Daytrip to Hillsborough, NC ...

 I have mentioned in previous entries that Pam and I plan to take bunches of day trips around our new home state.  We "kinda, sorta" started doing this last year, but COVID really put a damper on things.  Shops, restaurants, and even pretty much entire towns were shut down.  We quickly discovered that a general rule around here is that most places are closed on Tuesdays .  Hmmm. 

Anything that was open required a mask or two over your face.  We really weren't up for that, so it kinda shut down the vast majority of our planned outings.  Even then we wondered how many smaller shops and places to eat in small towns would survive.  

Well, we got our first taste of daytripping without COVID restrictions. We decided to go back to Hillsborough, NC and see if it was opened back up.  This was a risk, as that town is pretty widely known as a liberal hangout, so we really didn't know what was in store for us. We'd pack a mask just in case!

Got there and it was a mixed bag of what was open and what wasn't.  As we walked up and down the streets of the "downtown" area, we noticed lots of political statements on the store fronts and in the flags flying from light poles.  Oh well, didn't plan on spending a lot of time or money there anyway.  One place that really got my attention though was the old cemetery behind the Methodist church.  

Pam and I walked among the tombstones, looking at the born/died dates and the epitaphs -- I am always fascinated by those things.  We had been there for a little while when we came across the grave site of William Hooper. We probably wouldn't have paid any special attention to him or his stone if we hadn't noticed the sign at the head of the rather large slab.  William Hooper was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Now this isn't something you run into every day.

Hooper's signature is to the immediate left of John Hancock's at the top of the second column.

I have read that the original group of signers to the Declaration of Independence faced multiple death threats for many years from British loyalists.  Their businesses were ruined and their lives were very hard from that point on.  Hooper was a lawyer, so I wonder what happened to his practice and what he went through.  Well, anyway, before we left, I thanked Mr. Hooper and told him, "Well done."

OK.  So following that part of the visit, we walked by a very nice section of old, historical homes and came across a very nice looking Inn and B&B.  It featured several rooms in the main house and an attached section of guest suites (see second picture).  There was also a very nice dining room on the first floor of the main house.  Unfortunately they did not begin serving until 4:00.  Knowing traffic would be the pits on the way home at that time of day, we decided to pass.  Maybe another day.

Pam was really looking forward to having the salmon they featured on their menu.  Again, they weren't serving yet -- but no worry.  My sweetie wants fish for dinner, I'll make sure she gets some.  We stopped at McDonalds on the way home and each had fish sandwiches !!! I really know how to take care of her, right!

Oh, one more thing.  We checked the GPS for food places on the way home and came across an interesting diner, so we thought we would try it out and maybe get lucky.  After all, Charles Kuralt used to do this on the back roads of the country all the time.  Guess what --  it was closed!  Oh well, Mickey-D has always been a good fallback.  (Not this time -- the fish sandwiches were many hours old and the fries were cold!) Oh well ..........

Overall, it was a great day.  Out in the sunshine, no doggone masks, a couple of really interesting "finds" and a day together with my sweetie!! Doesn't get any better than this.

For more pictures of this day trip, click on this link: Day trip to Hillsborough, NC pictures

“Live with no excuses and travel with no regrets”  (Oscar Wilde)

Hooah