Ice cream cones and strolls in Mayberry...

Today was our day trip to Mt. Airy, North Carolina. For those of you who don't know, Mt. Airy is the town where Andy Griffith grew up and the inspiration for Mayberry. It's a pretty charming little place, even if it does sometimes feel a little over-touristy. It was such a beautiful day that I spent more time just enjoying myself instead of taking a ton of pictures, so more pictures of the sights can be found here, from our last trip there.

Our first stop was at the Andy Griffith Museum, which was closed last time we went. It's basically a big room filled with Andy memorabilia that has been collected by and donated to a childhood friend of Andy's. It has all sorts of things, like film poster, records, autographs, one of Andy's sheriff shirts, Barney's suit, Otis' hat and suit, the original signs from the courthouse doors, and the original jail keys. It was pretty interesting. And of course, outside the museum is the adorable Andy and Opie statue. A few months ago, the Andy portion of the statue was vandalized and spray-painted red and green. But, apparently, they've got it all cleaned up now.

See that group of people gathered at the front of the movie theater? It was a group of four or five musicians playing bluegrass music. =)

We decided to try somewhere new to eat this time, so we picked Barney's Cafe (last time we ate at the famous Snappy Lunch). It was really good. I had a huge bacon cheeseburger. Just before we left to come home, we stopped back again and got ice cream cones.

You can go for rides in one of the sheriff cars (it costs, of course, LOL).

We also stopped by this huge beautiful museum on Main Street. Dad went in to see how much it costs, and it turned out to be free. It was a four floor museum about the regional history of Mt. Airy, and it was housed in this beautiful old brick building. One section was devoted to fire trucks, and they had all these awesome old trucks.

They also had a fireman's pole, which my brother, his girlfriend, and my dad went down:

Sorry for the bluriness. Flash wasn't allowed.

I loved the brick inside. It was so beautiful. Then in one part there were these huge curved windows that overlooked Main Street:

Of course, Mt. Airy isn't Mayberry. I suppose there isn't any real Mayberry, although if there were, I would want to live there. Isn't Mayberry the most lovely place you could imagine living? Mt. Airy is charming in itself, though. There are little sunny outdoor sitting/eating areas along Main Street. The face of Andy Griffith, the hometown hero, is everywhere. But Mt. Airy is famous for some other reasons, too. Like being the place where the original Siamese twins took up residence. Their story is fascinating but somewhat creepy (especially in relation to their deaths), so I won't share it here (but if you want to read more, you can look here). Anyway, today was a lovely way to about finish up spring break. Things were pretty perfect this afternoon, walking down Mt. Airy's Main Street, eating an ice cream cone, and then sitting in a shady spot, watching people go by.

I think Andy and the rest of the Mayberry crew could appreciate that. =)

Until next time,