Campground Host for awhile before returning to the RV Park.

Day 10 Saturday March 25, 2017 We returned to the Earle Theater in Mt. Airy to attend the Merry Go Round. It is a 2.5 hour radio broadcast of two local Bluegrass groups. The first group was the Marshall Brothers and Highroad and the second group was Blended Grass. They do the radio show from the Earle every Saturday. After the show we walked across the street to Miss Angels bakery for a snack. I got a blueberry muffin. I think it was the biggest and best I have ever had. They were doing a booming business as there were lots of tourist in town. We also bought some extra goodies and returned to the RV Park.

Day 11 Sunday March 26, 2017 We decided to drive over to Walnut Cove for breakfast at The Hillbilly Hideway Retaurant. It is an old log cabin out in the country and they are only open Friday through Sunday. They serve the meal family style but not like other places that serve family style. They serve it just with the group you come in with, not with other people at the same table. For breakfast we had scrambled eggs, grits (not me), sawmill gravy, red eye gravy, hash browns, hoe cakes, fried apples, bacon, sausage, country ham, pork tenderloin and coffee. We couldn't eat all they brought us but we made a pretty good effort.

On the way back we went back to Hanging Rock State Park and walked the trail down to the Lower Cascades Falls. It was much more impressive that the upper cascade falls.

Day 12 March 7, 2017 After lunch we drove back to Mt. Airy to ride our bicycles on a trail around the town that we found on Saturday. It is a really nice paved trail. Part of it runs along the Ararat River. I thought it made a loop completely around town but I was wrong. After riding almost 8 miles we came to the end of the trail. Lena was too tired to ride back. A lady came up on her bicycle and we asked her how far we were from where we had parked the Jeep. She told us it was over two miles through city streets and up some hills. Her truck was parked near by so I asked her if she would take Lena to where we had parked the Jeep. She did and then led her back to get me and the bicycles so she would not get lost coming back. We sure were thankful to find a good Samaritan.

We decided we deserved an ice cream so we went into town and stopped at the Hillbilly Ice Cream shop before returning to the RV Park.