Who Takes a Trip Part 2

We spent an evening in Hagerstown, Md, a place where I had taken a course right after 9/11. The town has a lot of charm, with its old southern houses and a soupcon of sleaze. There is a very nice park in town, where one can walk or laze. Big duck pond with carp, geese, ducks and a few swans. It was the only evening we adhered to our plan to walk for a half hour each evening.
We found the cutest German restaurant, with honest-to-God German food which one can't even find in NYC anymore. The Schmankerl Stube. Go there. We stayed at a microtel which wasn't at all bad. Very clean and modern, and the price was good. In the downtown area, there are mysterious signs that announce, "No cruising from 7:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m." We weren't sure what that meant. You figure it out.

Next day we drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway. When we came to Raven's Roost, by golly there were ravens flying around. The entire parkway seemed like a butterfly garden with scads of elegant creatures flitting about. Really nice. We came down out of the hills into Buena Vista, VA, and every front porch in town, no matter how small had chairs on it. Folks must like to sit a spell and visit, and that is a feature I really like. The gas station manager's name is Kitty Conner. Cool, huh?

We passed a house with "Zelda's Softball Lessons" on a sign in the front. Do you Zelda herself is out there instructing on the finer points of pitching and running.

In Georgia, lots of people were fat. Really fat. It's nice to feel slim by comparison. We ventured into Piggly Wiggly and noticed the bread department had lots of fried pies and "moon pies" and sugary looking stuff but no whole grains. Slab bacon, which I couldn't even find in Boston, was in evidence. The local cafe offered "wraps." How about a cheeseburger wrap? A bacon wrap? There was a whole shelf of sausage/biscuit offerings at the supermarket. Every kind of margarine you can imagine, but hardly any butter. But everywhere in the South the people are friendly and one has to remind oneself to slow down and be social. A good idea, yes?

Seen along the road in North Carolina: Topless! 24 hours. Trucker's Discount. Cafe Risque.

Before we caught the ferry to Cape May, we went into the terminal for a cup of coffee. Hard looking blond in line before us. She was empying 5 packert of sugar and 4 creams into one cup of coffee. Dessert for breakfast. Yuck!

Good to be home. Cats happy to see us. Garden looks lush after beaucoup rain.
More anon!

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