Mediterranean Cruise

So much for staying at home. We flew to Italy for a 10-day cruise with our son and his family. To see the details, check out our other blog at http://noordamcruise2008.blogspot.com.

Knightdale, NC

I can't quite believe it...it's over. After 67 days on the road and a little over 5,000 RV miles under our belt, we're actually HOME! What an awesome adventure we've had. I still can't get over how diverse and beautiful this country is and how friendly everyone was and how we survived eating so much good food without putting on weight (of course, all that walking around the many monuments, museums, towns, and tourist traps helped a lot). We'd especially like to thank all of our friends and family we visited on this trip for their warmth and hospitality and thanks to all of you for sharing in our fun via this blog. BTW, if you are a glutton for punishment and would like to see all of our 1,000+ pictures, let us know. Stay tuned, I have a feeling that a Travels with John and Susan II blog will be coming out soon. Now off to bed... zzzzz zzzzz zzzzzz

Mt Airy Part Deux

We've kind of taken it easy around Mt Airy these past few days. Our friends from the Sams-O-Wake RV Club started arriving on Wednesday and have kept us busy visiting and getting caught up on whats been happening with everyone over the past few months. On Saturday, after visiting the Mt Airy Historical Museum, we were treated to a tour of the house where Eng and Chang, the famous Siamese Twins used to live. Then we all went out to The Depot - an awesome restaurant in Dobson, NC - where we totally pigged out on some good food at reasonable prices. Highly recommended if you ever get up this way but keep your belt loose.

Galax, VA

Today, I headed to Galax for the 73rd Annual Old Fiddler's Convention - about 25 miles away from our camp. Susan stayed at the RV...she'd had enough music at Clifftop. This being a new festival for me, I didn't know what to expect. I arrived about 11:00 a.m. and found almost everyone was still recuperating from the previous night's jamming. Pretty darned quiet everywhere. I spent over five hours walking around, occasionally seeing some old bluegrass friends or hearing a few bluegrass jams, but not finding any old-time jams at all. If I'd only had my bass with me. When it started to rain, I left. Oh well... I guess this is one of those late-night festivals. I got some good exercise though...

Mt Airy, NC

After getting settled in and getting the chores done (even us happy wanderers have to do laundry once in a while), we decided to visit the North Carolina Granite Quarry - the largest open face granite quarry in the world. And this thing is downright BIG - over 90 acres in size! Geologists say there is enough granite here to last over 500 years. Granite from this quarry has been used to make the Wright Brothers Monument in Kitty Hawk, paving and curbing for the new WW-II Memorial in Washington, DC, and many other well-known buildings and monuments. I'm sure there are a few kitchen counters out there, too.

Next, we explored some of the many Andy Griffith locations in Mt Airy including his childhood home (now a B&B), the Andy Griffith Playhouse and Memorabilia Museum and, of course, the famous bronze statue of Andy and Opie goin' fishin'. We even saw Barney's squad car giving tourists a ride around town. Shazaam...

Clifftop, WV

We arrived at Clifftop for the Appalacian String Band Festival on Tuesday afternoon and set up camp in our usual spot at the bottom of the hill. There is no internet and no cellphone service here - hence the delay in posting this. If you've never heard of Clifftop, it is a remote mountaintop park called Camp Washington-Carver in the middle of West Virginia where, once a year, it hosts thousands of folks who love to play or listen to old-time music. This year there were over 2,400 of us here. We spent the rest of the week visiting and playing music with old friends and making lots of new friends. Just too much fun...

On Sunday morning, we headed for Mt Airy, NC (almost home...) where we'll spend the last week of this trip. Along the way, we stopped and took a good look at the New River Bridge, Completed in 1977, it is the western hemisphere's longest single-arch steel span bridge. It rises 876 feet above the New River (I actually rafted under this bridge shortly after it was built). From the visitor's center, it is 172 steps down (and up) to the viewing area where I took this picture. Whew!

Williamstown, WV

We're on our way down to Clifftop for some good old-time music. As soon as we crossed the Ohio River, we stopped off for a while to visit the Fenton Art Glass factory in Williamstown, WV. Their factory tour gave us an excellent close-up view of the steps used in making the gorgeous glassware for which they are so famous. During the tour, we stood on the production floor and watched as a master glass blower created a beautiful vase from a glowing blob of glass. Once he was satisfied, he heated it again and stamped his initials on the bottom. From there, we watched some of the finishing operations where designs are painted or etched onto the glass and any burrs or sharp edges are removed. The tour ended at the gift shop (where else?) where Susan purchased a nice piece for her collection - of one.