(August 2, 2008) – On July 28 and 29, the wife and I had the pleasure of joining a group from First United Methodist Church on an overnighter to the North Carolina mountains.
     We had fun -- two Baptists among 12 Methodists. (You can make up your own funnies here.)
     The hard part was the long ride there and back; however, we passed the time checking out gas prices outside of Anson County -- including a gas war in the Hickory/Lenoir area where we noted prices of $357.9 and $355.9 (compared to a range of $4.06.9 to $3.99.9 locally).
     Carla and I kept our eyes peeled for interesting things, including signs -- such as "Minds are like parachutes ... They only function when they are open" on a Lenoir school marquee; or "The wages of sin is death ... Quit before payday" on a Lenoir non-denominational church marquee; or Flick Video ... Get a Show to Go" at a Flick Video site; or the embroidered words of wisdom, "If you're lucky enough to live in the mountains, your're lucky enough" on the wall at Western Sizzlin in Spruce Pine; or "A stone knows it and when it has been stolen and will only bring bad luck to the one who possesses it" on the side of a bin at Rocks and Things in Spruce Pine to deter rock thiefs.
     I enjoyed some fine mountain barbecue at the Carolina Barbeque in Newland; a meat loaf delicacy at the Western Sizzlin in Spruce Pine; and a taste of elegant dining at The Switzerland Inn in Little Switzerland. The stale Butterfinger candy bar from the vending machine at a rest stop in Marion on our way back to Wadesboro hit the spot, too, since we sort of skipped a supper stop.
     We visited Grandfather Mountain and saw the "hungry" bears, the playful otters and a bald eagle. We also made a stop at the North Carolina Mineral Museum.
     We had fun prospecting at Gem Mountain Mine in Spruce Pine, scooping trowels of rock from our bucket(s) and dumping them into our strainer to diligently sift through. We searched for emeralds, garnets and sapphires, but wound up tossing the "white rocks" over the water sluice. We mainly wound up with citrine, clear and smoky quartz, and tourmaline although the young lady (her first name was Elberta) who assayed our rocks said we had some opal, garnet, topaz and amethyst. Our find will look good, once polished to a beautiful sheen, in the bottom of an aquarium.
     We shopped, especially visiting Hearthside Handmades, Simple Pleasures and the Trillium Gallery at the Switzerland Inn, and at the Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree in downtown Spruce Pine.
     Our overnight stay at the Pine Valley Motel in Spruce Pine was pleasant -- probably because we were absolutely worn out from the first day's events and we all hit the hay early.
     All in all, we made some new friends and had a wonderful getaway. (I hope I didn't embarrass myself when I read some selected "preacher" jokes from a book we purchased.)
     On the downside, I suppose I'll eventually get over the nightmares of our bus driver smoothly maneuvering all those ess curves on a winding U.S. 221 and the ever-more-winding N.C. 226 and N.C. 226-A.
     Some This 'n' That:
     First a complaint. Those ghost logos in the bottom lefthand corner of my TV screen are okay, though somewhat distracting at times. The biggest distraction and irritation comes right in the middle of a crucial scene when this humongous graphic crawls in from either the left or right side at the bottom of the screen to cover a good fourth of the picture. It's a promotional piece that is aggravating and downright rude to TV viewers. My least favorite graphic is on CNN Headline News when a film clip is being shown of a major flood area or a major disaster. You cant's see what is going on for all the clutter -- such as "Breaking News" along with a two-line deep headline -- atop the usual, and acceptable, news headlines crawl.
     Thank goodness for summer television. With all the reruns and reality shows on the usual network outlets, it is refreshing to know that you can tune in on a Sunday night and view "Law and Order: Criminal Intent" and "In Plain Sight" on USA; or a Tuesday night for "Eureka" on Sci-Fi; or a Thursday night for "Burn Notice" on USA; or a Friday night for "Monk" and, yes, "Psych" on USA. I said goodbye to "Doctor Who" on Sci-Fi on Aug. 1 after watching the season-ender.
     Sports enthusiasts who are tired of Major League baseball (the Atlanta Braves are out of the Big Picture) can sit up and take notice. The USA basketball team is poised to make a run for the gold in the Olympics. And, the Carolina Panthers, pre-season games excluded, will be in action on Sunday, Sept. 7, in a 4:15 p.m. game against the Chargers in San Diego. Whew! And, it won't be long until college basketball will be back on ESPN and WBTV.
     Re Billy Packer: The long-time sports commentator will be missed come early December (his contract was not renewed by CBS). Oh, he had his share of naysayers, including moi at times, but I respected his knowledge of the game and his expertise of getting to the heart of the matter at hand. Clark Kellogg will have a huge pair of shoes to fill on CBS. Kellogg is articulate and somewhat knowledgeable, but does not possess the North Carolina-bred panache Packer displayed over the airwaves. (I would've said Tar Heel panache, but he's a Wake Forest alum and I didn't want to disrespect the man.)
      And, finally, I was saddened to read that Andy Lucas, our county manager for the past 34 months, is leaving for Stanly County. He was a newbie, or proby if this was "NCIS," and stepped into the job like a professional, conducting county business under the guidance of the commissioners. A lot of the good he has done for Anson County will likely go unnoticed, or reported, but I want to be on record as saying "a job well done, Andy." Anson County will miss you, but I know you are moving up the ladder to fulfill your aspirations. Good luck in Stanly County.