Photos
Due to high winds and surf overwashing the dock at Falmouth, Jamaica, the port stop was scrubbed. Today became an extra sea day instead. So much for my plans for country #94. On to plan B. While I took a late morning shower to get rid of a good coat of sunscreen I wouldn't be needing, Clay made flight reservations for Thursday when we get back to Florida. We'll fly out of Miami for a one night stay in Montego Bay. They say if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans. We'll see if he keeps laughing at us.
We've been in high winds almost continuously since we left Port Everglades. It sounds like the Captain expects it to continue. At noon, he said we're in 15 foot seas. You could really feel it at the top deck's aft buffet restaurant. Our cabin steward said IoS stops in Falmouth all the time and he'd never known it to be cancelled before like this. I would imagine it was rare. Just bad luck. Hopefully, we'll make it on Thursday and back on Friday.
They announced that they'd automatically credit today's missed excursions to our shipboard accounts. Ours was $8 of our money and $75 of complimentary shipboard credit. So no real loss either way. We later found they'd automatically refunded port charges, fees and taxes.
It took a couple of slow Internet hours to get a hotel room and airport transfer booked. We needed to vacate the cabin for service since it seems on port days the stewards don't arrive until after the passengers would be ashore. It forced us to locate the library. Deck 5 forward outside the theater entrance.
We cancelled our dinner at 6:30 pm tonight at our reserved time & table. The movie Judy is scheduled to air at 6 pm tonight on TV. We'll go for pizza early so we can watch it. (Thumbs down for RCI for no on demand TV!) Last night we set a cruise meal speed record. We had ordered and finished our main course in 15 minutes! In and out in well under 30 minutes which meant we needed to spend another 1/2 hour loitering elsewhere to give the cabin steward an hour's allowance to service the cabin. Peppermint tea for me in Cafe Promenade since no one ever offered tea or coffee at the dining table after bringing dessert.
Photos
Little Bob hits the road
Little Bob hits the road
Tuesday, January 14, 2020
Monday, January 13, 2020
Labadee, Haiti
Photos
My 93rd country. I'm counting it even though RCI docks at Labadee, their private peninsula, and we didn't clear Jamaican passport control. We still set foot on the island of Haiti. There is a long narrow pier here with room for 2 ships. As the larger, we arrived first and took the sea side and Empress of the Seas arrived a bit later and took the shore side. There was plenty of space for everyone ashore. We went out about 9 am and returned about 11:30 am. We covered the entire peninsula except for the hilltop. We walked some and took trams some. I laid in a beachside hammock in the shade until I almost dozed off. We stayed out long enough to get sweaty. Clay got a t-shirt. The aggressive vendors ran us out of Artisan's Village keeping us from walking through. We couldn't seem to catch the single tram to the other side of the peninsula so walked out of our way to get there avoiding the Artisan's Village. After we walked to Columbus Cove from Nellie's Beach, we caught the single tram back to the beginning. We opted for the lunch buffet aboard ship rather than one of the 3 ashore. We think it was all the same food anyway. It was a good choice for us.
Day 3 and we finally located this ship's soft-serve ice cream machine. It is on the pool deck center aft near the splash zone. We had a direct pool deck view of Empress of the Seas from our balcony and could see theirs. It was forward on their pool deck. We'd seen people with cones on our ship but couldn't find our machine. After watching theirs in action, we walked our pool deck forward to aft until finding it. We'd been right there on boarding day and it must have been closed then. Anyway, now we know. We plan to have dinner at our reserved time on deck 3 dining room tonight.
All aboard is 4 pm. Shortly after all aboard a helicopter ambulance landed on the narrow pier. They brought a stretcher onboard and evacuated what looked like a 20-30 something man with a broken leg. Terrible and it will be expensive too. Tomorrow is this cruise's final port of Falmouth, Jamaica. Country #94. We're going to get a ship's transfer to and from Montego Bay.
Photos
My 93rd country. I'm counting it even though RCI docks at Labadee, their private peninsula, and we didn't clear Jamaican passport control. We still set foot on the island of Haiti. There is a long narrow pier here with room for 2 ships. As the larger, we arrived first and took the sea side and Empress of the Seas arrived a bit later and took the shore side. There was plenty of space for everyone ashore. We went out about 9 am and returned about 11:30 am. We covered the entire peninsula except for the hilltop. We walked some and took trams some. I laid in a beachside hammock in the shade until I almost dozed off. We stayed out long enough to get sweaty. Clay got a t-shirt. The aggressive vendors ran us out of Artisan's Village keeping us from walking through. We couldn't seem to catch the single tram to the other side of the peninsula so walked out of our way to get there avoiding the Artisan's Village. After we walked to Columbus Cove from Nellie's Beach, we caught the single tram back to the beginning. We opted for the lunch buffet aboard ship rather than one of the 3 ashore. We think it was all the same food anyway. It was a good choice for us.
Day 3 and we finally located this ship's soft-serve ice cream machine. It is on the pool deck center aft near the splash zone. We had a direct pool deck view of Empress of the Seas from our balcony and could see theirs. It was forward on their pool deck. We'd seen people with cones on our ship but couldn't find our machine. After watching theirs in action, we walked our pool deck forward to aft until finding it. We'd been right there on boarding day and it must have been closed then. Anyway, now we know. We plan to have dinner at our reserved time on deck 3 dining room tonight.
All aboard is 4 pm. Shortly after all aboard a helicopter ambulance landed on the narrow pier. They brought a stretcher onboard and evacuated what looked like a 20-30 something man with a broken leg. Terrible and it will be expensive too. Tomorrow is this cruise's final port of Falmouth, Jamaica. Country #94. We're going to get a ship's transfer to and from Montego Bay.
Photos
Sunday, January 12, 2020
First mainstream cruise, 2 new countries
Photos Saturday
Photos Sunday
Yesterday we drove across the southern end of Florida to Port Everglades by the Fort Lauderdale Airport. It was an easy drive on a toll road that cost $3.25 one way. Exact change not required. We boarded our first mainstream cruise with thousands of others and their children on the hottest day we've had down here. It was still not as painful as we'd imagined. If we'd arrived an hour later, it probably would have been painless. Live and learn. Not having done this before, we built in a cushion for delays. RCI has online check in and that was probably what made all the difference. Our keycards were waiting for us on the mail hook outside our cabin door.
We are on the 5-night Western Caribbean cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas. It is at least 4 times the size of the ships we normally sail. The largest ship we'd been on previously was Disney Wonder and it was half this size with only about 1/4 the kids aboard! I'm with Clay when he looked around bewildered yesterday and pondered why aren't these kids in school!
So once we boarded on deck 4 we were all trapped between the locked doors of the dining room and casino. That was a cluster cuss. There were inadequate elevators and we had our carryon luggage in hand and really didn't want the stairs as hot as sweaty as we were. People just kept pouring into the small area and the stairs it was. Clay carried both bags one flight up to the Royal Promenade. It is like the ship's Main Street or center of commerce. There are 2 places there where you can get fare included food and drinks; Sorrento's Pizza and Cafe Promenade. We were actually looking for another elevator banks but when we saw pizza with almost no line we grabbed a table. It was probably the least busy time we'll ever see on the Promenade! Lucky! The pizza was thin crust and quite good. You can get complimentary glasses of iced water from dispensers but no ice cubes!
After our pizza, we went to the elevators nearby and directly to deck 8 and our central cabin #8304. It has a veranda but is otherwise a standard cabin. Well. I say that but it is an adjoining with an interior door that is presently locked between us and the next cabin aft. It is larger than it appears in Clay's photo as he skipped the entire center seating/desk area. There is a club chair/coffee table plus desk & chair with storage and a cooling box missing from the photos. He was standing in that area shooting in either area. The cabin is in fairly good shape and efficiently laid out with more than adequate storage for a short cruise. Our cabin steward came and introduced himself and was eager to please. He brought our requested bucket of ice quickly. (In bad news, while he said he'd refill it every day for us today he took it empty and did not return it before noon! We'll see when or if it comes back or what we have to do. He called and immediately delivered it at 12:20 pm. I think he was waiting for us to go to lunch.) He saw us returning from the 3:45 pm mandatory boat drill hours later and went to our door and opened it for us. That was impressive as we barely remembered which was ours! The downsides of the cabin are the dirty glass balcony barrier and the rail at seated eye level and the paucity of electrical outlets. There are only 2 at the desk and one above the sink in the bathroom. The one in the bathroom only works when the lights are turned on, so no nightlight. The space under the bed is inaccessible due to being stuffed almost sold with big plastic comforter bags filled with spare linens. That is usually good storage space for suitcases. The cabin appeared clean until we found a used band-aid, a lisinopril tablet, a plastic tag holder and a long red strand of hair among other stuff on the floor. I know they have a quick turnaround, but really.
When we booked this cruise we were automatically give fixed late dining. Early dining wasn't available as it was filled. However, we could make a MyTime dining reservation early every night and we did. We booked all 5 nights online at 6:30 pm, the earliest available. However, onboard the 3rd floor MyTime dining area opens at 5:30pm. We didn't try to change to earlier as we'd had pizza around 2pm. The dining room is 3 stories tall and very noisy. Dinner service was surprisingly efficient and the food tasty. It was a sales opportunity from start to finish. Dress was casual as they said luggage delivery would take until 8 pm. BTW, all aboard was 3 pm, sailaway was announced at 4:30 pm but then at least 3 ships departed before ours and it was probably after 5 pm before we sailed.
You could see rough waves at sea from port. We sailed out into high winds and they continue. IoS is making about 18 knots in a 40 mph headwind today so that is fast. IoS is wobbling some but I expect it would be nausea-inducing conditions for me on our normal sized ships. We can see the coast of Cuba from our starboard balcony.
Today is Sunday so we had a sit down dining room breakfast just after 8 am. I had Eggs Benedict. It said it was classically prepared but they put basil leaves between the egg and the ham. The included coffee was perfectly drinkable to me. I've had much worse on more expensive lines. The dining room had 2 entry lines, one for a la carte which we chose and one for a buffet which surprised us. Again food and service were good. There was a long line to enter when we left!
We attended the shore excursions destination talk this morning at Clay's insistence. It was nearly an hourlong sales spiel for ship tours. I don't know what he expected. We left before the Falmouth port shopping talk began! We got caught in a malfunctioning elevator on our way there with a family of 3. That was a bit scary. We're using a lot of elevators!
Tonight is Formal night. We did not pack formal wear, so we've cancelled our dining reservation for this evening. In good news, the Cruise Compass says that the deck 11 casual buffet will be serving a Mongolian Theme tonight at 6 pm. We'll try that over pizza again unless it is too crowded. We'll see.
I'll post this now. If needed, I'll update it. Clay will probably update the photos. He bought a one device Internet package which means he is having a slow go uploading photos from his phone. Tomorrow is Haiti! A new country for me, #93. The 2nd oldest western hemisphere country after the US.
Photos Saturday
Photos Sunday
Photos Sunday
Yesterday we drove across the southern end of Florida to Port Everglades by the Fort Lauderdale Airport. It was an easy drive on a toll road that cost $3.25 one way. Exact change not required. We boarded our first mainstream cruise with thousands of others and their children on the hottest day we've had down here. It was still not as painful as we'd imagined. If we'd arrived an hour later, it probably would have been painless. Live and learn. Not having done this before, we built in a cushion for delays. RCI has online check in and that was probably what made all the difference. Our keycards were waiting for us on the mail hook outside our cabin door.
We are on the 5-night Western Caribbean cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Independence of the Seas. It is at least 4 times the size of the ships we normally sail. The largest ship we'd been on previously was Disney Wonder and it was half this size with only about 1/4 the kids aboard! I'm with Clay when he looked around bewildered yesterday and pondered why aren't these kids in school!
So once we boarded on deck 4 we were all trapped between the locked doors of the dining room and casino. That was a cluster cuss. There were inadequate elevators and we had our carryon luggage in hand and really didn't want the stairs as hot as sweaty as we were. People just kept pouring into the small area and the stairs it was. Clay carried both bags one flight up to the Royal Promenade. It is like the ship's Main Street or center of commerce. There are 2 places there where you can get fare included food and drinks; Sorrento's Pizza and Cafe Promenade. We were actually looking for another elevator banks but when we saw pizza with almost no line we grabbed a table. It was probably the least busy time we'll ever see on the Promenade! Lucky! The pizza was thin crust and quite good. You can get complimentary glasses of iced water from dispensers but no ice cubes!
After our pizza, we went to the elevators nearby and directly to deck 8 and our central cabin #8304. It has a veranda but is otherwise a standard cabin. Well. I say that but it is an adjoining with an interior door that is presently locked between us and the next cabin aft. It is larger than it appears in Clay's photo as he skipped the entire center seating/desk area. There is a club chair/coffee table plus desk & chair with storage and a cooling box missing from the photos. He was standing in that area shooting in either area. The cabin is in fairly good shape and efficiently laid out with more than adequate storage for a short cruise. Our cabin steward came and introduced himself and was eager to please. He brought our requested bucket of ice quickly. (In bad news, while he said he'd refill it every day for us today he took it empty and did not return it before noon! We'll see when or if it comes back or what we have to do. He called and immediately delivered it at 12:20 pm. I think he was waiting for us to go to lunch.) He saw us returning from the 3:45 pm mandatory boat drill hours later and went to our door and opened it for us. That was impressive as we barely remembered which was ours! The downsides of the cabin are the dirty glass balcony barrier and the rail at seated eye level and the paucity of electrical outlets. There are only 2 at the desk and one above the sink in the bathroom. The one in the bathroom only works when the lights are turned on, so no nightlight. The space under the bed is inaccessible due to being stuffed almost sold with big plastic comforter bags filled with spare linens. That is usually good storage space for suitcases. The cabin appeared clean until we found a used band-aid, a lisinopril tablet, a plastic tag holder and a long red strand of hair among other stuff on the floor. I know they have a quick turnaround, but really.
When we booked this cruise we were automatically give fixed late dining. Early dining wasn't available as it was filled. However, we could make a MyTime dining reservation early every night and we did. We booked all 5 nights online at 6:30 pm, the earliest available. However, onboard the 3rd floor MyTime dining area opens at 5:30pm. We didn't try to change to earlier as we'd had pizza around 2pm. The dining room is 3 stories tall and very noisy. Dinner service was surprisingly efficient and the food tasty. It was a sales opportunity from start to finish. Dress was casual as they said luggage delivery would take until 8 pm. BTW, all aboard was 3 pm, sailaway was announced at 4:30 pm but then at least 3 ships departed before ours and it was probably after 5 pm before we sailed.
You could see rough waves at sea from port. We sailed out into high winds and they continue. IoS is making about 18 knots in a 40 mph headwind today so that is fast. IoS is wobbling some but I expect it would be nausea-inducing conditions for me on our normal sized ships. We can see the coast of Cuba from our starboard balcony.
Today is Sunday so we had a sit down dining room breakfast just after 8 am. I had Eggs Benedict. It said it was classically prepared but they put basil leaves between the egg and the ham. The included coffee was perfectly drinkable to me. I've had much worse on more expensive lines. The dining room had 2 entry lines, one for a la carte which we chose and one for a buffet which surprised us. Again food and service were good. There was a long line to enter when we left!
We attended the shore excursions destination talk this morning at Clay's insistence. It was nearly an hourlong sales spiel for ship tours. I don't know what he expected. We left before the Falmouth port shopping talk began! We got caught in a malfunctioning elevator on our way there with a family of 3. That was a bit scary. We're using a lot of elevators!
Tonight is Formal night. We did not pack formal wear, so we've cancelled our dining reservation for this evening. In good news, the Cruise Compass says that the deck 11 casual buffet will be serving a Mongolian Theme tonight at 6 pm. We'll try that over pizza again unless it is too crowded. We'll see.
I'll post this now. If needed, I'll update it. Clay will probably update the photos. He bought a one device Internet package which means he is having a slow go uploading photos from his phone. Tomorrow is Haiti! A new country for me, #93. The 2nd oldest western hemisphere country after the US.
Photos Saturday
Photos Sunday
Tuesday, December 3, 2019
61st Birthday Road Trips, Part 2
Photos
Yesterday morning we drove up to Richmond, VA. I guess it took less time than expected and we arrived around noon. We found a Denny's a block from our motel so that is where we killed an hour or so having lunch. It had been years since we'd been in a Denny's. They have a mostly breakfast menu. There is a small 55+ menu on the back and we both ordered from it. Small portions that served us well. We shared a lava cake with chocolate ice cream because they were out of vanilla. Too bad! We couldn't get our room at Courtyard by Marriott until 1:15pm, so we had a walk through the Burlington Factory store across the street until it was time. The motel was huge and spread out. It was nice enough and quiet. The room was spacious and had a fridge and coffee maker. It was not particularly conveniently located but Clay selected it based on price. It was free with membership points on Marriott. So no complaints. We watched a movie after settling in before leaving for dinner. We drove to Stella's for dinner. We got there between 5 and 5:30 pm without a reservation and barely managed to get a table for 1.5 hours. Service was a little slow as they were filled and we had to skip dessert. The food was good, better than we'd had at the Raleigh Greek Festival.
We were up at 6 am this morning when my pill timer went off. Sometimes Clay lets me go back to sleep for an hour or so but not today. We checked out of the Courtyard around 8 am. We drove a couple of miles to a Bob Evans where I had fried mush for breakfast! Happy birthday to me. We got to the Virginia Fine Art Museum before it opened. We visited both Richmond and this museum previously but today we were here for a special exhibition of Edward Hopper and the American Hotel. Clay had seen this article last week and that was the reason for the last minute trip. It was a well presented exhibit and we were glad we made the effort to see it. It took a tank of gas and dinner was our big splurge. Otherwise, Clay still thinks this might be our cheapest per diem trip ever!
Photos
Yesterday morning we drove up to Richmond, VA. I guess it took less time than expected and we arrived around noon. We found a Denny's a block from our motel so that is where we killed an hour or so having lunch. It had been years since we'd been in a Denny's. They have a mostly breakfast menu. There is a small 55+ menu on the back and we both ordered from it. Small portions that served us well. We shared a lava cake with chocolate ice cream because they were out of vanilla. Too bad! We couldn't get our room at Courtyard by Marriott until 1:15pm, so we had a walk through the Burlington Factory store across the street until it was time. The motel was huge and spread out. It was nice enough and quiet. The room was spacious and had a fridge and coffee maker. It was not particularly conveniently located but Clay selected it based on price. It was free with membership points on Marriott. So no complaints. We watched a movie after settling in before leaving for dinner. We drove to Stella's for dinner. We got there between 5 and 5:30 pm without a reservation and barely managed to get a table for 1.5 hours. Service was a little slow as they were filled and we had to skip dessert. The food was good, better than we'd had at the Raleigh Greek Festival.
We were up at 6 am this morning when my pill timer went off. Sometimes Clay lets me go back to sleep for an hour or so but not today. We checked out of the Courtyard around 8 am. We drove a couple of miles to a Bob Evans where I had fried mush for breakfast! Happy birthday to me. We got to the Virginia Fine Art Museum before it opened. We visited both Richmond and this museum previously but today we were here for a special exhibition of Edward Hopper and the American Hotel. Clay had seen this article last week and that was the reason for the last minute trip. It was a well presented exhibit and we were glad we made the effort to see it. It took a tank of gas and dinner was our big splurge. Otherwise, Clay still thinks this might be our cheapest per diem trip ever!
Photos
Saturday, November 30, 2019
61st Birthday Road Trips, Part 1
Photos
This year my birthday coincides with Thanksgiving weekend. The busiest travel time of the year! So we'd planned to stay home. On Wednesday Clay suggested a day trip to Wilson, NC to visit the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park. The idea was that it was weather dependent. Unfortunately, the rain traveled at a different speed than forecast and we had a rainy morning in the upper 40s F. But, the rain kept everyone away and allowed me to be the finder of a shopping center's finders keeper gift! Somehow Clay didn't see it sitting on a picnic table all by itself even after I pointed it out. It was a $20 gift certificate and we spent it after we left the park. It was still a good morning even though cold and wet and gray. Here is my shout out for Shoppes at Brentwood and the store we visited, The Nook. Thanks! The gift tag had instructions to take a selfie in situ and post it to their Facebook page. We aren't on Facebook so we can't post there, but we posted a photo at our photo link. Click the hot link for Shoppes at Brentwood.
Right at noon we arrived at Dick's Hot Dogs. Though we have both been to Wilson numerous times, it was our first visit to every place we went today. It was a local color experience so we're glad we went when we weren't hungry. They serve crinkle fries, 'nuf said. Clay had a chili dog. The chili was surely a proprietary recipe because he conjectured it contained cinnamon and coffee. I think it might have been actual coffee grounds. I had a grilled cheese pita. The waitress if I wanted the lettuce, onion, tomato and cucumbers or any of the above. Um, none of that. Thanks.
Finding the present saved the day!
Next up a return to Richmond, VA which Clay suggested on Friday.
Photos
This year my birthday coincides with Thanksgiving weekend. The busiest travel time of the year! So we'd planned to stay home. On Wednesday Clay suggested a day trip to Wilson, NC to visit the Vollis Simpson Whirligig Park. The idea was that it was weather dependent. Unfortunately, the rain traveled at a different speed than forecast and we had a rainy morning in the upper 40s F. But, the rain kept everyone away and allowed me to be the finder of a shopping center's finders keeper gift! Somehow Clay didn't see it sitting on a picnic table all by itself even after I pointed it out. It was a $20 gift certificate and we spent it after we left the park. It was still a good morning even though cold and wet and gray. Here is my shout out for Shoppes at Brentwood and the store we visited, The Nook. Thanks! The gift tag had instructions to take a selfie in situ and post it to their Facebook page. We aren't on Facebook so we can't post there, but we posted a photo at our photo link. Click the hot link for Shoppes at Brentwood.
Right at noon we arrived at Dick's Hot Dogs. Though we have both been to Wilson numerous times, it was our first visit to every place we went today. It was a local color experience so we're glad we went when we weren't hungry. They serve crinkle fries, 'nuf said. Clay had a chili dog. The chili was surely a proprietary recipe because he conjectured it contained cinnamon and coffee. I think it might have been actual coffee grounds. I had a grilled cheese pita. The waitress if I wanted the lettuce, onion, tomato and cucumbers or any of the above. Um, none of that. Thanks.
Finding the present saved the day!
Next up a return to Richmond, VA which Clay suggested on Friday.
Photos
Saturday, October 26, 2019
Hart Square Village Festival
Photos
Today we visited Hart Square Village for their 1-day-a-year 34th Annual Festival. Tickets were purchased online months ago at $45 pp. That's pricey, but we had an amazing time. I would highly recommend this to anyone who can walk and see and has any interest in history or architecture. It is rough terrain with roots, rocks and mud for walking and every building has stairs but there were plenty of golf carts ferrying those who needed it longer distances. They aren't marked on the map but there were regular signs at selected benches for golf cart stops. We actually got offered a golf cart ride back to our parked car this afternoon which was a lucky stroke. The good news was that we actually remembered exactly where we'd parked and directed the cart driver right to it. It still saved us about a half-mile walk at about 2-2:30 pm.
Our most important stroke of good luck today was the weather. Earlier this week today's forecast had been about 62 F and rain. The system either slowed down or tracked further north because it will hit tomorrow now. Today was warmer and sunnier than we were prepared for clothing wise. We worked up a sweat we weren't expecting. It was about 75 F and mostly sunny. It was beautiful weather. We may have seen what will pass for peak color in fall leaves this year. The colors have been late and scarce this year with the leaves just falling off without a colorful display.
Back to the buildings... each has a theme like wool spinners, flax spinners, cooper, tinsmith, chair caner, soap maker, gunsmith, wheelwright, broom makers, rug hooker, etc. Every building was outfitted and had volunteers plying some skill or craft. The buildings weren't originally used that way but they were all some trade or craft theme now. It was amazing. We got to sample a lot of food too as there were volunteers cooking through out. There were working potters and molasses makers. We got to pan for gold. We saw bee boxes from the 1800's. We tried wood fired cornbread, fresh-pressed apple juice, brunswick stew, apple butter, butter, boiled peanuts and beer. We saw a working still, but no samples! We saw a working gristmill grinding corn. We saw a cotton gin, but sadly it had stopped working. Hart Square may be North Carolina's most secret treasure. It was one man's personal log structure obsession and well done.
Since we left at mid-afternoon, we drove out to another Catawba County historic site, Murray's Mill. There we saw the water wheel was not turning and skipped touring another mill. We shared a grape Nehi at the General Store. We got back to Hickory around 4 pm. We went to Tony's Pizza for dinner. It was good. New York Style. We shared a 10" pepperoni and sliced Italian sausage pizza. We drove over to Sweet Frog's for dessert in the same shopping center. I had a S'mores swirl and Clay had a chocolate peanut butter swirl. They were good.
We got back to the Sleep Inn just before sunset and the predicted rain. It was a great day and worth the trip!
Photos
Today we visited Hart Square Village for their 1-day-a-year 34th Annual Festival. Tickets were purchased online months ago at $45 pp. That's pricey, but we had an amazing time. I would highly recommend this to anyone who can walk and see and has any interest in history or architecture. It is rough terrain with roots, rocks and mud for walking and every building has stairs but there were plenty of golf carts ferrying those who needed it longer distances. They aren't marked on the map but there were regular signs at selected benches for golf cart stops. We actually got offered a golf cart ride back to our parked car this afternoon which was a lucky stroke. The good news was that we actually remembered exactly where we'd parked and directed the cart driver right to it. It still saved us about a half-mile walk at about 2-2:30 pm.
Our most important stroke of good luck today was the weather. Earlier this week today's forecast had been about 62 F and rain. The system either slowed down or tracked further north because it will hit tomorrow now. Today was warmer and sunnier than we were prepared for clothing wise. We worked up a sweat we weren't expecting. It was about 75 F and mostly sunny. It was beautiful weather. We may have seen what will pass for peak color in fall leaves this year. The colors have been late and scarce this year with the leaves just falling off without a colorful display.
Back to the buildings... each has a theme like wool spinners, flax spinners, cooper, tinsmith, chair caner, soap maker, gunsmith, wheelwright, broom makers, rug hooker, etc. Every building was outfitted and had volunteers plying some skill or craft. The buildings weren't originally used that way but they were all some trade or craft theme now. It was amazing. We got to sample a lot of food too as there were volunteers cooking through out. There were working potters and molasses makers. We got to pan for gold. We saw bee boxes from the 1800's. We tried wood fired cornbread, fresh-pressed apple juice, brunswick stew, apple butter, butter, boiled peanuts and beer. We saw a working still, but no samples! We saw a working gristmill grinding corn. We saw a cotton gin, but sadly it had stopped working. Hart Square may be North Carolina's most secret treasure. It was one man's personal log structure obsession and well done.
Since we left at mid-afternoon, we drove out to another Catawba County historic site, Murray's Mill. There we saw the water wheel was not turning and skipped touring another mill. We shared a grape Nehi at the General Store. We got back to Hickory around 4 pm. We went to Tony's Pizza for dinner. It was good. New York Style. We shared a 10" pepperoni and sliced Italian sausage pizza. We drove over to Sweet Frog's for dessert in the same shopping center. I had a S'mores swirl and Clay had a chocolate peanut butter swirl. They were good.
We got back to the Sleep Inn just before sunset and the predicted rain. It was a great day and worth the trip!
Photos
Friday, October 25, 2019
Hickory, North Carolina
This is a long anticipated trip to visit Hart Square Village tomorrow. This is the last Our State Magazine trip that was on the living room table since my Parkinson's diagnosis. The article ran in October 2012. But that is tomorrow.
Today we are in Hickory where there are motels. We got here mid-afternoon to tour Harper House. It is by hourly tours certain days and times. As it worked out, we had a private tour at 2 pm. It is well worth a visit and one of the finest preserved Queen Anne houses we've ever seen. Our $10 pp + taxes was well spent. Did you know Hickory was a treatment epicenter for a 1944 polio epidemic?
After that I don't have much nice to say about the rest... My grandparents taught me if you didn't have anything nice to say then keep your pie hole shut. I'll be brief. Hickory is a road nightmare. No grid streets and the names are mostly low digit numbers followed by Avenue, Street or Drive and subsequent combinations plus compass directions. So today we've been on 1 through 10 Streets, Avenue and are staying tonight on 13th Avenue Drive SE! I'd hate to need an ambulance or fire truck in Hickory! We are at the Sleep Inn tonight. There is nothing to recommend it. It is not especially conveniently located, not quiet, a bit smelly. It has those 4 small square bed pillows! It is surrounded by 2 other chain motels and a Cracker Barrel. We had dinner at Mountain Fried Chicken. It was unappetizing. I'd say it was inedible, but we actually ate it. We stopped at Udderly Delicious for ice cream for dessert. It was OK with huge servings.
Fingers crossed for a better day tomorrow since this trip is for Clay's birthday!
I am certain Clay took no photos today.
Today we are in Hickory where there are motels. We got here mid-afternoon to tour Harper House. It is by hourly tours certain days and times. As it worked out, we had a private tour at 2 pm. It is well worth a visit and one of the finest preserved Queen Anne houses we've ever seen. Our $10 pp + taxes was well spent. Did you know Hickory was a treatment epicenter for a 1944 polio epidemic?
After that I don't have much nice to say about the rest... My grandparents taught me if you didn't have anything nice to say then keep your pie hole shut. I'll be brief. Hickory is a road nightmare. No grid streets and the names are mostly low digit numbers followed by Avenue, Street or Drive and subsequent combinations plus compass directions. So today we've been on 1 through 10 Streets, Avenue and are staying tonight on 13th Avenue Drive SE! I'd hate to need an ambulance or fire truck in Hickory! We are at the Sleep Inn tonight. There is nothing to recommend it. It is not especially conveniently located, not quiet, a bit smelly. It has those 4 small square bed pillows! It is surrounded by 2 other chain motels and a Cracker Barrel. We had dinner at Mountain Fried Chicken. It was unappetizing. I'd say it was inedible, but we actually ate it. We stopped at Udderly Delicious for ice cream for dessert. It was OK with huge servings.
Fingers crossed for a better day tomorrow since this trip is for Clay's birthday!
I am certain Clay took no photos today.
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