Pam and I recently traveled to Ohio on some family business, and had a little bit of time so we decided that on the way we would finally stop off at Pilot Mountain outside of Mt. Airy, NC. We have driven past that iconic landmark hundreds of times and even played golf at a course located near there with the guys on the Man Trip outings. But we had yet to actually stop there and go up to the top. So this was a chance to check an item off our bucket list.
This was one of the team pictures from a recent trip. I believe this was 2021. We didn't play there in 2022.
As I was saying, we had always wanted to stop at this site because it was always mentioned in the Andy Griffith's shows, and Pam's brother, Chuck, always talked about it. He was such a huge fan of that show. Anyway, it was a beautiful day, so up we went.
It was pretty cool once we got up there. Actually, it was COLD. But what a view.
It was quite a winding road up to the parking area. Really reminded me of the bus ride up the alps on the way to the Eagle's Nest. Switchbacks, 10-15 miles per hour, with the edge of the road right on the edge of the mountain. YIKES.
So, once you got to the parking area, you still had to hike up to the end of the walkway ... and that wasn't even the top of the mountain. To get there you had to hike some more and then I don't think you could even get to the actual top. We didn't go there. Weren't dressed for it. No -- that isn't the real reason ... we are too old to be climbing around on mountains. That's what they make telephoto lenses on cameras for.
As we were getting ready to leave, we decided to stop at the gift shop. I'm usually a sucker for gift shops and this one was worth the stop. In fact, we bought a couple of Christmas gifts for our grand children there, and I bought a lego (a knock-off brand I think) "eagle" to put together. It consists of miniature pieces complete with "directions" that must have originally been written in some language and then translated into English (poorly translated). I tried it once, Quinn tried it once and gave up, Heath took one look at it and passed. So here it is:
We met some nice people up there and thoroughly enjoyed that little diversion to our trip. That's one of the nice things about having some time available -- one just never knows what's up the road, 'round the bend. All you have to do is go there. Makes me appreciate Emerson's quote a bit more:
"It's not the destination, it's the Journey."
Hooah
2 comments:
Yet another great post! I think I had a pet name for that mountain.
Yep. I'll bet there are a number of young men who have had that same name for it.
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