7/10/08 (Friday): I've got lots to blog about, so I'll just jump right in!

We enjoyed a visit with Wiley's parents and our niece and nephew. Two weeks ago, I flew to Orlando and then drove them back here. Last Monday, I reversed the process and drove them home to Orlando, then flew back to Boone. We had a great time, and it was good to have the whole family together.

The campground goats were thrilled to make a new friend of Katelyn. They're so funny--we have goat food in ice cream cones for the kids to feed them with. You hold up the cone as you walk down the hill to their pasture and make ba-a-a-ing noises. They stampede up the hill, pushing and shoving and then eat the food out of the cones.

We ladies enjoyed a trip to the cemetery just up the hill. The land where the campground is located was originally a land grant of 1 square mile to the Brown family. Jont Brown was the first Brown to be buried there. It's a family cemetary with graves dating back to the 1700's, including the grave of an unknown child. Surviving members of the family have a reunion at our campground every year. They spend an afternoon maintaining the cemetery, and it's really a lovely place.
There's even a little outhouse--very clean and well maintained!

We have a lovely swimming pool in the campground, but the kids never went in. Katelyn and Nana did play a game of mini golf, though.
A number of the barns in this area have these quilt square paintings on them. After a little research, I discovered that local people have painted the quilt square patterns of their families on their barns. Mag was intrigued by this idea. These barns were on the way to Valle Crucis, where we went to the Mast General Store.

I've talked about Mast General Store before. There are several of them in this area, but this one in Valle Crucis is the original one. We enjoyed picking out penny candy and doing a little early Christmas shopping.
Of course, we had a couple of evening campfires, complete with hamburgers and hot dogs on our tripod grill and s'mores.
Katelyn is very gifted artistically. She spent a lot of time with her sketch book.

David enjoyed a little computer time.

For me, the highlights of the week were Blowing Rock,

Kayaking on the New River,
and visiting Mt. Airy, which was the inspiration for Mayberry on the Andy Griffith show. Wiley Sr. and Jr. and Katelyn all got haircuts in the historic Floyd's Barber Shop. What fun! It took about 3 hours by the time they finished with all the customers and locals who dropped in, but it was an afternoon well spent. We had lunch in the Blue Bird Cafe, which is famous for pork chop sandwiches.

I also have pictures from Grandfather Mountain and the mile-high bridge, but that'll wait for another blog. We made some wonderful memories!