additional travel notes

When Dorothy and I traveled to North Carolina two years ago I ate biscuits and gravy every morning at a different restaurant. I thought since we were in the south I'd get some that tasted as good as Dorothy's. No such luck. Dorothy blamed it on the practice of restaurants in using a commercial gravy mix instead of making their own. Well, I was disappointed. This time I stayed away from the biscuits and tried to order something different each time. Part of the pleasure of traveling is finding good food to eat. Sometimes that's like searching for buried treasure. We found three good eating spots this trip. A&R Bar-b-Que in Memphis, the Petunia's Pain Perdue (french toast) at the Tupelo Honey Cafe in Asheville, and the mexican-jamaican fare at the Salsa Mexican Caribbean restaurant, also in Asheville.
We had heard how North Carolina barbecue was really tasty, but it fell far short of the Memphis style. The NC sauce was heavy on the tomato sauce and vinegar, while Memphis sauce is heavier on the molasses and hot spices.
Another place we enjoyed was the Mackey's Ferry Peanuts in Jamesville, NC.
They prepared the lowly peanut in every way possible, french fried, blister fried,
flame-thrower peanuts, old fashioned parched, dry roasted, and sugar coated. They also had excellent peanut brittle. I took some with me.

Before we left on the trip, Dorothy and I told our friends and neighbors where we were going, said good bye, we'll see you when we get back. Our grand daughter Sam kept in frequent contact with all her friends. Her cell phone was hot with activity all during the trip. When we arrived back at Fayetteville we stopped at the Hogwild Pizzeria for one last meal together before splitting up. Sam was on the cell phone and in ten minutes her best friend Christie showed up and they were soon gone. Lot's of things to do that evening. Dorothy and I were anxious to get home and fall into a familiar bed. Am I envious of the energy level of the grandkids? Not really. I'd rather fall into a familiar bed with Dorothy on a Saturday night than try to keep up with the youngsters.