Greenville, Salisbury, and Jamestown

There are a couple of interesting things about Greenville, South Carolina. One thing is that when we were there a couple of days ago, it was still green. We were in the mountains prior to that, where the fall colors were dominant, and past their prime. In Greenville, the colors were just starting to change.

The other is that there is a surprisingly big waterfall on the southern edge of the downtown area. It is not Niagara, but it does get your attention. They built a nice park with trails and a suspension bridge over it. We spent the bulk of the day there around the waterfalls.

This has been a different kind of a trip in that we haven’t had a set agenda, and we keep changing our mind on where to go or what to see. From Greenville, our planned destination was Charlotte, North Carolina. When we got to the Charlotte area, we found out that there was a big car race going on that weekend, and we couldn’t get a good rate on a hotel room. So we continued on and ended up in Salisbury where we spent the night. Salisbury is an old town that looks like it could have been the set of a 1950’s crime movie. It looked prosperous enough, but it just looked like it was from a different era.

From Salisbury we headed for Greensboro. On the way there we stopped through Jamestown where we toured the Mendenhall Plantation. This was an old farm dating back to the early 1800’s. Because the Mendenhalls were Quakers, there were no slaves on this plantation. It was thought that the Mendenhalls participated in the underground railroad.

The actual plantation looked pretty austere. The guy who gave the tour went into a lot of detail about the family history of the family, the community, and the building. The tour lasted well over an hour. They charged us a dollar each for the tour.

After lunch we decided to go to Winston Salem instead of Greensboro. We plan on touring the city Saturday.

Still in Asheville

Friday we went on a Gray Line tour of the Asheville.  It was a good enough tour, and gave a good overview of the city.

We moved to a new hotel on Friday.  We are in a Mariott in a commercial area I would describe as suburban anywhere.  It is a more comfortable place though, and we’ve been more comfortable here.

Once you drive around a little, you realize that Asheville is really a pretty small town.  Given that, the downtown area is surprisingly upscale.

After our tour, we went to tour the Thomas Wolfe house.  I originally thought this was the home of Tom Wolfe, the guy who wrote The Right Stuff and Bonfire of the Vanities.  Not so.  This is the Thomas Wolfe who wrote Look Homeward Angel in the 1920s.  While the tour was done well enough, I came out of it not particularly liking the house, Thomas Wolfe, or his family.

It rained all day on Saturday.  I saw this as an opportunity to catch up on a few things.  A day or two into the trip Phyllis told me that jeans I was wearing had unfortunate holes in unfortunate places.  I figured this would be a good day to get a new pair of jeans.

This is easier said than done.  I am short, and it is hard to find pants that fit me.  We started our quest by going to Kohl’s where I’ve had good luck in the past.  Not so this time.  I could not find a pair that fit.  I did learn a lot about jeans though.

Those who know me know that I do not have a sense of fashion.  I just wanted a lousy pair of jeans, and my only requirement was that they came close to fitting.  But in the process of finding a pair of jeans, I picked up some stuff.  I suspect you know this, but I’m telling the story anyway.  There are relaxed and regular fit jeans.  Relaxed sounded better to me, because I like to be relaxed, and don’t like tight fitting clothes.

But after trying on jeans I learned that the relaxed jeans have more than a skosh more room, and run two sizes larger than a pair of regular fit jeans of the same size.  It turns out that being thin, I am better off with regular fit jeans.

To make a long story short, after spending an hour at Kohl’s we went to Sears where I found jeans in my size in a couple of minutes.  All is well.

I also took Phyllis to a quilt store on Saturday.  It was raining pretty hard, but she wanted to go.  She is into quilt shops.

Today we the Biltmore, the old Vanderbilt estate.  This is a huge old house built at the turn of the last century.  They charge $50 to tour the place, which struck me as a lot to walk through an old house.  It was a self led tour.  Most of the staff in the various rooms weren’t much help.  I was amazed at the excess of the place.  It was basically a family home with hundreds of rooms.  It had a lot of fancy furniture and artwork.  But it didn’t look like a pleasant place to live.

The grounds of the place are very nice.  There were a few flowers in bloom, but being November, there wasn’t much in bloom.  The views of the mountains were in fall color, and were beautiful to see.

We are planning on leaving Asheville tomorrow, but we haven’t decided exactly where we will be going.  Greenville South Carolina is a possibility.

Dollywood and Asheville

Phyllis appears to be better.

Yesterday we went to Dollywood. Dollywood is a theme park founded by country singer Dolly Parton. The emphasis of the place, as you would expect, was country music and life in the nearby Smokey Mountains. It was a nice day weather wise, and it was nice being outside looking at stuff. They had some scary looking amusement park rides, particularly the wooden roller coaster, but we didn’t ride them.

We did go to some shows. The first one we saw was a major production about life in the Smokey Mountains. It told a story of a family that had to leave the mountains. It was a strange story with a lot of spiritual mumbo jumbo in it. The songs were written by Dolly Parton. I found the show to be king of strange, and I can’t recommend it.

We didn’t see Dolly there, but we did see some videos where she sang. You know, she really doesn’t have a very good singing voice. We heard a woman singing outside a restaurant, and she sang much better that Dolly. She is one of those people who do very well despite a lack of talent or real accomplishments.

We saw a birds of prey show that was all right.

Overall I found the Dollywood experience to be a bit disappointing, but that’s okay because we had a good enough time.

We ended up spending three days in Pigeon Forge, and we didn’t expect to spend more than one. There are a lot shows to see in Pigeon Forge; we didn’t see any. Our fellow tourists appeared to be our age or older. Last night we went to a crowded restaurant, and were seated with two older couples. It was like a cruise ship experience, and was okay.

We are now in Asheville, North Carolina. Getting here wasn’t easy. The main road from Pigeon Forge was shut down because a rockslide shut down all six lanes of I40. We took an alternate route that had a lot of slow curvy roads. We got here late afternoon.

We walked around town this evening, and were favorably impressed. We ate dinner at a vegetarian restaurant, that beat the heck out the country cooking that we ate in Tennessee. The downtown are is fairly vibrant. There are people on the street, and the stores all look to be pretty prosperous. There are street musicians who play for tips. None of the ones I was was very good, but they add a lot of color. The people we saw were mostly younger. Because of Asheville’s reputation as retirement community, I expected to see more older folks. The younger people made the place look more alive.

We are staying in a pretty lousy hotel tonight. Mostly, our fellow lodgers a very loud. We will find a better place tomorrow.

Pigeon Forge

Our first stop yesterday was Sevierville, TN.  Phyllis heard about it, and wanted to see it.  The road to Sevierville was under construction and traffic was very heavy.  It was the worst driving of this trip thus far.  There was a neat looking courthouse there, with excellent restroom facilities.  There were a couple of statues out front of the courthouse, an eagle and Dolly Parton.  It was a pretty flattering sculpture of Dolly.  Here are me and Phyllis by that statue. 

There wasn’t much else to see in Sevierville.  Phyllis spent some time in a quilt shop while I walked around.  She found out there that road we were planning on taking to Asheville was closed due to a rock slide.  There wasn’t much to see in Sevierville, so we went a couple of miles down the road to Pigeon Forge.  Pigeon Forge is a tourist trap kind of place, and is the home of the Dollywood theme park.

We’ve heard good enough things about Dollywood, but we didn’t go because it was getting late.  We are not going today because:

• It is raining
• Phyllis is ill
• They are closed on Tuesdays

Phyllis started feeling poorly after dinner, and when she took her temperature, she was running a fever.  Her fever was down this morning, but she still feels bad.  We decided to spend another day in Pigeon Forge.  She is resting right now.

We’re on the Road

We are on our fall road trip. Currently we are in Dry Ridge Kentucky. We have a fairly long trip planned, and I will keep you posted.

We got off to a fairly late start yesterday, around 11:00 am. We headed south, and made it as far as the Cracker Barrel in Monroe when we stopped for lunch.

The weather was good, and the car was comfortable enough. The roads got much better after we left Michigan.

The weather today is supposed to be good today. We should end up somewhere near the Smokey Mountains by days end. It is supposed to rain tomorrow.

We See Regis

We saw Regis Philbin’s show last night at the Andiamo Celebrity Showroom. Regis sang songs and told stories. He talked about Kelly Ripa, Gelman, and Joey Bishop. He told a few jokes. Regis got hurt recently. He mentioned several times that he was in pain, but he did what he could to put on a good show. We had a good enough time.

I had never been to the Andiamo Celebrity Showroom before. The seating took place at small tables, and was much too cramped. It was very stuffy in the main room, which held about 1,000 people. They had mandatory valet parking, which was very difficult to deal with when the show let out. They only had one obvious exit. If they had a fire there would have a lot of roasted Regis fans. I really disliked the facility, and can’t imagine an attraction that would get me to go back there.

Morris is back from Cabo San Lucas. Despite the weather, it sounded like he had a pretty good time. He had us over for fish tacos this evening, which were very good. It was good seeing him again.

I went to the class at the computer recycling place this afternoon. It was a good enough class.

I checked my calendar, and noticed that it has been seven years since I retired.  It has been an easy seven years, and definitely feel that retiring was the right move for me.  It is amazing how time flies when you are not doing much.

Indian Summer

Indian summer came on a Wednesday this year. It was sunny with a high near 70. I had other things to do, but I wasn’t going to waste the day. I rode my bike to the zoo. Phyllis met me there. I had a good time just walking around and looking at the animals.

October can be a nice month in Michigan, but that was not the case this year. We had three straight weeks of below average temperatures. It is raining today. We will not likely have another 70-degree day until May. We plan on heading south in a few days, probably to the Carolinas. I will keep you posted.

I blame Al Gore for the colder than usual weather we’ve had all year. He started spouting off about global warming, and folks just started doing stuff to make it colder. I know it’s a lot of hooey, but it’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Morris has been in Cabo San Lucas all week on a fishing trip. He got there just before hurricane Rick was due to arrive. At one point hurricane Rick was a category five hurricane with winds of 180 miles per hour. By the time it got to Cabo it had weakened to a tropical storm. Morris called to let us know he was all right, and that the weather was not that extreme. He managed to get out on a fishing boat yesterday, and caught fish. He is due to be home tomorrow.

Part of my routine in the morning since retiring is to watch Regis and Kelly. I think it is the funniest show on television. Regis will be in town this weekend. We have tickets to his show, and I look forward seeing it.

Phyllis Does New York

It’s been a while since I’ve written anything here.

The big news here is that Phyllis went to New York for a few days to visit Shannon. That left me home alone for a few days. I didn’t do a whole lot during that time. I went to the zoo. I attended a class at the computer recycle place. I did my own cooking, which while not very good, works for me.

Morris and his friend came over Sunday morning. They brought me some blueberry French toast that was very good.

Phyllis had a good time in New York. It sounded to me like they mainly went shopping and ate in a variety of restaurants. Shannon sent home some homemade chocolate cookies for us. I have to say that they were the very best chocolate chip cookies I ever ate. Nice work Shannon.

The weather here has been continued to be unseasonably lousy. It gray and cold with temperatures in the 40’s. Needing exercise, I’ve started mall walking again. I don’t particularly like mall walking, but it gets me out of the house and gets the blood moving. It works for me at that level.

The bad weather has me thinking about heading South. We need to make plans.

I’ve done my normal stuff: volunteering at the recycle place, going to the computer club, going to guitar club, and my new activity, going to yoga class. The yoga class didn’t seem as bad the second time I went.

Morris will be going fishing in Mexico this weekend. It sounds like an adventure.

It doesn’t seem like we’ve been that busy, but there is a lot of stuff to report on.

The Michigan/Michigan State game was not televised except on cable. We do not have cable. I got a call from Morris Saturday, and he suggested we go to his gym, where they were likely to have it on the TV’s there. He was able to get me in as a guest. The game was on. I typically root for Michigan State in this game; I went there back in the 60’s. This was a darn entertaining game. Michigan State got a big lead. Michigan tied the score at the end of regulation time. Michigan State won in overtime. I pedaled an exercise bike while I watched the game.

The Lions lost their game.

We go to a guitar club through Gilda’s. One of the members recommended the Paint Creek Folklore Society to us. They met on Saturday, and Phyllis wanted to go. We stayed for the song exchange. People got up and sang one song on the monthly theme, which was back to school and Halloween. Some of the folks could sing on key, others couldn’t. The range in talent was pretty wide. Still, it was enjoyable enough. I saw a guy there who used to volunteer with me at the computer recycle place. It was good seeing him.

Monday they had a senior fest in Royal Oak. These things are pretty common in Florida, where we go to get free handouts. The one in Royal Oak was right up there with the ones in Florida. They had entertainment and served a free lunch. We didn’t stay for the lunch. There was health screening, and you could get a flu shot there. We got a lot of the free stuff they were handing out. My favorite was a 3-½ inch cube of sticky notepapers.

Since the weather has crapped out, I haven’t been getting enough exercise. Phyllis has been going to a chair yoga class at Gilda’s, and has been very happy with it. I last went to a yoga class about 35 years ago, and didn’t care for it at all. I’ve never been very flexible. But I figure, how tough can chair yoga be? I get there, and the other people in the class were older women. To make a long story short, this was a lot tougher than I thought it would be. I had trouble keeping up, and it seemed like it went on forever. Still, I will likely try it again.

The Detroit Tiger’s tied for the lead in their division with Minnesota. Last night they played a game to determine which team went to the playoffs. Sadly, Minnesota won an exciting game in the 12th inning.

An old friend of mine from work, John Salazar, was in town from Florida for a family event. We met him and his wife for lunch yesterday. They were looking well, and I enjoyed seeing them again.

Howard and Phyllis Go to Battle Creek

Tuesday I volunteered at the computer recycling place. I hurt my back, and didn’t stay very long. I feel much better now.

I signed up for a class in video production through adult education. The first of two classes was last Wednesday. It was held at a place that local communities sponsor to cover local events. The guy who taught the class talked about interviewing and covering local events. I found this to be fascinating. He covered everything from shooting video and interviewing techniques to editing the final product. I’ve tried this sort of thing, and those of you who have seen my “Howard Goes to the Detroit Zoo” video know, my technique, to be polite, was short of professional. At any rate, the guy put on a very good class, I learned a lot, and I really enjoyed the class.

Friday was the day we went to Battle Creek. We had two goals. The first was to go to the Binder Park Zoo. We picked this day because the weather was good, and the zoo was closing for the season soon. The Binder Park Zoo is a fairly small zoo, but it very nice. The exhibits are generally small, so you get a much better view of the animals. It is divided into two sections, the main section and the African section. You take a tram to go between them. The highlight of the trip was the baby giraffe, which was only two months old.

I had a good time at the zoo.

Our second goal was to visit an old friend, Harvey Gavorin. I have known Harvey since early childhood, and I had not seen him in about 25 years. Harvey had a bad on the job accident about ten years ago, and wasn’t in the best of shape. I enjoyed seeing him again.

Sunday, Phyllis went to the Art in the Park art fair in Birmingham. It wasn’t in a park this year though. The park is shut down for renovations, so they held it in a parking lot. I thought they should have renamed it Art in the Parking Lot, but that’s just my opinion. They had some interesting things there, and for an art fair, it was okay.

The Loins, after 19 consecutive losses, won a game on Sunday. I predicted that they would win a game this year, and by golly I was right. There’s no stopping them now.

I’ve been writing this blog for over seven years now. It is just something a retired guy does. Thanks to those of you who have stuck with me.