Girls Weekend Recap - Part II

Where did I leave off? Oh, yes, heading to Mt. Airy. On the way there, L wanted to stop at a dollar store to purchase an inflated Happy Birthday balloon for her mom who passed away just over a year ago. She would later let it go at my house outside, alone.

Here is a lovely shot of the stream at Shelton Vineyards from earlier in the day, taken by L.

We decided our next stop would be the Old North State Winery. But, before going tasting, we decided to have lunch. We soon discovered that Mt. Airy is the home/birthplace of Andy Griffith. So, what better place to have lunch than Barney's Cafe? It was a quaint little place that had a decent menu and low prices. The ladies room was under some stairs, so you had to duck your head just to wash your hands. After eating, the owner of the place started to fill us in on some local attractions. We were given a map and he pointed out a few things we might want to see, like Floyd's Barber Shop, Mayberry Sherriff's car, World's Largest Open Face Rock Quarry, etc...

We headed off and stopped first at "The Emporium" where they had tons of little shops within one big building. It was a completely adorable place to wander around, but I was good and didn't buy anything (can you believe it?). From there, we walked down to Old North State Winery. This winery doesn't grow their own grapes, but rather they purchase them from various local growers. They make the wine in the basemen to the place. Apparently, a long time ago and I don't remember the year, as the building was built in the 1890's, there was an explosion under the building. Well, while they were renovating for the winery, again, don't remember the year, they found a skeleton arm. On the bottle of one of the wines I purchased is this skeleton arm.

After the winery, we hopped in the car (it was freezing outside!) and drove to the world's largest open face granite quarry at The North Carolina Granite Corporation. We drove down the little road next to the quarry to get a better look. It was pretty neat to see, but I was too cold to look very much. I believe the granite from this quarry was used to build the Washington Monument or something, but I can't find it on their site. I did think that this little tidbit about the quarry was funny though:

• The Rock, as it is known affectionately by local citizens, was once considered a white elephant when it was purchased in 1849 by Robert S. Gilmer. He was so angry when he found this “big white rock” on what he thought was a farm, that he insisted the seller give him part of his money back. So the story goes, that the huge Mount Airy White Quarry was bought for zero.

After leaving the quarry, my van was COVERED in white powder. Here are a few pictures:

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The back of my van had a layer about 1/2" thick resting on the top of the back bumper. When I got home, BD told me there was no way he was washing it and that I had better take it to a car wash.

After our visit to the granite quarry, we headed over to visit the Mayberry Sherrif's car. You can actually pay for a tour that drives you around Mt. Airy (Mayberry) in the Sherrif's car. We didn't have time for all of that, but I did get a picture of the car, with the driver, before they left for a tour.
While at the Sherrif's car, we had a slight little mishap. My van doors open with buttons that are located in the front of the van, on my keychain and next to the doors themselves. I typically have the child safety locks on and therefore the buttons by the doors don't work. Well, since B was sitting back there, I had to constantly open her door for her. It was at this point that I forgot. L and I ran over to the car and snapped our pictures, then hopped back in the van. We were wondering why she didn't get out when she said, "mom didn't let me out!". At the time it was hilarious and L is still laughing about it today.

We had to hurry at this point because we needed to be back by 6PM for PM and DQ's basketball game. I wanted to get L over the Virginia border, since we were so close. We made it.
And, very quickly after snapping that picture, she also snapped this one as we headed back to the kids basketball game.
One last picture, before I leave you for the day. This one was taken Thursday night when we went out to On The Border for dinner. I think we look cute! L is on the left, I am in the middle and B is on the right.