Departures

It was a spring morning Thursday in Mt. Airy,  North Carolina, the boyhood home of the late actor Andy Griffith (and the inspiration for the fictional town of Mayberry the "Andy Griffith Show" took place in).  The birds had started to sing around 4:30 am and one finally woke me up.

Purple Bush flowering in Mt. Airy, North Carolina

We had to get up early to depart for home, as our vacation was over.  I knew early on that this morning departure would be the topic of my D post for the Blogging from A to Z Challenge.  (Tomorrow is an off day, and I will continue my Civil War Sunday feature.  Monday I will be back with a post starting with the letter E.)

The Southern air reluctantly gave up its sweet smell of spring to my Northern nostrils.  In the 5:30 am dark, I could not see the line of blooming Bradford pears or the flowering purple bush that had gladdened my heart the evening before.

The birds sang even more strongly as sunrise approached, some of their tunes unfamiliar to me.  Was their song a promise that spring would finally come to New York?  I don't speak Bird, so I don't know.

We headed out after a quick breakfast.

Mt. Airy is close to the North Carolina/Virginia border, near an area called Fancy Gap.  It is scenic, but early morning fogs can be deadly - over the years there have been several deadly pileups.  The most recent ones I know of were in March and May of 2013 - three dead in a 75 car pileup in the March incident.

The Interstate (I-77 heading north into Virginia) is heavily lined with reflectors and signs warning of fog.  On the edges of each exit, we saw lines of tractor trailers which had parked there for the night, glowing in the reflected light.  Their lights were on and they were getting ready to head out, too.  There was to be no fog this morning.

Not long after, the eastern horizon started to redden.  The display went on for what seemed to be forever, as the rolling hills lined with farms slowly became visible.

The sun finally rose.

It was time to head home to upstate New York.

Andy Griffith's Mt Airy, NC

Millions of Americans mourn the passing of actor Andy Griffith at the age of 86. 

To many of them, Andy Griffith was Sheriff Andy Taylor of Mayberry, NC on the Andy Griffith Show, which ran during the 1960's and has been in reruns since.  Mayb....I mean Mt. Airy, North Carolina, is a real place and thousands of tourists visit there each year.

In reality, Andy Griffith was born, and grew up, in Mt. Airy, North Carolina.  I have visited Mt. Airy several times, most recently this past March.  I wanted to share some of those memories of my most recent visit with you.  No, I'm not going to post a picture of the famous Andy and Opie statue (yes, I have a picture of it - of course I do! Why do you ask?) but rather, some different views of the town.

Mt. Airy is a mixture of Andy Griffith tourist memorabilia, Mayberry, and a modern North Carolina town.

One of their older downtown buildings.

The Snappy Lunch of the Andy Griffith show is a real restaurant, open for breakfast and lunch.  We had breakfast there.  It is nothing fancy - basically a hometown small town restaurant where everyone knows each other.  Meals are served on paper plates.  But it was cheap, and it was good.

Floyd Lawson (Mayberry's barber) may be a fictional character who did business at Floyd's Barber Shop but in real life, Mt. Airy has Floyd's City Barber Shop. 

Owner Russell Hiatt is in his 80's, and yes, you can get a cut there at a reasonable price.  I tried to goad my spouse into getting his hair cut there, but he had had his hair cut recently, so on we walked.

This is the inside of the barber shop and yes, that is a wall of photographs.

Finally, a display of old pop (soda) bottles in a Mt. Airy store.

Andy Griffith, incidentally, may have surprised you as a person.  And Mt. Airy is a lot more than Andy Griffith.  If enough of my readers are interested, I'll be happy to post some more photos later this month.

Every year, Mt. Airy holds "Mayberry Days" in September.  This year, George Lindsey's son, and Don Knotts' daughter, had been scheduled to attend.  Of course, George Lindsey (Goober) passed away earlier this year.

What memories do you have of the Andy Griffith Show?  Or, did you enjoy Andy Griffith in some of his other TV shows, or programs he appeared in?