11 July 2024
Breakfast was outstanding as usual. Blueberry muffin, orange juice, cheese and spinach soufflé. I figured I would just make my escape but no. Janet insisted on seeing me out the door. This was a great two nights.
I was able to head towards Boone, NC around 10 am. I-85 was a mess of traffic and slowdowns. The worse was yet to come.
I pulled into Terry’s house around 1:30 and promptly got a welcoming hug from him. Terry taught Anatomy and Physiology on Central campus while I taught Biology on South. We probably met at science faculty meetings but I really got to know him in the Faculty Senate. The year he retired he agreed with much pushing from me to run for VP of the Senate and I couldn’t have made it that year without him. He and I also attended a Chautauqua course together on the Okefenokee Swamp and he would go on field trips with me to Archbold Biological Station.
We immediately got to laughing and giggling and then headed to an Indian restaurant for a late lunch. They were 30 minutes from closing and yet they put up with us and we finished our meal.
After returning to his house, we sat on his back porch and continued to catch up with each other. I left around 4 pm.
The trip to Banner Elk from Boone is a 30 minute drive. It took an hour. Apparently it is Highland Games in Banner Elk and thousands have descended on the area. I may not leave the inn.
I had a lot of trouble finding the place because my GPS would only let me enter 3 of the 4 digits of the street address. I finally found the place around 5:30 and Bobby was waiting to check me in and get home.
Bobby either wasn’t making much sense or I was a ditz. She kept talking about how I was going to pass a woman as I headed to my room. I finally had to ask her if the woman was staying in my room and she started laughing.
To get to the Rainbow Trout Room, you take two flights of stairs down, walk through a kitchen, go through a hallway and find your room. In the kitchen/living room area are 8 bunkbeds. What Bobby was trying to tell me that the woman in the Humingbird Room could not get into the bed because it was too high and she was sleeping in one of the bunks in the downstairs kitchen/living room.
Even more peculiar is my bathroom is across the hall from my room. The hallway is mine but I have to lock the doors at each end to make sure no one comes in on me from the kitchen or somewhere else in the house.
For what was supposed to be a four hour trip, it was an exhausting day. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with Terry but got a little frustrated with traffic and not being able to find the inn. It all came out in the end. I now remember why I don’t like coming to the mountains in the summer. Sure, it’s 10° cooler than in Piedmont but the traffic isn’t worth it.
I don’t know what I’ll do tomorrow but it doesn’t involve the Highland Games.
Stay tuned!