Friday, January 10, 2014

New Years Trip to Durham, North Carolina - Dec. & Jan. 2013-2014



After a pleasant Christmas at home, celebrated with a steak cookout on the grill with neighbors, we finished our medical exams (all fine) on Boxing Day and headed out on the road to Durham on December 27.  We left home in a light drizzle and headed north around Austin to Interstate 35 to Waco.  Then we drove highway 31 northeast through Corsicana, Athens, and Tyler to Longview where we met Rita’s brother Ken, and her niece, Deanna Pillaro, at a café for lunch.  It was fun getting together even if it was brief. 

Soon we were on I-20 heading east past Shreveport and Monroe, Louisiana, to Vicksburg, Mississippi, where we had reservations for the night.  It was after dark when we arrived and we just had a soup and sandwich at McAllister’s Deli before checking into our hotel for the night.

Saturday morning we woke to a fine drizzle which increased in strength throughout the day.  The morning was fine enough for us to take a tour of the Vicksburg National Military Park.  We drove the entire route and really enjoyed our stop at the U.S.S. Cairo Museum where we toured the Union ironclad ship, Cairo, which wasn’t there on our first visit to Vicksburg many years ago.  The next major stop was the Railroad Redoubt where in 1863 Waul’s Texas Legion held the ground against a Union breakthrough with hand-to-hand combat.  My great-grandfather, Rudolph Franke, and his brother, Carl, both were in Waul’s Texas Legion at Vicksburg. 

After a stop at the Visitor’s Center we drove into the town of Vicksburg going up and down streets looking at old historical buildings.  We headed southwest on Hall’s Ferry Road because before the siege of Vicksburg began, Waul’s Texas Legion was stationed there and took that road into Vicksburg.  We couldn’t find any historical markers however.  The rain increased so we abandoned my idea of visiting Yazoo City where my great-grandfather’s two other brothers were captured by Union forces and taken to a prison, Camp Morton, in Indiana.

We took I-20 to Jackson, Mississippi, then headed north on I-55 to Memphis, Tennessee where we had reservations for the night at Elvis Presley’s Heartbreak Hotel.  We arrived much earlier than expected so we checked into the hotel then took a tour of Elvis Presley’s home, Graceland.  We also toured his car museum and his aircraft.  All of this reminded us that we enjoyed the Elvis of the 50s and early 60s when we were young teenage rebels but didn’t especially follow the Elvis of the 70s with his Las Vegas jumpsuits.  In all Graceland was interesting but not something we would want to repeat.  For dinner that evening we ate at a nearby Marlowe’s which featured Memphis barbequed ribs.  Portions were huge and we overate as the food was good.

Sunday the rain had stopped and we headed east out of Memphis.  As we had driven I-40 across Tennessee from border to border several times, I chose to take back roads.  Leaving Memphis we took highway 57 through upscale suburbs of Germantown and Collierville to Moscow where we turned north to Somerville and US highway 64 which followed much of the old Trail of Tears when the Cherokee were banished to Oklahoma.  Somerville was an attractive town as was Bolivar.  The highway skirted around Selmer and in Adamsville Rita and I were talking about the Civil War when I said I thought the battleground of Shiloh was in Western Tennessee.  She looked on the map and said, “Oh it’s here near Adamsville”.  So we detoured a little distance and toured the Shiloh National Military Park.  Shiloh was one of the major battles of the Civil War and mostly known as the place where Confederate General Albert Sidney Johnston was killed.  Since he was from Texas he was later reburied in Austin, Texas. 

After a nice tour of Shiloh we headed back to Adamsville, home of Sheriff Buford Pusser of Walking Tall fame, and US highway 64 heading east through Savannah, Waynesboro to Lawrenceburg where we stopped at the crowded Brass Lantern for a nice lunch.  We noticed several people with their children stopping at the table behind me asking the person there if they could have autographs and take photos.  I asked our waitress who he was and she didn’t know but went to ask.  Turned out it was Michael Wolfe of the reality TV show “American Pickers”, his wife and young son.  We never heard of the show or of him.  But he was friendly and accommodating with everyone. 

We were running late and near Pulaski we took I-65 north towards Nashville but before that big city we took loop highway 840 to I-40 where we headed east as the sun was setting.  We still had a way to go.  Traffic on I-40 moved fast and soon we were through Knoxville and crossing the Smoky Mountains into North Carolina on winding roads.  We had also lost an hour crossing into the Eastern Time zone.  So we arrived at our reserved hotel about 10 pm, had the nice cookies they offered and went directly to bed exhausted.

Monday we had breakfast at the Atlanta Bread Company then went to the Biltmore Mansion for our tour.  The mansion, built by the Vanderbilts, was beautifully decorated for Christmas.  We had toured the mansion many years ago in summer but it looked nice for the holidays and we thought we saw more rooms of the house this time.  After the crowded tour we drove to Antler Hill Village on the property and had a nice lunch at The Bistro.  We left about 2-3 pm and headed to Durham and Rachel and Deana’s house where we arrived about 6 pm.  They had a delicious meal prepared and we enjoyed good conversation for an enjoyable evening.  Their dog, Olive, was also happy to see us.

Tuesday, New Years Eve, Rachel took off work and after a leisurely start we headed to Bennett Place, a nearby State Historical Site where Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to General William Sherman of the Union Forces, the largest number of Confederate solders.  The Bennett farm has been restored with old farm houses of the period and some of the remains of the original house.  Afterwards we did some shopping at Costco and Southern Seasons which is a large gourmet food emporium that we try to visit each time we are in the area. 

After Deana got off work we dressed up and went to Panciuto, a nice restaurant in the pretty, historical village of Hillsborough.  I remember our delicious meal beginning with an amuse bouche of crispy fried black-eyed peas in a sauce of pureed greens.  Rita and I had a starter of tortellini Toscana with pumpkin butter juice, wilted spinach, breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese.  For our entrées Rita and I had braised pork ragu, homemade pappardelle pasta, carrots, arugula, breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese again.  For dessert I had warm apple cake with maple ice cream, a cheddar Florentine and lemon-cinnamon syrup while Rita had custard with crushed macaroons, caramel and cardamom whipped cream.  All the flavors merged together nicely.  The chef, Aaron Vandemark, uses 95% of his ingredients from local farms.  It was a great finish to 2013.

Wednesday, New Years Day, we welcomed in 2014 in a low key manner.  We slept late then Rachel and Deana prepared a delicious brunch.  We took it easy watching a movie on TV and generally relaxing.  Rachel and Deana prepared another nice meal for dinner with our traditional pork (tenderloin), greens (kale), rice and black-eyed peas.  So here’s hoping that we are fortunate to have good luck in 2014 and that it is better than 2013 for sure.

Thursday both Rachel and Deana took off work and we all drove north to Richmond, Virginia, where we met Gretchen and Sophie-Claire at the Richmond Children’s Museum.  It was heart-warming when Sophie-Claire saw us from a distance and ran into our arms screaming “grandma, grandpa”.  There were kisses and hugs all around.  We followed energetic Sophie-Claire all around the museum which was perfect for her.  After a few hours we left for a local favorite called the Dairy Bar where we had delicious chili burgers and milkshakes.  Sophie-Claire loved her milkshake even though it was so cold she was shivering as she drank it.  After a while they had to return to Washington, DC, and we had to drive back to Durham.  We were sorry to say good-bye. 

Friday Rachel and Deana both went back to work while Rita did our laundry.  At noon we met Rachel at a local favorite restaurant called Tyler’s.  The only problem was deciding which of the scores of draft beers I wanted to drink.  I settled on a local amber ale and a nice Cobb salad.  Rita had fish and chips while Rachel had their barbecue plate.

Saturday we drove to the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh and toured the exhibit called “Porsche by Design:  Seducing Speed”.  It was a great exhibit with several famous Porsches starting with one of the first produced in 1937.  There was one owned by Janis Joplin and race cars belonging to Steve McQueen and others.  After that we drove to Durham where we went to a theater and saw the “Walter Mitty” movie.  And after the movie we went to one of Rachel and Deana’s favorite Turkish restaurants in Chapel Hill called Talula’s.  We ate like sultans and discovered a nice Turkish red wine called Kavaklidere. 

Sunday we followed Rachel and Deana to a nice breakfast place called Nosh.  After a big, delicious breakfast we said our good-byes and headed out of Durham on I-40 to I-95 south into South Carolina and then I-26 east into Charleston.  Our first stop was a way out of town to visit the Confederate submarine Hunley, only raised in 2000.  The tours are only conducted on weekends and our informative guide was a retired US Navy submariner.  The story behind the Hunley is very interesting and too long to go into here.
After the tour we drove into downtown Charleston and checked into our centrally located hotel.  We immediately started out on a walk as it was late afternoon.  From our hotel on John Street we headed south down King Street first full of restaurants and shops but eventually along old, historic homes in the Charleston style of architecture.  We walked to the water front called The Battery where we could see Ft. Sumter in the distance.  We walked along the water front to the Old Exchange Building on East Bay Street and then to the Waterfront Park and City Markets.  Near the City Markets we stopped as it was getting dark and had a delicious seafood dinner at Hanks, a 1940s style restaurant with style and great food.  It felt cozy and we started with a martini for me and a gin and tonic for Rita.  Both went down good.  Then we had seafood combination dinners – mine with flounder, crab cake, scallops and shrimp.  Hanks goes into my books as a favorite.  Finally we walked back to our hotel in the dark.

We had planned to visit Savannah but since we had done that before and wanted to get back home because of the news of an Arctic cold front, we decided to just head home as quickly as possible.  Monday we headed out of Charleston on US highway 17 to I-95 and around Jacksonville, Florida, we took I-210 to I-10 west.  Here we drove with only occasional stops for gasoline past Tallahassee and Pensacola to Mobile, Alabama, where we had reservations for the night.  In Mobile the temperatures dropped to 17 degrees on Tuesday morning and we got an early start taking I-10 west through Mississippi and Louisiana to Beaumont, Texas, where we stopped for lunch.  Then we continued west through Houston and finally arrived home about 7 pm after a stop at a grocery store for breakfast essentials.  All was fine at home and we were happy to have completed another fine road trip to see our daughters.