Triple D Meets Mayberry!

Elaine, my older brother Tom's wife, sent us notice in the summer that she would be planning a surprise 50th birthday for Tom in early October.  Tom and Elaine live outside Asheville, NC, but with their daughter Rebekah at Salem College in Winston-Salem they travel to see Rebekah as she plays percussion in the Wake Forest University Marching Band for all of the football games (they also travel to most of the basketball games, which is pretty impressive since the drive is about 3 hours).  Elaine planned it to be just prior to the Wake Forest vs. Georgia Tech football game on the first weekend in October very near Tom's actual birthday.  As I was making trip arrangements, I knew I would be driving and looked at some nearby DDD places to try.  Winston-Salem is under 2 hours drive from Charlotte and there were 5 places there I wanted to try (and 2 I wanted to go back to).  The game was on Saturday evening so I headed south on Thursday morning and after a lunch stop with a facebook reconnected friend from high school, Becky I made my way to the Charlotte area.  First stop would be dinner at a very eclectic cafe called simply "Dish".  I had a very delicious Salmon with orange sauce.  Dish is very popular and was pretty busy for a Thursday night.  The next two places I tried were true drive-ins.  Both places "Barbecue King" and "The South 21 Drive In" have no seating area, as your car is the seating area.  Both have really cool lighted signs, the South 21 is awash in neon, and have the always cool silver metal call boxes.  At "Barbecue King" I got an order of their famous onion rings and then at "South 21" I had to try their Cherry Milk Shake.  The problem with true drive-ins for me is that there is very little interaction with the staff, so getting my book signed is a chore, I was successful at South 21 but have yet to get a signature from the Barbecue King.  The next morning I headed to "Landmark Restaurant and Diner" and had a good breakfast there.  The owner and greeter were really surprised that I stopped in and readily signed.  After a visit to the newly opened NASCAR Hall of Fame in downtown Charlotte I made my second visit to "The Penguin" (I had been to The Penguin about 2 years earlier, actually my #8 DDD place).  The Penguin is known for their Fried Pickles and that might not sound too good, they are very tasty.  I also had to get a southern traditional sandwich, the Grilled Pimento Cheese sandwich.  It lived up to it's billing tasty and spicy.  Later I tried a place called "Cabo Fish Tacos".  As I looked at their website I noticed a second location in Balcksburg, VA, home of Virginia Tech, I knew there had to be a connection there.  As I chatted with the owner while he signed he told me that he was a Hokie and that he didn't have any plans to put a location just off campus, but when a really good location became available he jumped and now has two locations!  For dinner I headed into the nearby countryside outside of Charlotte to a place that seems in the middle of nowhere, but everyone makes the trek to try.  "Jake's Good Eats" is a really great place, I would say that it is a can't miss place if you're in the area.  it can be a bit pricey but the food is so worth it. 

Saturday morning came and I was off to Winston-Salem to celebrate Tom's 50th.  The party would be at a Red, Hot and Blue right next to BB and T Field home of the Wake Forest Demon Deacon football team.  I got there early and as Tom and Elaine are "Wine People" we decided to go and try some of the local wineries.  The area just south of Winston-Salem is a huge wine growing area.  The largest one we visited was Richard Childress Winery.  Richard Childress is a famous NASCAR team owner and some of the logos on the bottles have a checkered flag motif.  The party was awesome and Tom was really surprised, especially when my sister Sue and her husband Dale showed up.  As for the game, at halftime they had a birthday tribute to Tom on the stadium scoreboard and although the Deacons lost i the last minute of the game we all enjoy watching Rebekah perform in the band that is known as (I might not be exactly right but close) "The Spirit of the Old Gold and Black".

On Sunday I headed back home but had to make one more stop that was TV related but not DDD related.  The date was October 3, 2010.  On October 3, 1960 on of the best shows ever made debuted on CBS.  "The Andy Griffith Show" is a TV classic and one of my favorite all time shows.  Andy and Opie Taylor, Aunt Bee, Barney Fife and Gomer Pyle all lived in the town of Mayberry, NC.  Mayberry is based on the town of Mt. Airy, NC, which is Andy Griffith's hometown.  Mt. Airy is about 40 miles due north of Winston-Salem.  I just had to be there on the 50th Anniversary of the show.  The town is wonderful, fun to walk around and see, there is the Andy Griffith Playhouse and also the Mt. Airy Museum, that has memorabilia from the show including the suit worn by Otis Cambell.  After a quick visit I headed home and now could say I had been to 76 DDD places.