SecondMoonshot

Saturday was the day to take our youngest daughter back to college at UNC Charlotte. We decided to stay the night at Flat Rock and hit a few thrift stores after a nice hike at DuPont State Recreational Forest. We found 2 really nice waterfalls, High Falls Triple Falls.  On Saturday afternoon, we went to NCs largest Goodwill store in Rockingham (a previous Lidl store) and walked out with some new T-shirts I will use later to print our logo on them and also 8 or so signed books, which were really cheap at $1.29 ea. the store was 80 clothes and not something I really focus on. On Sunday, we were going to do a little more hiking but my back wasn’t up for it so decided to check out a huge 70,000 foot antique store, The Antique Tobacco Barn. They had some really nice stuff but nothing which was really priced for a reseller to make a profit so moved on. We hit a few more Goodwill stores and picked up another 14 or so signed books then enjoyed lunch at Dilbars Indian Street Food Restaurant...

Today, Zabrina and I decided to take a day trip to Cape Fear for the Kite Festival. The drive was about 2.5 hours and we arrived at about 10.30. The web site stated this is “the last professional kite event of the season”, I wasn’t even aware one could make a career of flying kites or perhaps I would have selected this one the eBay thing.   The wind was a little too weak for the really big kites to come out and play and never really picked up as the day progressed, although some good efforts. There were tons of people, a band and food and brewery trucks and tents. Around 1pm, we opted to head to Wilmington and walk around, a great coastal college town. We pulled up our bar stools at Anne Bonny’s for some cocktails and food. It’s basically a bar and grill on a permanently docked old ferry. The vibe was casual, food and drinks good and just what we were looking for. A good day, we needed that. John

Sunday, Zabrina and I decided to take a day trip and head up to Hanging Rock State Park by Danbury NC. We went to the Welcome Center area for parking and took the initial gentle hike to Hanging Rock which got a bit harder, but not to bad, probably 4 or so miles total. Some spectacular views to be had for sure and then we went and took a short hike to one of the less-than-spectacular waterfalls.  After we finished hiking, we decided to go over and get a bite to eat at Hillbilly Hide-a-way Restauran t. We went there 3 or so years ago and the claim to fame for this place is that Billy Ray Cyrus had eaten here and I think played on occasion at the music hall in the rear. We were told by the owner that she and her daughter had followed Billy Ray and Miley around on tour for a long time, maybe a full tour or something…so they have pictures of the Cyrus family all over around the register.  For some reason, the food seemed like it was better 3 years ago, not that it was bad, just pe...