we soldiered forward through the fog that always seems to cover the blue ridge mountain range when i visit…first to the music center:

i loved it all…but my favorite was an old film of mother maybelle singing wildwood flower on the earl scruggs tv show…there was a recording of doc watson talking about his life that i really enjoyed, too, but i watched maybelle twice and almost cried.  what a woman…

having watched every episode of andy griffith at least twice (thanks to casey) i was interested to find what is the Real mayberry, according to the old lady who sat behind the counter at this spot:

the place was just off the parkway and she said that it’s where andy grew up and where his father and grandfather did their shopping and got their gas…she had the autographed pictures and some stories to prove it.  the inside reminded me of bill bunting’s store that was down the block from my grandma in grayville…some of the stock looked that old, too.

then there was mabry mill, the most photographed spot along the drive…

so what if the weather wasn’t so great, we Love those mountains and we’ll be back to tease them out of their fog…

we’re in allentown, pa for the night.  we’ll drive into manhattan around noon tomorrow and pick up miss em from school at 2:30.   she and i have been counting down the days…soooo excited…!