Today was a Day Trip adventure to; Boone,Blowing Rock, Triplett and Todd

WOW!!!! What a great day we(Nancy, Joe, Helen) had and the weather was absolutely perfect. The morning started out the usual way with checking for deer damage(none), a peaceful quiet time and hand watering all the new plants. The temp was a nice 54 degrees with sunshine.We met up at Helen's at 9 AM and started out........ First we had to stop at the county building and submit 2 new names for our driveway now the Jodi and Gerald are building their new cabin off what use to be our driveway. There will come a time that our 911 address(and mailing address) will change from 21 Eagles Nest Lane to one of the 2 names both Gerald and I submitted. We will let all of you know when(and if) that takes place before we head back to Florida for the winter.......... We headed down N.C.18 to Boone and then to the little town of Blowing Rock where we made our second stop of the day. We then headed to Storie Street Grill for lunch as it was pushing 11:30. This grill is so popular (Nancy and I have eaten there twice before with our neighbor and friends, the Botbyls) so we decided and early lunch was better than having to wait. I had eaten the meat loaf before and it was yummy so we all had the same meat course with each of having different sides. The portion was huge and very good and we detected the herb fennel, which added to its unique and distinct flavor....After eating we strolled down main street and visited several shops(tourist traps) stopping at the Mast General Store outlet. They are very popular with selling candy(old fashion) by the pound. Some of us have a sweet tooth and bought more than the rest.(No names mention,but it wasn't Joe or I). After leaving the Mast Store we crossed over to Memorial Park. There we observed the names of men who had died during; WWI, WWII, Vietnam and the Gulf Wars. One name stood out and that was Dillard Triplett(unknown if all we shared was the same last name) who was killed in WWII..... We decided we wanted to visit the town Triplett which according to map quest was within a few miles of Boone. We checked with several people(who cautioned us about going there)and finally decided what the heck. Well the road was Elk Creek Road and it was one of the crooked 2 lanes roads ever going down the mountain. There was an isolated building or two and not much of anything else except lots of dirt roads with signs warning private drives or private roads. Well we finally got near to the bottom of the mountain and there was an area that had a sign indicating this was a place to bring you refuse, garbage or whatever was to be disposed. Thinking there had to be more we drove on and saw nothing but trees, rocks and drop offs. We pulled off and waved down a car that came up behind us who slowed and stopped and this man(right out of Deliverance) came back to our car. He had tattoo's, rotten teeth and looked as if his genetic tree didn't fork. He said this area is Triplett as there were no stores, no streets, no town. So we went back to the garbage disposal area where there was an official Triplett sign.......After going back up the mountain we then headed to Todd and the famous Todd General Store. Again the road was very "out in the the boonies" and not much different than Triplett except there was this old building filled with stuff(junk) that was probably discarded at one time and brought back to sell as antiques to tourist. This place wasn't worth burning or the merchandise(junk) in it...... Well all was not lost on these 2 towns as we headed back to West Jefferson. Truly a beautiful small town with a Super Wal-Mart. Yep we had to stock up for company this week end.... The day was a fun, adventurous day with good food and lots of laughter. Nancy nearly worn the floorboard out pushing on her imaginary brake. Missing all of our family and especially Ava and Annsley. Annsley will be here on the 2nd of July for a week. Later.