Here we are, in Mayberry USA! We left the Charleston, SC area this morning and took a just under 300 mile drive to Mount Airy, NC, the town where Andy Griffith grew up and the inspiration for the town of Mayberry in the "Andy Griffith Show". We arrived midday and the first thing that the kids did was get into trouble. Sure...there's no one in that car at the moment, but you just know that Barney Fife must be lurking somewhere around here!
We walked down to Main Street and dropped into the Snappy Lunch restaurant, mentioned more than once on the "Andy Griffith Show", for a bite to eat. Steve and Anne both had the famous Pork Chop Sandwich, which was good indeed!
After Snappy Lunch, we walked nextdoor to Floyd's Barber Shop. The gentleman doing work in the background has been cutting hair at this place for over 50 years. He was on his way out though, having to go to a funeral, so Steve got his trim from the woman working on him below. She trimmed around the ears and the neck, leaving his vacation beard alone at his request. She even trimmed his eyebrows! Talk about pampering! The best part of the visit though was the conversation. There were men just hanging out in the shop, doing nothing but chatting. We talked about everything from sports to politics and had a great time doing it. Sometimes you forget how nice and polite people in small southern towns can be. This was a real treat!
Later, we worked our way to Wally's Service station...
...where we hopped into an old Mayberry styled patrol car and received a tour of the city. It was a hoot! The tour guide even ran the siren for us!
As I sit now, I'm in a room at the Mayberry Motor Inn where I was very surprised to find out that they had wireless internet. Who knew? Apparently, at least in certain places, Mayberry has gone modern.
Tomorrow, after seeing a couple more Mayberry landmarks in the morning, we'll be heading for the Blue Ridge Parkway. We'll be spending the night in a lodge on the Parkway, so we may not have the same modern convenience of the internet that we have here. We'll write again when we're able.
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