We are back home from our trip, but I am sharing my daily diary and will be repeating this paragraph for a while. I will also be sharing the link to the cabin's website (name below in red lettering), for anyone to take a look, and just in case you would like to rent one day. You can read all posts from our vacation if you go below this one and click on the label with the title 'Pilot's Perch Vacation_July 2019'.
From July 21st to July 26th, 2019
Part 3
Tuesday, July 23rd, 2019
9.39 a.m.
We slept downstairs below the main living level, in the bedroom with the balcony and a great view of the Yadkin Valley. I woke up a couple of times, sat up in bed and just stared out the window/sliding door to outside. Probably my inner clock was telling me to do that. I went outside before dawn most mornings and sat in one of the comfortable rocking chairs, waiting for the light. It was stunning and photos never do it justice. We both made good use of those rocking chairs.
Today we are heading to Mount Airy in North Carolina. It's not too far, only about 14 miles. Many remember the Andy Griffith Show in the 60s. I used to watch it in reruns when I moved to the States. Mount Airy was Andy Griffith's childhood home and the fictional town, Mayberry, was based on it.
The GPS took us over the mountain this time. Gregg had pointed out other cabins way, way up there when we were at the bottom, and I jokingly said that at least we didn't have to go up there, did we?
The start of the directions took us through a really neat covered bridge.
It was raining but just sprinkling (I am sharing covered bridge photos on another day too, when it wasn't raining).
What's a little rain? We can handle that we said. We passed a small waterfall, wasn't sure it was meant to be a waterfall. The road at first was a paved road, still quite narrow. (A few of these photos were probably taken on our second trip to take photos of the bridge, on a dryer day)
There is a pond around here somewhere, but we didn't have time to explore over these few days.
Further along it was a dirt road. It had rained hard the night before and in one spot the road looked muddy and a bit washed away, but not too bad. No way you would want to reverse down that hill so we were glad no cars came the other way. This road reminded me of the country roads around my village when I lived in the UK back in the day, but this was going up a mountain. Gregg did a great job of navigating around the bad spot, and then the road started going up and became more winding. It also became narrower and we were thankful yet again that we were the only ones on it. (Of course there is an easier, more flatter road to get out of the area, the way we came in originally, and I love GPS normally but not on this trip.) It got steeper.
We slowly passed those cabins we had seen when we were below, and wondered if they were rentals or did people live in them full time? If they were here permanently how did they handle the winter months with ice and snow? A four-wheel drive would be on my shopping list. We passed one lady on her porch chatting to a handyman who was getting into his truck. They both waved and smiled as we went by, actually grinned more like it, good naturedly. They must have seen the expression on my face as their cabin was right on the road. I imagined them saying, "Look at these two dillys? Don't they know any better?" Apparently not!
A little further up and as we were wondering how much longer it would be before we popped out onto a main road, I noticed slight movement in the undergrowth. Gregg stopped for a few moments. It was safe to stop, no cars coming or going. A wild turkey popped his head up, turned his neck and stared at us. I took a few photos but only managed a blur and these were the best I could get. The rain was not cooperating at this point, and we had a dark cloud over us. The turkey stayed there pecking away for a moment or two, and then decided we were not moving until he did. It ran really fast across the road and disappeared in the undergrowth.
We eventually got onto the main road and Gregg said he wouldn't want to go on that one again. He was concerned for our tires, but they were okay.
Not long after we reached Mount Airy. It would have been nice to walk around but by this time there was a torrential downpour. I got very good at taking photos in between each swipe of the window wipers.
We did get a few photos but realizing rain was in the forecast for the whole day, we decided to go back to the cabin, where we spent the rest of the day. But first, a few rainy-day photos.
Barney's Cafe is over there somewhere.
I saw this in the town and of course I had to get a photo.
We didn't see much and fully intended to go back and explore, but we ran out of time.
Another good excuse to return.
Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, and I am looking forward to seeing a little sunshine.
I'm glad we were not so far away from the cabin, as I was looking forward to relaxing in its comforting surroundings. I am a big fan of our host's wall hangings, and I hope she won't mind if I share another one. Below is part of a stained glass in the window next to the dining table.
But I digress, we aren't far away and while driving by a large field I once again saw movement. There were large birds in the distance. Gregg wanted to see what I had spotted and he stopped. When I looked through the camera lens I still couldn't make out if they were wild turkeys or turkey vultures, but studying the photos later I thought they were young wild turkeys.
What do you think?
I may be wrong but I looked for a few facts anyway and found this website. It had this illustration.
It is the early evening now and we have been back for several hours. We have spent a very relaxing time in the cabin. Gregg has been reading and I have been working on my laptop. The Wi-Fi is great here. It still feels very much like a vacation in the cabin. The rain has stopped and there are ribbons of mist over the valley.
Tomorrow should be a nice day. We are going to look around a botancial garden in Winston Salem. It is 50 miles from here. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the weather forecasters are correct.
Thank you for continuing to follow our vacation, and I wish you all a great weekend.
