Marble, NC trip: day 2

 

We started the day out with a cup of coffee on the deck and an excellent mountain view. I was checking my email and such and Raymond was reading the local paper. He came across an article that struck us both a little funny. The next town over, Andrews, decided to remove a stop light. In our county we don’t remove anything, we keep adding and adding and adding.

 

Our loosely laid plans for the day were to travel north to the four lane, the high way, and head west on 28. We had been on this mountain road in the past, but we were heading to another scenic view off of it.

 

I mention the word “loosely”, because we never know exactly what we end up doing. That’s the beauty of a vacation, there really aren’t many plans, maybe a direction. On our way to the mountain, we stopped at several places that kept delaying our destination, but not our journey.
Our first stop was at a fishing hole owned by the Welch family. During the Indian wars John Welch would give local Indian families refuge from the marauding settlers.

After that we stopped for a biscuit at Hardees, this was a top of the morning destination and not to be interfered with. While there a guy walked in the restaurant without a shirt on. We asked an employee about the “No shoes, no shirt, no service policy” and she said, “He has a shirt. See it’s in his hand, so he’s good.” We grinned and finished eating.

 

An quaint old thrift shop ran by Hank was our next unscheduled visit. Raymond was interested in two items and neither one of them were for sale. We waited till we were in the car before we laughed about that.

 

We stopped at the Nantahala Outdoor Center, also known as the NOC. I didn’t know that the NOC was on the Appalachian Trail , AT for short, or I would have talked to more people about there walk on the AT. We ran into several people walking the AT and a pair of ladies took our picture next to a AT sign. They were running from the hurricane, Matthew.

 

We stopped by a nice little restaurant by a creek called Kelly’s, they boasted about their Bison Burger. It was very good. We also received more information about the fly remedy. Hang a water filled sandwich baggie to keep flies away. The water interacts with the flie’s eye sight, you can put a few pennies in it to keep the water clear.

 

Further up the road we pulled into Ruby Mines. At this little spot you can buy a bucket of sand and sift for gems. I bought some neat little rocks for my Grandson Blake, he loves Geology.

 

I finally ate some Boiled Peanuts at the next stopover. I don’t see the appeal. The peanut guy gave us directions to our destination, which turned out to be in the wrong direction. His directions took us further back in the hills past a Trout farm and Winery. We kept trucking and it eventually took us through the very scenic Tellico Gap. At the top of the gap was an intersection with the AT. It looked like it might have been a resting spot for many hikers.

 

 

After we continued down the mountain we went home for a rest, before we went back out to watch the movie The Magnificent Seven. If you like westerns, you will probably like this movie.

 

It was a great day with my best friend.

Marble, NC trip: day 1

My buddy, Raymond, has enjoyed genealogy for decades and through his research he found a lot of his family tree in the mountains of western North Carolina and Georgia. This prompted him to buy a vacation spot twelve years ago in Marble, NC., that he visits a half a dozen times a year.

He asked me to go with him this week and of course I said, “Yes.” When we left Southern Maryland on Wednesday at 3 am, it took us twelve hours to get to Marble. However, I let him down because I wasn’t able to drive, at all. Poor guy caught thirty minutes of shut eye half way down so he could finish the trip.

Hurricane Matthew was getting ready to pound the eastern shore of Florida and Raymond’s son lived directly in the deadly storm’s path. This added heartache on top of the exhaustion. After much worry and prayers, we found out that his son was alright and never even lost power.

After we arrived in town; we cut the water on; plugged in the refrigerator and checked a few other items off of his check list. Being a glutton for punishment, but a lover of ice cream we went out to a town called Murphy to satisfy our sweet tooth.

Raymond knew of a place called “No Name, Old Fashion Ice Cream Parlor”. Fantastic place with a charming shop owner named Amie Sue. We sat at the counter of the fifties styled business establishment and enjoyed two delicious banana splits. Met some nice people then went home and recharged for day two.

Richard R. Clark Senior Center

 

The, “Clark Senior Center” is one of four senior centers in Charles County, MD. It’s the cream crop and located at the intersection of Rt 6 and Rt 488 in La Plata, MD.

 

The membership requirements are minimal, you need to be at least sixty years of age and reside in Charles County, MD.

It offers many activities; such as, large gatherings of card games, an inviting fitness center and three pool tables. All of these are well attended in the mornings. They also offer computer classes and Creative Writing classes and all of the above are free.

You can attend guitar, piano, Spanish, classes for a dollar a lesson. There are so many more activities for free and for nominal fees.

 

My buddy, Raymond and I, walked in at 9:30 am and didn’t leave till 3:30 pm. We met so many nice people, that it didn’t take us long to make this one of our favorite places.

 

Note: The wedding party had their own paid photographer. However, the photos posted here were taken by me on my cell phone.

 

Port Tobacco Marina-Wedding

On September 24th, Port Tobacco Marina (PTM) was closed to the public in order to provide their beautiful surroundings and talented catering staff for a wedding ceremony.

 

The day started out with a pleasant breeze and overcast, but rain was not to be seen. By the time the ceremony was underway the sun was out, so the Bride and her entourage were granted the colors they wanted for the background.

The proceedings began at four o’clock on the restaurant side. At five forty five everyone crossed over the walking bridge to the Marina, when the matrimony was performed.

The crowd was dressed to the nines, but the Bride was a sight to behold in her flowing white gown. Then everyone crossed back over the bridge for the perfectly catered services performed by Chris and the Marina staff.

 

The band performed on both sides of the bridge and the photographer was busy capturing the lively crowd and beautiful scenery. The parking and Marina site was organized by the reliable PTM employee Mike Miller and his staff.