Richmond, Williamsburg, and Charlottesville.

Charlottesville

Hello Dolly!

Thursday 17 Nov Parton that is. Robin's girls surprised us on my birthday with tickets to the Dolly Parson concert in Charleston!  Wow! They apologized for not getting tickets for the Charlotte venue but no need to. We love Charleston and were itching to get on the road again. So today we left Hickory at 0930 and arrived at the fantastic military campground at Joint Base Charleston at 1430. We purposely took this site in "overflow" because it is satellite friendly. The site has great wifi, electric and is paved. No sewer but we can go almost a week without dumping. This park is probably our favorite. Lot's of room between sites and 1st class facilities.

Great trip because we went all back roads except a short Interstate bypass of Columbia. We love seeing the old towns, many of which have been restored. Essentially we went US 321 to Columbia and then picked up US 176 to North Charleston. Took maybe 1/2 hour longer than the Interstate. No traffic.

In the evening we joined my Citadel roommate and D Company compatriots at Fratello's Italian Tavern (LINK) in North Charleston. Great evening! I had not seen one of the guys in over 50 years.

Friday 18 Nov. Hit the Base Commissary and Thrift Store. Robin scored some essentially new Clark's "Structured" shoes for $5! Had a late lunch/early dinner at Nigel's Good Food (LINK). We ate here 2 years ago and loved it. It is appropriately named. Real deal soul food.

Here's Dolly! 

What a show! Dolly might be 70 but you'd never know it. Her voice was perfect - never missed a single not not even in acapella songs. She play, and played great so many instruments: piano, banjo, dobro, autoharp, fiddle, guitar, and, tore it up with a sax. 3 full hours (one 20 min break) of high energy. She wove the songs together with great, often humorous, stories. Here's a review of the show she did in June that describes the performance. LINK.  Only exception we have is that she nailed the sax in this show. Here's the setlist for the show LINK. We'd love to have just one of the 6 Prevost motorhomes that were parked outside!

Thanks girls for this great gift. Mom and I will never forget it.

Saturday 19 Nov.  Just lazed around until noon and then did some driving around as we we to our favorite Charleston restaurant Seewee. LINK It's a hole in the wall way out of town on US-17. The food is always fantastic. We were not disappointed.

Pssssttttt: My wife is a hottie! AND she has a great personality!

Afterwards we just did a driving tour of Sullivan's Island and then took the hush puppies back to Bruno and Tibby.

Sunday 20 Nov.   Slow start once again. Decided to go to town for lunch and walk through the market area. We saw a "famous" restaurant and found a parking lot a few blocks away. When we got out of the car a heavenly smell got our attention. We asked the parking lot attendant where it came from. He pointed to a building and said it was a great place. We told him we had planned to go to the famous place. Oh no he said...tourist trap. And, he was not affiliated with the restaurant.  So we entered a former old home and had a fantastic meal at Poogans Porch LINK .  We scored big on this. If in Charleston, a must.

The outside doesn't do the inside justice.

Then we walked the great meal off at the market and then a drive along the Battery and through the grounds on The Citadel, my old school.

Steve's 57th

TBP

NC State Bluegrass Fesitval

We drove an hour to Marion, NC to spend the day at the NC State Bluegrass Festival. Link to Program)

We don't have the selfie thing down yet

Another tent like this on the other side

Robin's cousin, John Holder, is famous in Bluegrass circles for his sound board skills. His own Blue Ridge Sound (LINK) worked this festival but John is also the sound man for the famous Balsam Range band (LINK) who played today. Was great seeing John even though it was quick because he was so busy putting on a great show.

All of the bands were great. We got to see Rhonda Vincent again. We saw her in Nashville at The Opry in June.

Rhonda is the blond in blue dress

 Next year we'll take the RV there and stay on the grounds for all 3 days.

Wedding

Not ours! Ike and Maggie Wheeless. I've known Ike since he was a baby since his parents, Doug and Jane have been friends since around 1972. We served together in Ft Monmouth, Korea, and The Pentagon. Doug passed away in 2013 and is interred very near Daniele at Arlington.

So, on Wednesday we went to Asheville and stayed at Bear Creek RV again. Thur and Friday we help Jane with all the wedding prep. Was a fantastic wedding.

Unrelated to the wedding, look at how Jane did her basement to accommodate all the grand kids!

On Sunday we went to Hendersonville and walked the streets. Very nice how they have restored the area. Sadly, I forgot to take pictures! Here's their website that has pix (LINK)

Had a nice German lunch at the Black Forest (LINK)

Zipping!!!!!

Happy Birthday Robin! She has talked since we met about doing a zip line. I got sneaky and surprised her today. All she knew was that she had to wear good athletic type shoes and jeans. I kept giving wrong hints on the trip to Blowing Rock until we arrived at HawksNest. Link

So off we went.

Here are some action shots

Alas, lightning came into the area so we had to stand down. The guides (NAMES>) were fantastic and organized some games while we waited.

Alas, it was not to be. We had to quit after 4 runs out of 11. But, Hawksnest was standup and gave us a raincheck to do all 11 anytime for 1 year. We both had a blast.

Afterwards we had a nice late lunch in a beautiful setting in Blowing Rock. Name???

Ole Steve pulled off a surprise. Not what will I do next year?