Fall Road Trip: Day One

Greensboro, North Carolina: We have been planning a fall road trip to the Smoky Mountains for a couple months, however in the past few weeks our plans have taken a turn.  While we are still headed north to check out the fall foliage, our plans have migrated from Tennessee to neighboring North Carolina.  While don't get me wrong we love the Smokies, we decided to focus on some new towns and chose to visit central North Carolina.

We planned on hitting the road at zero dark thirty, however with the excitement of the trip no one got much sleep so we ended up leaving even earlier.  We pulled out of the drive way at 1:30 am and headed north to North Carolina.  We drove under the cover of darkness until we stopped for breakfast outside Savannah, Georgia. 

On road trips, we typically skip chain restaurants with the exception of travel days.  Since it was Sunday, our usual favorite of Chick-fil-a was not an option, so we settled on Huddle House in Savannah.  My wife and son had a ham and cheese omelet and I chose the chicken biscuit breakfast.  For being a quick service option, the breakfast was really good and helped give us the energy to continue on our trip.

As we got back on the road and into South Carolina, the sun began to rise over the low country and we were able to enjoy the scenery of the trip.  Just outside of Florence, our trip got us off the interstate and into some small towns in the Pee Dee region of South Carolina.  One of my favorite part of road trips is passing though small town USA and seeing the sights.  The further north we drove, the leaves began to start giving glimpses of color and by the time we were in North Carolina, we had a nice coloring of yellows, oranges and reds filling the treeline.

We made a quick stop off at the I-74/I-74 visitor's center to scout out a few ideas to enhance out touring the next few days.  When we left, we saw a small sign for the Pisgah Covered Bridge so we decided to take a detour and check it out.  The drive to bridge passed through rolling hills with color dotting the horizons.  The bridge was frozen in time and looked pretty spectacular with fall foliage.  We took a hike through the forest and took some photos before hitting the road.  The journey to the bridge was a nice detour off the beaten path but be careful to your surroundings on the way there because we did not have cell service back to the highway and there were a few spots we thought we were going the wrong way.

From the time we got back to the highway, we had about an hour drive before reaching our hotel.  For this trip we decided to stay at the Drury Inn and Suites in Greensboro.  Since our first stay at Drury Inn on our trip to New Orleans a few years back, the chain has become a popular choice for us.  Not only to they have comfortable rooms and great rates, they have a hot breakfast as well as the evening kickstarter which is a hot meal and two adult drinks each night of your stay.

When we got to our hotel, we were too early for check-in and a room wasn't ready so we went next door for dinner.  We chose Darryl's Wood Fired Grill for dinner.  From the outside the place looked intriguing and that unique look continue inside as well.  The restaurant featured interesting theming throughout from a speakeasy, a jail, urban art, fire station and much more.  Each section its own theme and the decorations were over the top and helped immerse you in the experience.  Our section was circus themed and ironically enough the circus poster at our table was from our hometown neighbor of Venice, Florida.  Funny how the home region always seems to follow us on vacation.  The only thing better than the theming at Darryl's was the food.  I had a chicken and cheese sandwich, Julienne had the chicken fingers and Cajun dusted shrimp and Donte had the Shrimp Po-boy and it was all delicious.

After dinner we headed downtown to the Greensboro History Museum.  Housed in the former Presbyterian Church building, the museum features a extensive collection of history for the region dating back from the early settlers through modern day.  We learned about how the city was formed and how it earned its nickname the Gate City and all the modern items that have ties to Greensboro like Vicks Vaporub and Wrangler Jeans to name a few.  The museum also showcased its deep roots in the civil rights battles from the original Greensboro sit-ins through the Black Lives Matter movement following the death of George Floyd.  The three story museum has an extensive collection and amazingly it was free to visit. 

When we finished the museum, we headed back to the hotel to check-in, unpack the car and rest a bit before our ghost tour. Before we went to the ghost tour, we stopped by Piedmont Triad Airport for a little planespotting however I was unsuccessful as I could not find a location and there was not activity during our brief visit.  I plan on doing a little research and giving it another try later during our trip. 

What better way to cap off Halloween that by taking a ghost tour.  Greensboro has a long history and has seen battle action in both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.  So it would only be fitting that the city would have a deep paranormal history.  We met our tour guide Jess downtown and took a ninety minute tour of the dark side of Greensboro include a few disturbed cemeteries, a building with hundreds of skeletal remains found during a remodel and a haunted hotel haunted by not one but two ghosts.  This only touched the surface of the haunted history that Greensboro has to offer.  It was a great tour and Jess did a great job of telling the dark stories of the city.  

After the tour we headed back to the hotel to wrap up day one and rest up for day two.  Tomorrow we head south to Ashboro and the North Carolina Zoo.  Be sure to check back tomorrow to hear more about the trip and keep watching the site for tons of photos and more from the trip as I get photos processed.