Cary, North Carolina - November 14th, 2021
Next on our agenda was visiting old friends in Cary, North Carolina. We had no plans on what to see or do in Cary. Our top priority was spending quality time with our friends.
The drive on Saturday from Frisco Campground on Cape Hatteras to Jordan Lake State Recreation Area in North Carolina was lovely. Along the highway back on the main land, we stopped at a rest area for lunch. Behind the visitor center were a couple of picnic tables overlooking the Scuppernong River, right next to the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. It was a perfect spot. While we were there, we got out the air compressor to put more air in our tires. Our Tire Pressure Monitoring System (EEZTire-TPMS - paid link) was indicating that the rear tires were a little low on pressure.
Continuing further down the highway, we passed quite a few cotton fields. We’re not sure we’ve ever seen cotton growing in person before. It must have been close to harvesting time, because most of the fields were already cut. There were balls of cotton littered alongside the highway and across the landscape. An industrious person might be able to collect all of that and make themselves some clothing. It seems like they need a better way of harvesting the cotton without losing so much of it.
When we arrived at Jordon Lake State Recreation Area, we discovered that the camp site we reserved was too steep to park our Red Tail Lodge (our van) on. It was going to be a cold night, so we needed to be able to run the Espar heater. Even with using all the leveling blocks we have with us, we still would be way off from level and the heater would not have been happy. Returning to the check-in station, we asked if there was any way we could switch sites. The answer was no, which is what we were expecting since we earlier saw the sign saying the campground was full. We turned in our site tags and booked a room at a nearby hotel. That’s the first time we have turned down a camp site. Since we didn’t want to cook in the hotel parking lot, we had a lovely dinner at the nearby Danny’s Bar-B-Que.
Sunday was spent visiting our friends, Duke, John, and Stephanie, in Cary, North Carolina. We started out the morning at the German bakery called Annalore’s. They had so many wonderful pastries to choose from, it was hard to decide which one to get. Left Buddy (LB) had the bacon and cheese scone. Right Buddy (RB) picked out the cherry strudel and an almond croissant. We sat inside the lovely shop for a couple of hours, enjoying lengthy conversations with our friends while we ate our pastries and sipped our coffee and tea. LB added a cherry strudel to his treats. We left with a bottle of glühwein and two half liter bottles of Andechs beer. It’s hard to resist buying items that remind us of our time in Germany a few decades ago.
John and Duke gave us a nice walking tour of downtown Cary. The cute shops lined Chatham and Academy streets. A craft fair filled the parking lot of Fidelity Bank. A nice little park is tucked in behind the police department building. In the park, proud parents were taking photos of their daughter dressed up in her tutu. A few murals dressed up the sides of some of the downtown buildings. Art sculptures provided interesting points of interest along Academy Street. A large area by Downtown Cary Park is under construction. It will become a large park complex that looks like it will be the main attraction downtown once it is completed.
We made our way over to Bond Brothers Beer Company for more food and drink. Bond Brothers does not serve food, but there is usually a food truck parked nearby. Today the food truck was Buff-O-Lina. In a switching of roles, RB had the red neck dog and LB had beef on weck. RB normally isn’t a big fan of hot dogs while LB usually seeks out hot dogs. OK, so maybe we’re not as predictable as we thought we were. The large area of outside tables at Bond Brothers were filling up. It was a sunny, Sunday afternoon and lots of people were outside to enjoy it. LB and our friends washed down their food with a glass of delicious Bond Brothers Beer. Another hour or so was spent sharing wonderful stories with Duke and John.
As if we didn’t have enough to eat yet, we walked over to FRESH Local Ice Cream. We weren’t that hungry, but there is always room for ice cream! Savoring more delicious food while savoring each other’s company.
Our relaxing day with friends continued back at Duke’s house. An evening of sipping glühwein and reminiscing about our shared past made the time pass too quickly. For dinner, we ordered sandwiches from Ruckus Pizza, Pasta, and Spirits, a local chain.
We love traveling around, seeing and experiencing new things. But it is also nice to kick back with old friends and reflect on the past. Add a cute, small town along with wonderful food and drinks and you have a very fulfilling day.
Check out our related video: Cary, North Carolina
(RB)