My Summer Vacation To North Carolina-Part 2 the Whirligigs

I have to back track just a little for this part 2 of my trip to North Carolina. My daughter doesn't like to stop at fast food places or chains. She likes to find out of the way local places to eat. We didn't take the interstate but took a two lane road from High Point to Raleigh to see how the locals lived. A lot of tobacco is grown in this part of North Carolina. It reminded me of growing up in Stoughton, WI where they used to grow a lot of tobacco.

For brunch, before we reached the final trolls in Raleigh, we stopped at the Saxapahaw General Store in Graham, North Carolina. The internet said it was one of the best hidden dining gems and they were correct. This little general store had a great menu. We had breakfast that included biscuits, homemade jam,  potatoes or grits, breakfast meat and eggs. I didn't think I liked grits but even those were delicious. And the biscuits, holy cow. So good.  It wasn't much to look at but so delicious. Maybe it was the "duck fat", but I didn't want to think about that or ask questions.

We walked down to a pretty little river called the Haw River and scoped out the area before setting off to Raleigh. After seeing all the trolls on Wednesday, we spent the night and left in the morning. We were heading to the coast. On the way we came upon a town called Wilson, North Carolina. In the middle of this town was a Whirligig Park. There was a man named Vollis Simpson. He was a WWII veteran and a local farm machinery repair man. At his farm he would create these giant kinetic sculptures out of used machinery parts. The word got out and tourists would try to locate his farm. When it became so popular and Mr. Simpson's health declined, the city of Wilson took over and created a free Whirligig Art Gallery. 

This was a fun little break from the drive. We visited the museum and gift shop before heading down the road. Our next break was the Cliffs of the Neuse State Park. We walked a nice trail to see the cliffs. It felt good to stretch our legs a bit. We even found a geocache on the trail. We looked for them along the way and found a few to add to the fun of our adventure.

By now we were getting ready to stop for the day. It was hot and humid but not as bad as I thought it would be. We stayed in Kinston, NC. We had a busy day on Friday. Stay tuned for Part 3.