Shop 'til you drop....really!!!!!!!

I promised to tell you why I had to take a 2 hour nap yesterday..well , it was shopping. When we told some folks at the Monaco rally that we would be in North Carolina, they said go to High Point...it's where all the furniture manufacturers are, and you can get huge bargains. Since we need almost everything for the new house, we decided to take a look. Unfortunately, we only had one day to be there, and I knew it would only scratch the surface. The visitor's center told us to go to "Furnitureland South" because it is the largest furniture store in the U.S. They weren't kidding...We covered every square foot of the 4 story, 1 million square foot (honest) building. By the end of the day everything started to look alike, and all we wanted to do was get out of there.

You need to be in High Point at least 1 week to appreciate it, ...just minutes from that store there are many many more with very familiar brand names, and some unusual ones, too. The prices are all very competitive, and you never pay retail price. Some are discounted 40 to 50 percent. The shipping charges might put a big dent in your savings, though. The neat thing about it besides the savings is that you get to see so much all in one place, and you can take your camera to keep a reminder of what you liked. Sad to say, most of the manufacturing is now done somewhere else, and not in the U. S. so that's why we never saw any factories.

When we were in Yellowstone, we met some folks from North Carolina, and we were told not to miss the Bob Timberlake gallery of furniture, so we checked that out today. What a nice surprise that was...it was beautiful furniture on a little bit smaller scale than we had been seeing...just right for our new house. Another great thing about it is that it is one of the very few lines still made in the USA. The picture (without Vern) of the entertainment center is that brand (Lexington home/Bob Timberlake).

Another interesting thing we discovered is that Seagrove, NC is a huge pottery center, and since I'm a potter, we had to go there. They have the largest concentration of potters in the U.S...over 100 of them in this little town. They are scattered over the countryside, and each one is very unique...some very classy, and some in tiny little makeshift buildings, but all producing gorgeous work. Ben Owen, a 3rd generation potter and a very well known one has his studio, kilns and store here. His kilns are pictured here...the huge one (it is at least 5 times larger than it appears) is wood fired, and it takes 4 days to fire it, and 4 days to cool it..we saw the stacks and stacks of wood used for firing.. The tiny kiln on the right is one they make pizza in while laboring over the 4 days!!! Ben Owen (the grandfather ) formulated the beautiful "Chinese Red" glaze that the pottery is known for, and he was instrumental in gathering so many potters in one place and establishing Seagrove as one of the most important centers in the country.

We have seen lots of wonderful things on this trip, and it has only shown us that there are so many more things to see and places to come back to and spend more time enjoying. Thursday we are flying home to California. It's time to get back to reality. Steve has found us a wonderful indoor storage place for the rv, and Nancy is graciously letting us park the car in her driveway. Tomorrow Vern will "winterize" the rig, and we'll try to stuff lots of things in our carry on bags...won't see the rest of our belongings till Feb. or March when we come back. Hopefully Nan and I can visit some more and even play a few card games tomorrow, then go out for a nice dinner...she even wants to do my laundry!!!

This will be my last posting until we resume our trip in the Spring.......hope you had fun reading it. It's good way to make a diary for yourself when traveling. I will print out all the pages and save it...probably in the cardboard box where the last 10 years of photos are stashed!!!

'Til next time, Mary and Vern

Woods, Woods, and more Woods

Pennsylvania is filled with some of the most beautiful wooded areas you'll ever see, and of course it is especially gorgeous in the fall. We only saw the very beginnings of the colors..originally the plan was to go to New England after visiting in Erie, but time just got away from us, and it seems like it's time to head home. Away we went from Erie last Tuesday after lots of hugging and kissing all those Browns!!!!

Driving to the south through West Virginia and Virginia, and North Carolina I was surprised at how much of the country is completely covered by woods...so many different varieties of trees, wildflowers, butterflies, birds, and animals. I don't think we have ever truly appreciated the vast beauty of our country. We drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway ( in Virginia and North Carolina). You can see in the picture taken hi atop the ridge why they call it "blue".

One thing that we discovered about Virginia is that it is kind of difficult to find rv parks that will take a 40 footer. We had an awfully long (9 hours of driving) trek one day, and ended up staying in the WalMart parking lot. Of course Walmart is very smart to let us do that because we proceeded to eat there and do our grocery shopping!!!

We finally arrived in Apex, NC where my sister, Nancy, her son Steve, his wife Tracy, and their 2 boys Ryan and Josh live. Steve and Tracy really did some sleuthing for us, and directed us to the most beautiful state campground at Jordan Lake. The sites are wonderful....wide, no high trees overhead to scrape your roof, and yet completely surrounded by woods, and relatively private from our neighbor. The only glitch is that they close the gate at 8 pm every night, so we turn into pumpkins if we're not back home by then. Guess North Carolina doesn't want us vagabonds to get into trouble after dark!!!. So far , so good!!!! We even have a little deer to welcome us home at night. (see photo)

It's been so much fun to see Nancy , and see her new home in Apex. She has her beautiful flowers, park bench, great back deck, lots of woods behind and next to her, and a really nice home with tons of storage space. Yesterday she and Steve's family took us to a neat festival in the little town of Apex. It was interesting to see all the wonderful little shops (great pottery) lining the main street. I wish Camarillo had something like that.. Then Tracy had us over for dinner and cooked the best stuffed peppers I've ever had....what a treat. The day before, they all came out to the rv, and we had a little picnic. I had forgotten how much and how fast young teens can eat....wow, I think they liked my Texas sheet cake with fudge frosting!!!!!! They are really great boys and busy with lots of activities, including scouts (Steve was the scoutmaster for several years) Hap Kido...Ryan is a 2nd degree black belt, and Josh is working on it.

Tomorrow I'll tell you what Vern and I did today that nearly did me in. I had to sleep for two hours when we got home I was so tired...no, it wasn't hiking....well, maybe it was!!!

Till then, Mary

P.S. Happy birthday to my other sister, Soozie in Hollidaysburg, PA !!!!!

Food, Family, and Fun in Erie, PA

Ox Roast, Homemade Italian (authentic!!!) food, and milkshakes and scrapple...What more could you ask for!!! The last 2 weeks we have been given the royal treatment by Vern's Mom, Brothers and Sisters- in- law. Keith and Bobbie had us for a lovely dinner as did Mary and Dave (homemade Italian wedding soup and cannonelli.) Kathy and Ron made us delicious spaghetti and meatballs, cherry pie and blueberry pie. To top that all off, we were there at harvest time and found some beautiful produce at a country stand...it was almost a work of art (see Picture). Ellen was in the kitchen every chance she got, whipping up her delicasies for us. In return, we took her to Sara's diner at the peninsula for her yearly ration of fat, cholesterol and sugar in the form of foot long hot dogs, onion rings and real old fashioned milkshakes. ( See the picture..we told her to show it to her Dr. and tell him the only thing missing was her gin and tonic!!!)

We made several trips to the "peninsula", a beautiful piece of beach and woods that juts out from the city of Erie into Lake Erie. It's where both of us used to swim and picnic when we were kids, and also when we were dating, so it brought back lots of memories, not to mention the fact that the weather was glorious. It's really one of the most beautiful spots in PA. It is where Oliver Hazard Perry fought the battle of Lake Erie, and won a very decisive victory over the British in the war of 1812. His ship, the Niagara is based at the dock in Erie, and it has become quite a valuable asset for the city.

Twice we took Ellen to Erie's newest playplace..the casino. It's only about 10 minutes from her house and she loves to go there. Unfortunately, we didn't have much luck there so we made up for it by going to the mall and "saving" lots of money since they were having a big sale...ha ha.
Ellen and I played Gin every night, and we were tied right up to the night before we left when she promptly skunked me...well It was her 92nd birthday, so I didn't feel too bad.

The day before we left Ron and Kathy hosted a lovely family birthday party for Ellen. There were 17 of us including our niece, Connie, her 2 children Mikey and Rachel, and her husband Mike. Our other niece, Melanie was there with her husband Mike Carmosino( of ox roast fame), and their new baby girl Julianna Rose...(happiest baby you'll ever see!!!! ) and our nephew, Jeff and his wife Kiera.

We left this morning...went to Dave and Mary's house in Edinboro where they had graciously let us park the rv while we were in Erie. The leaves are just beginning to light up the sky for the fall spectacular, and we were lucky enough to get a little preview of it this morning in Edinboro. We are heading toward North Carolina to see my sister, Nancy and her son Steve and family. We're hoping the wonderful weather continues, and that "Carmen" (our Garmin) keeps taking us in the right direction.

Mary