Another Blast from the Past!

Another Blast from the past….

Last Summer while staying in Virginia we were not so far away from “Mayberry”. The town more commonly referred to on maps, as Mount Airy, North Carolina. Just a quick drive down the mountain… and I do mean quick… and in 30 minutes we were there. This is where Andy Griffith was born and naturally, the town that inspired many aspects of the Tv show. With the success of the show, the town transformed to somewhat mirror different aspects of the show. Lots of well know places in the show, are represented around the town, as well as, references to the stars of the show. Then there are the “real” places (not Tv-Time) like Andy’s home that he grew up in. There’s the drug store, where Andy worked as a teen. We sat at the original soda counter right by the old timey soda counter fixtures and got a old fashioned chocolate malt. I’m not sure if I ever had a real chocolate malt before… but it was very, very good… and led me to the conclusion that either I had a little bit of a deprived childhood, or I simply was born a bit to late and missed that whole “soda fountain era”. Sometimes, at least for some things, the past was decidedly better than the present… natural ingredients prepared by a real person, right in front of you… sure beats the mass produced processed things we eat today. Our first visit was on a Sunday, and keeping to the practice of small towns in a time gone by, most of the shops and stores were closed. Since most things were closed, it did present us our first of bit of old time Mayberry atmosphere… the streets were very quiet… and as we got out of the truck we could hear the “tune of show” playing as we walked down the street. Kinda made you feel like you just gone back in time. You could almost hear Aunt Bea calling Opie. There were still several stores and dinners open, and we had a good time just looking through the stores, window shopping, and seeing all the memorabilia from the Tv show… everywhere! You name it, shirts, posters, buttons, pins, postcards… anything and everything had the “Mayberry Theme”… and yes, just in case you were wondering, and much to your relief, just in case you need a new edition… yes… they do sell “Mayberry Monopoly”… what a relief. Lots of touristy things everywhere. So if you were a fan of the show… you will have a great time just reliving that feeling of a simpler time… when baseball, marbles, and coloring books ruled the day… and we all sat in front of the wonderful new addition to the family called a Television, and watched our favorite shows, together, as a family. There are also other little interesting shops that have nothing to do with the whole “Mayberry Thing” … go figure that… or just for those that are too young to remember, or grew up watching one of the 2 other channels on the TV. One particular shop had all kinds of tropical stuff and “Coke” memorabilia… along with the worlds largest selection of hot sauces. Great little shop and it was actually operated by the owners… what a quaint old timey idea! The owners were very friendly and a good source of information about the town… and just nice to talk to! Well… that’s today’s trip down memory lane… about … well… a place right out of memory lane. Visit if you can… you’ll enjoy it! …..Richard