Darryl and Cindy Cunningham: "Mayberry" North Carolina and Going to Galax, Painting and Party Time!

In the 1960's nearly every child in the USA knew about Mayberry, North Carolina, a fictional town that was the setting for The Andy Griffith Television Show. It was a wonderful, down home, clean view of rural Americana that is beloved to this day. It was based on the real life town of Mt. Airy, North Carolina, the hometown of the star of the show, Andy Griffith. On this day Darryl and I decided it was time we visited Mt. Airy, since we had been coming to North Carolina regularly since the 1990's and had never stopped to see this little slice of TV nostalgia.

Wednesday July 19, 2023

On the way to Mt. Airy we decided to stop in Mocksville and visit the graves of Darryl's parents. I'll admit. I love to visit "my people" at their graves and talk to them and let them know what the family is up to. I don't think it's weird, although some people might, but to me, it brings me peace and comfort.

Mt. Airy, North Carolina. Like many tourist towns we visit, it had a street art theme and this one was painted up guitars.

Darryl and I with deputy Barney Fife in the visitors center. If you don't know who Barney is you will just have to watch some reruns of the show.

This town is lovely, very clean and full of 1960's police cruisers that, for a fee, will take you on a tour about the town. I think we saw 4 or 5 of them as we walked along downtown.

Too many cute boutique stores and souvenir shops to visit them all!

Yes, the famous Mayberry jail cell where Otis would sleep it off away from his wife, Aunt Bee would bring the prisoners home cooked meals and Barney would sometimes get locked in out of reach of his keys.

I loved the street art and murals all over the town.

Yes, before Andy and Barney, the Easter Brothers were a famous touring singing group from Mt. Airy.

On the TV show the men in the town gather at Floyd's Barber Shop.

An interesting fact is the the current proprietor of Floyd's is related to the Original owner and when they were in the preproduction stages of making the show, the Hollywood people came out and took photos and measurements of this establishment to duplicate as much of this barbershop as they could for the show.

Oh yes... their were Bakeries and Candy Shops and we found them all and in each one was original "Mayberry" memorabilia!

Okay... I'm a sucker for cute, witty signs.

Since all the cute "Mayberry" restaurants were very crowded, we grabbed some Mexican food and headed up the mountains to our next stop, Galax, Virginia. This town is famous for their "Smoke on the Mountain" BBQ cook off and Old Time Fiddlers Festival.

Okay... you've got to "Love" the Fiddle sign!

This is a beautiful music shop where some of the the string instruments are handmade. It was fun looking through all the photographs on the walls and soaking in the ambiance of the place.

Galax is a town where the Redhead Express has played many times and I can see why they loved it.

We visited Antique stores, Art Galleries and an Ice Cream shop. You just can't beat that!

I loved the painted Bass Fiddle in one of the local art Galleries.

I looked at these watercolors and just loved them.

I think I may have to try and paint some like this.

I took a quick trip to Tampa on July 20th to attend a workshop for Toast of Tampa and we prepare for our International Competition in late October.

But by Monday July 24th I was back in North Carolina. Darryl and I stayed with Jacob and the kids at Cami's house while Cami and Lily went to girls camp.

🎨 🎨🎨

Friday July 28, 2023

Manny and Amelia took me on my very first Plein Aire painting outing. It was also my very first time to paint with Gauche Paints.

We chose a spot along the trial with a good vista, set our easels and started painting. People would stop by to see what we were doing.

I really enjoyed it even though this style of painting is very new to me, Manny Maldonado is a a very good and patient teacher. Here is my finished product.

August 4, 2024

Happy Birthday Darryl!

Today wasn't just Darryl's birthday, it was the date of the rescheduled Avery's 5th Birthday Party. Her Mom and Auntie Clarissa went all out to make it special with Pink Flamingos, Silver Elephants and pretty balloons everywhere. (It's an Avery thing... Don't question it.)

Of course Clarissa outdid her self with the beautiful waterfall cake!

Happy Birthday Again sweet Avery!

When it comes to looks and fashion, Avery is her Aunt Cali's "Mini-Me"!

She had so many different poses showing off her Birthday "Jewelry". What a doll!

I love hugs from my granddaughters... Hello Miss Annabelle!

Donna and Doug were gone for the weekend and Skye and Ryan had to leave for work early on Monday morning, so Darryl and I stayed long enough to get the girls off to school.

I know there are no photos of Reagan, but in my defense, every time I tried to take her picture she would hide. I am pretty sure its a pre-teen thing.

On the way back to North Carolina we stopped by the Knapp Law Offices and visited Skye at her work. She works every day in the summer and once or twice a week during school.

I just can't express how proud we are of her and all her hard work, and of Ryan and his support for her. They are quite the team!

Rainy Summer days in North Carolina. I love this place!

Tuesday August 8th. School will start soon, so what better way to celebrate than go with Lily, Ransom, Gage, Lydia and Maggie to Carawinds amusement park to ride Roller Coasters. What a blast we had!