I know it’s been awhile since I’ve written about our adventures, but we traveled this past week and discovered some amazing things!
We left South Carolina on Thursday, October 6, headed to Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania, for Bill to receive yet another award for his football coaching. We decided to slow down a bit and take 2 days to get there so we had time to spare. After about three hours, we arbitrarily exited the highway in a North Carolina town called Seagrove. Our plan was to just pull over and switch drivers, but we spotted a sign that said, “Area Potteries.” Not quite understanding what the sign meant, we decided to drive a bit further and you wouldn’t believe what we discovered!
Seagrove, NC, is a countryside town where in a 20-mile radius you will find over 50 pottery shops! Of course we didn’t have time to visit all of the shops, but we did discover several galleries that showcased remarkable creations. When we asked, “Why here?” we learned that in the 1700’s several families settled here because of the soil that was conducive to making clay. A community of potters emerged and to this day, Segrove boasts an extremely popular collection of pottery of all kinds -artistic, functional, sculptural, folk art and historical.
We easily could’ve spent the entire day in Seagrove, and it is definitely on our “go back to” list… truly a remarkable find!
Our next and final stop of the day was Roanoke, Virginia, which left us about 5 hours of travel the following day, What a wonderful and fun city! I had investigted “Things To Do In Roanoke” and came across an interesting option – the Roanoke Pinball Museum!
After checking into our hotel, we ventured to the area in downtown Roanoke known as “Center in the Square.” We located the Pinball Museum, and the fun began! The museum is “an interactive museum dedicated to the science, art, and history of pinball.” The museum contains pinball machines ranging from the 1930’s through today, all of which are fully playable. Patrons pay a nominal fees and are set loose to play all of the machines for as long as they want!
Bill and I had a blast trying almost every machine and we also learned that the earliest pinball machines were utilized for gambling purposes and were eventually banned in the 1940’s and beyond. As you can imagine, the machines have become extremely sophisicated as technology has evolved, but to tell you the truth, we enjoyed the earlier produced machines with your basic flippers and bumpers! What an experience!
Topping off our Roanoke stop was dinner at 202 Social House. I have to share my dinner – a cup of tomato basil soup and this… a grilled cheese sandwich on sour dough bread stuffed with mac n’ cheese and bacon – could there be a more delicious comfort food?
As you know, Bill and I have done our share of traveling, but we find it’s more enjoyable when you have time to explore and stumble upon some of America’s wonders! We did just that last week!
Stay Calm and Travel On…
thervdreamlife 