Rural Hiking, Mt. Airy, NC

S noticed at the end of the hike that the rubber sole was coming apart on his shoes.  Since Tuesday was his birthday  and I was going to get him new hiking shoes anyway, I started looking for somewhere to get him some new ones where we were.  There were... two.  Fancy Gap Outfitters being the most promising and for the double bonus it was in Mt. Airy where we were already planning on heading for the day!

Okay, we are usually early birds.  Apparently, this town isn't full of early birds and most of the stores didn't open until 10am.  So, we decided to check in at the visitor's center.  The nice woman behind the "counter" gave us an okay map and marked it up with all the popular places and times they're open.  From there we decided to hit the Squad Car Tours.  The tour was 35 minutes which let us at 10ish when most of the stores were open.

The tour was interesting.  I had no idea Mt. Airy had a HUGE quarry there.  They have been mining granite for 100 years.  There were several Andy Griffith related sites, of course.  We passed the Gertrude Smith House.  She was a famous interior designer; famous for using stamped brass cornices on her window treatments.  The Christmas trees were GORGEOUS firs.  It was funny to pint out the antique glass to the docent.  The blue Versailles Fostoria power and perfume jar was neat.  It was original to the house, I'm sure.  Oops.  We did that last.  Apparently this is NOT a chronological account of our rural hiking.

When the tour was finished, we wandered the streets; stopping into various stores until we arrived at Fancy Gap Outfitters.  We spent some time (and some $$) in that store.  S found some nice new boots.  We purchased sock liners, socks, and I bought a new fleece.  This one is more functional than it is pretty.  I love my UK fleece, but it is not very wind resistant.  This one was $20 and it's perfect!

We wandered up the street more and popped into many stores.  We had lunch at the Blue Bird Diner, which is a diner that is the model for where one of the characters worked.  Trixie?  Was there a Trixie?

Anyway, the fried mushrooms were FABULOUS!  They were coated in a tempura type batter.  We gobbled them up!  I had a mushroom Swiss burger and S had chicken tenders.  Both were excellent!

The stroll down the second side was fairly quick   There were a few hops we went into, but they ere mostly tourist traps with lots of cheap souvenirs.  We didn't find any we couldn't love without.

We strolled back to the car and headed to the Gertrude Smith house I mentioned earlier.  This tour was very entertaining for many reasons.  The elderly docent was very funny and old school...  hint hint.  The house and trees were beautiful!  Gertrude's room was all pink.  I can't imagine...living in a room that's all pink.

We came "home" and let Missy be mountain dog for quite a while.  She LOVES not being on the leash.  I LOVE it when she poops in the woods and I don't have to pick it up.  It's a win-win!  She wanders and sniffs.  When she's gone too long, I holler for her and she comes running back.  She looks so happy!

Then, we made dinner, played cards and hit the sack!