Stone Mountain State Park NC April 9-22, 2019

Day 9  Wednesday April 10 2019 Again we saw seven deer this morning. We ate breakfast at the Circle L Restaurant in Sparta NC, then stopped at Becca's Backwood Bean for a Latte and to use their WiFi. Afterwards we stopped at the Arts and Craft store that we always checkout when we are here. It is store of arts and crafts of local artisans. 

Coffee Shop

After browsing another store we decided to drive some of the back roads on the way back to the park. The flowering trees and bushes are really full of bloom in the area. 

We took highway 18 out of Sparta to drive some back roads. We have passed a place called Wild Woody's in the past but never stopped, so today since it was not crowded we decided to stop and check it out. They have a “hotel”, several old campers of all varieties to rent, and a building full of “stuff” they have collected for 50 years. On weekends the parking lot is full of motorcycles that pull off the Blue Ridge Parkway that is just a few hundred yards down the road.

I need an asprin

We though about trading "up" for this "motor home"

We stopped at a local general store that we had not seen before and decided to get a couple of hot dogs, a Cheerwine and a Nehi Cola. They had a big dog that was sound asleep in the middle of the floor. We set at an outside table to eat and when our food was brought to us he woke up and came out to us begging for some. Lena gave him a piece of my hot dog bun and our last french fry.

View across the road

"fine dining"

The weather is really nice today so we were able to set outside the reminder of the day once we got back to our site. The campground was quite today but tomorrow if will pick up as we go into the weekend.

Day 10  Thursday April 11, 2019 We are back in the groove today. No one works in the campground on our days off so we put out today's reservation signs and cleaned/raked several sites that has been vacated since Monday.

The weather was great today so we stayed outside as much as possible. We relieved Jackie for her lunch break and late in the day we put out Friday's reservation signs and checked the campground because rain is predicted for all day on Friday. We expect there will be  many people with reservations that will not show up, especially those that camp in tents. I know if we were still camping in a tent, we would be canceling our reservations.

We saw about a dozen deer around the campground this afternoon.

Day 11 Friday April 12, 2019 Weatherbug (smartphone app) was correct. The rain started at 6:45AM and in about an hour a really thick fog set in. The rain continued until about 2PM followed by clear skies for the afternoon. Lots of camper began arriving after 4PM for the weekend. Later we checked the campground and put out the reservation signs for Saturday.

Day 12 Saturday April 13, 2019 Today's weather looks really nice but tomorrow rain is in the forecast again. Today should be a fairly easy day except we will have to relieve Jackie at the Contact Station for a couple of hours during lunch.

We had a nice easy day, picked up a little trash, talked to some of the campers, worked at the Contact Station about 2.5 hours and did some reading.

Day 13 Sunday April 14, 2019 A camper was at our door knocking at 8AM needing a truck jump started. By the time I got to their site they had found some jumper cables, which was good because my jump starter device was not charged up like I thought it was. They soon got the truck started and was able to leave before the heavy rain got here. Look like it is going to be a long wet day of staying inside.

There was a break in the rain about 6PM so we went out to check the campground and pick up the reservation signs for the few that had come in. I know some that are due in today are waiting until tomorrow when the weather will be better. We are ready for some sunshine.

Day 14 Monday April 15, 2019 Looks like mostly clear skies today and some sunshine but low 50's and windy so we bundled up in our coats again to put out the reservation signs and clean sites, etc.

Friends from Greenboro checked in to the campground for a few days so we stopped by their site mid afternoon to chat for awhile.

We believe the trees are leafing our earlier here this year than last year, maybe because it was a warmer Winter this season. The flowering trees are really pretty in the area. There are lots of dogwoods and several others that we don't know the name of that are in full bloom. We are at a 1900' elevation here so the trees don't leaf out as early as at home.

Day 15   Tuesday April 16, 2019 We are off today so we drove to a local country cafe named McGradys for breakfast. We ate here a couple of years ago for lunch so we decided to try them for breakfast. I got two of the best pancakes I have had in a long time and a nice piece of country ham. Lena got scrambled eggs, bacon and grits. The cook came out and told Lena that she might have added too much salt to the grits and if there were to salty to let her know and she would cook her some more but they were just right. Like most cafes the coffee was weak so then we drove into the Historic section of Elkin to Dirty Joe's Coffee to get some real coffee.

We restocked on some groceries before returning to the campground. No one works in the Contact Station on Tuesday or Wednesday so late in the day I checked in several campers and sold about 20 bundles of firewood even though it was my day off. The Visitor's Center closes at 5PM so there is no one to check the campers in after 5PM on Tuesday and Wednesday unless we help out. If the camper has reservations they could go on to their site because they have already paid but a person that has no reservation has not paid so it is better if someone can check them in and get their money before they go and set up in an empty site and possibly leave the next morning before anyone discovers them in the campground.

Nice view from the contact station toward the campground

Nice view from the contact station toward the campground

Red Bud tree in the park

our "front yard"

Our camp site

The path to the contact station from our site we made in 2015-2016

Day 16 Wednesday April 17, 2019 We drove out the back gate of the park on our way to Wilkesboro and stopped at Widows Creek Falls to get some early morning photographs. One of the Rangers told me a few years ago that an older lady that grew up on the land that makes up part of the park before the Goverment purchased it, claimed that the park staff had moved Widows Creek Falls because it is not where it was when she lived here. He assured her the falls had not been moved but she did not believe him. Look at the photos below at the size of those rocks and see if you think the staff moved the falls.

After we had breakfast we drove up to the Blue Ridge Parkway and traveled it for several miles before getting off and going into Sparta to try the Muddy Creek Cafe (a new cafe in town since last year).

We returned to the campground and relaxed and read for awhile. I checked a few campers in after the Visitor's Center closed for the day.

Day 17 Thursday April 18, 2019 We got out and began our day at 7:30AM, putting out reservation signs and sprucing up the campground since we were the last to work it since Monday. We stopped at our friends site and had a good cup of coffee and great breakfast pastry. Our coffee maker died several days ago so I have been missing my morning coffee. One of the campers came by and told me the toilets in the men's bathouse were plugged up so I had the pleasure of unstopping them.

Friends from High Point that are the campground host for August came to visit us for a couple of hours, then we relieved Jackie for her lunch period.

Our friends that we had breakfast with this morning came over for supper with us. We cooked Foil wrapped shrimp bowls on the grill. We cooked an extra one and I took it over to Jackie at the contact station. This is a good meal and easy to fix. It has squash, zucchini, sliced sausage, small potatoes, shrimp, melted butter and various seasoning wrapped up in aluminum foil and cooked on the grill about 20 minutes.We followed it up with cake and ice cream.

Since rain is in the forecast tomorrow morning we put out the Fridays reservation signs after we ate.

Day 18 Friday April 19, 2019 Heavy rain is expected today. This is our third Friday here and it has rained every Friday. We went through the campground about 8:30AM to check things before the heavy rain gets here. There is only one tent camper left this morning but several have reservations tonight but some probably will not show up due to the weather.

There has been an “explosion” of leaves on the hardwood trees in the last three days. Since we are sitting in a campsite surrounded by trees, the coming of the leaves is very noticeable. That is one thing I like about hosting here in April, we get to watch all the trees form their leaves.

As predicted it rained until late in the day, sometimes were heavy rain and we were under a tornado watch part of the day but we did have very high winds. So it was a long day of setting inside reading.

Day 19 Saturday April 20, 2019 No rain today but the temperature was in the high 30's at 7AM. It did warm up to the upper 40's by the afternoon so we did our campground work, did the lunch time shuffle at the contact station and set inside and read.

Nice Dogwood tree at site 90

Day 20 Sunday April 21, 2019 Much warmer today, so the campers are finally able to enjoy some of their time here but the weekenders have to go home today. We cleaned sites and did the lunch time shuffle at the contact station. We were able to enjoy some sunshine while we set outside for awhile.

Day 21 Monday April 22, 2019 It was cool in the early morning but it warmed up to the low 70's today with lots of sunshine. While we were doing our morning routine in the campground we stopped to help a camper that was having a serious problem with his roll out awning. A gust of wind blew one end of the awning up on top of his camper and broke one bolt on the connection to the camper wall and one bolt was pulled loose but he was lucky that none of the metal arms were bent. Two other campers came over and between the four of us we got it down and rolled up and secured.

We did our work in the campground, did the lunch time shuffle at the contact station, put out the reservation signs for Tuesday and Wednesday and set out side and enjoyed the really nice weather. Lots of kids here since the schools in the area are on a break.

Day 22 Tuesday April 23, 2019 We drove to Sparta for breakfast and decided to try a Hardees's Omelet Biscuit. They might have been fairly good have they been hot but they had been prepared for awhile and apparently had not been under a heat lamp because they weren't even warm. Probably should have taken them back but didn't. They now have a sign on the entrance about free WiFi but it was so weak only one of us could get on and it was so slow it was basicly useless to try to use, so we left and went to Becca's Backwoods Bean for a latte and pastry and use their WiFi.

From there we drove across the Virginia state line to visit a couple that we shared our dining room table with on our last cruise out of Charleston, SC. They invited us to visit them when we came to do our hosting duties. They live about 9 miles out of Independence VA. We had a good visit including a tour of their beautiful home. They live in a house his Great Great Grandfather built in 1890. They did a great job of remodeling it after they purchased it from a family member. He took me to some of his outbuildings and gave me several pieces of nice walnut and cherry wood, showed me his old tractor collection and his woodworking and mechanics shops. Then they took us to a local cafe for lunch.

Family home built in 1890

We returned to the campground mid afternoon and set outside to enjoy the excellent weather while we read. The weather today has been the best we have had this month.