The Story of the "Ugly Mug Jug"

11.03.2009: We woke up in Hickory, NC and headed east toward Asheville, NC and the Pisgah National Forest area. Our friends Colleen and Erika had made some recommendations for hiking and restaurants in this area. As we were leaving our hotel, David picked up a flier for Chimney Rock (pictured below). It looked like a challenge (and a good way to burn off some BBQ).



Standing at more than 200 feet tall with a view of over 75 miles, Chimney Rock was well worth the huffs and puffs. Most of the hike was a steep incline of stone or wooden stairs, winding through and up the rocks. Thankfully, there were several "rest" points along the way, each with their own breath taking view. None, however, compared to the view from the top. About thirty minutes later, we stood 2880 feet in elevation - fried food and all, we had conquered Chimney Rock!



What an incredible view from the top! North Carolina was yet another state where we hit peak or close to peak fall foliage. The picture below does not do the view much justice, as most of the trees were deep fall colors under a Carolina blue sky.



Having burned off way too many calories, we needed to eat again. Our Road Food book pointed us towards Statesville, NC to Jay Bee's, home of the Prairie Dog. Yes, another hot dog. (David and Katrina rank the hot dogs coming soon...) After many a winding country road we arrived at Jay Bee's. While Jay Bee's is known as a drive through, we decided to order inside and sit down. Jay Bee's was the first establishment we visited that had their Road Food write up proudly displayed on the wall. Yet, to our dismay, the Prairie Dog had been retired and was no longer on the menu. We ordered our dogs "all the way" (or John's way) which included mustard, onions, coleslaw and chili. See our dogs below. We ordered three dogs - a Polish sausage with onions and mustard, a foot long and a ballpark dog both all the way. These hot dogs were very good, but we definitely thought the chili and coleslaw combination was unique.

One of the challenges of being unemployed is that time does not really matter when you have no schedule to keep. The rest of the world, however, does still operate on normal business hours. So if we wanted to see some pottery in the pottery capital of the world, Seagrove, NC we needed to get a steppin! Arriving fifteen minutes before closing time for most of the pottery shops we were able to pick up a few very fun pieces. Our two favorite purchases were from a pottery shop named Turn and Burn., a small shop off the main road behind one of the other shops. One piece was a large white vase made by using a traditional Native American technique of applying horse hair when the pottery sat at 1600 degrees. The other piece was a salt glazed jug with an ugly angry face on the side. There are many stories to these famous North Carolina jugs - one being that potters used to get bored while making jugs all day long and would occasionally put faces on the jugs (these also became the most valuable and rare). Another fun story is that faces were put on the jugs to scare kids away and keep them away from Grandpa's Moonshine. Our "ugly mug jug" has made a wonderful addition to our family!

After Seagrove, NC we headed to South Carolina. .

On our way toward Charleston, SC we made a quick stop at Fort Jackson Army Base in Columbia, SC. This is where David's grandfather (Pop-pop) was stationed while in the Army for two years. Columbia, SC is also where David's mother was born.

We made it to the outskirts of Charleston, SC and stayed in Summerville, SC.