When we planned Road Trip 2019, we knew before leaving Las Vegas that we were going to spend a few weeks in North Carolina and a few weeks in Virginia with some travel time in between those two points. Whereas most of our trip was planned well in advance and most sites were even booked last year, the location for the five days between North Carolina and Virginia was not considered until May of 2019.
That kind of living on the edge was a first for us! As many new RVers discover, it can be difficult to be spontaneous. The nice campgrounds are often booked up to a year in advance. In this case, we figured that our location and timing would be in our favor. As I searched around for a campground about halfway to our next destination, I settled on Greystone RV Park in Pinnacle, NC.
There were several appealing factors that led to our selection of this campground. First, of course, was its location. It was about 3 hours from our departure point and about 3 hours to our next campground.
Second, it was a small park. In fact, it’s the smallest park we’ve ever seen with only 10 sites. That meant it was most likely to cater to travelers like us and not families looking for amenities to entertain the kids. Not that there’s anything wrong with family-oriented amenities, but that’s not the experience we are seeking. I had read some negative reviews about the bathhouse closing overnight, but we’re self-contained so no problem there.
My real concern was that, with only 10 sites available, we might not be able to get booked for our planned stay from July 8 to 13, 2019. Fortunately, it worked out for us. We learned later that about five sites are allocated to monthly guests, and the other half is for travelers like us. There are plans to expand in the future.
Third, it was conveniently located in wine country. Wine country that we didn’t even know existed prior to looking for a campground in this general vicinity.
When we arrived and took stock of the area and this fantastic view, we realized we had found a gem of a campground and immediately regretted having only a few days to explore.
And check out this sunset! We thoroughly enjoyed the peace and quiet that accompanies these views.
The owners live on the property and are meticulous caretakers. Everything is neat and clean, and the landscaping is manicured beautifully. Absolutely the type of place we love to stay at. And there’s plenty of gravel to keep my dogs’ feet out of the dewy grass in the morning, plus there’s enough space to walk around for some two- and four-legged exercise.
The Verizon speed test resulted in 36.3 Mbps whereas AT&T checked in at an abysmal 2.16 Mbps.
Mount Airy
On our first free day, we opted to go explore Mayberry aka Mt Airy, NC. This town happens to be the birthplace of Andy Griffith. If none of that means anything to you, never mind. Dean and I are of the right age group to have a lot of fond memories of Andy Griffith from our childhood. We were nearby so we thought, let’s go investigate!
The town was only about a 20-minute drive from our campground. We found parking for our beast at a municipal lot at the corner of East Oak Street and City Hall Street. It’s near the Loaded Goat, a sports pub named for an episode from The Andy Griffith Show. But the pub was closed the day that we visited, so we have no idea whether it’s worth a visit.
The parking lot also turned out to be just a block from the place I had selected for lunch, The Old North State Winery, but be forewarned–it’s a healthy hike up Oak street to get there. Oh, it just so happened to offer wine-tasting as well, go figure!
After we sampled the various wines, we were able to stay at the bar and enjoy some lunch. This venue is quite large and has plenty of tables if you prefer a different setting. However, we liked our bartender, we were comfortable at the bar, and it was relatively quiet (i.e. not busy), so we stayed put.
Our bartender highly recommended the Fried Green Tomatoes, and we heartily agree. It was quite delicious! That’s tasty pimiento cheese nestled between each tomato.
For the main dish, we both selected the salmon tacos. It’s unusual for us to select the same dish, and even more unusual for Dean to select salmon tacos. Salmon is not his favorite fish, so I often get it when we eat out because I won’t get it at home. But today he was moved to try it out.
We paired our meal with the Soul red blend, which we found to be a quite satisfying combination. Fish Hippie is the new branding for Old North State Winery wines, by the way. They have a clothing line to go with it, for reasons I don’t understand. Anyway, the tacos were quite filling and Dean wound up finishing my last taco… with salmon. Will wonders never cease?
After fueling our bodies for the afternoon walk about town, we meandered along Main Street to take in the sights.
At the south end of Main Street, we turned west to walk up Rockford Street to the Andy Griffith Museum. This museum was so delightful and the memories that it stirred up put a smile on our faces. There were so many iconic characters and images from the Andy Griffith Show that are lovingly showcased here.
In addition, there were many other items from other times for which Andy is remembered, such as Matlock, and for which less is known, such as his Shakespearean performances in his youth. He was quite a guy and it was time well spent to not only remember his work, but to discover other aspects of his life as well.
On our walk back to our truck, we decided to stop for ice cream based on another recommendation from our bartender at the Old North State Winery. It was a hot day, after all! It’s not just any ole ice cream. It’s got moonshine in it! Not that we could really tell, but it was a good excuse to have a little treat.
If moonshine ice cream is not your thing, there are plenty of other flavors from which to choose. However, there is not a lot of seating, so if it’s a very hot day, you might have a hard time getting in.
Wine Tasting Galore
Remember that I mentioned this area is wine country? It turns out there are over 40 wineries in this area! More specifically, we found ourselves in the midst of the Yadkin Valley AVA. We did not have time to visit all wineries, so we focused on what made for an easy drive for a day. Well, actually we picked enough wineries to visit that we spent two days driving around this AVA.
The first day’s itinerary:
- Jones von Drehle Vineyards. A lovely place to sit on the patio and enjoy a cheese plate and baguette with your favorite type of wine. We like reds and really liked the Rock and Rail (a Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec blend) and the Cabernet Franc.
- McRitchie Winery & Ciderworks. Here we found a cute little venue. Dean doesn’t typically like whites, but he did like the Petite Manseng here. We also liked the Sapere Aude reserve blend of Sangiovese, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc.
- Grassy Creek Vineyard & Winery. This winery was the winner of the day. We were greeted warmly by the owner, Cynthia, and later met one of the winemakers. We even got a hug from Cynthia when we left. How often do you get a hug from a winery owner? Just a feel-good place! And we loved wines here too, including the Cabernet Franc. (Yes, there does seem to be a trend in what we like). But especially the Barbera. Not a typical grape found in this AVA or even on the East Coast, in our experience. We’re waiting for a special place to open this one up and promised Cynthia a picture when we do!
- Shelton Vineyards. Of all the wineries in this AVA, this is the most commercial. In fact, just the week prior to our visit, we had discovered Shelton wines at the Publix in Waynesville, NC, so we already had an introduction to one type of its wines. The property is simply lovely. There is a wide variety of wines and wine styles here, too, so everyone should be able to find something they like. Our favorites included… shockingly…the Cabernet Franc, and Reserve Petit Verdot as well as the 259 Franklin, which is a Bordeaux-style blend.
Below-clockwise from the top-Jones von Drehle, Shelton Vineyards (the big picture), Grassy Creek, and McRitchie.
Shelton Vineyards also has a restaurant on the property, Harvest Grill, so we ended our first wine-touring day with dinner here. For an appetizer, we shared local mushrooms baked into a tart, which was a fine start to dinner. Dean had a filet mignon, but was not crazy about the sauce. I had some type of fish, which was less than memorable. Grouper, maybe? So… tart good, entrees meh.
For our second wine-touring day, we started out expecting a dreary, cloudy day. It was mostly a lovely day, although we had to wait out a rainstorm at our last location. Here was our itinerary for day 2:
- JOLO Vineyards. This vineyard was the closest to our campground and includes another view of Pilot Mountain. The restaurant here is phenomenal, too! Our favorite wines here were the Crimson Creek which is 100% Chambourcin and the Jolotage, a blend of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petit Verdot, and Montepulciano grapes.
- Hutton Vineyards. Well, this turned out to be a dud. Not the wines – we just don’t know about that. They were supposed to be open, but no one was around when we stopped by. Later, we learned that it’s not uncommon to find them closed. Oh, well…It was more of a functional vineyard, lacking the ambiance that other wineries try to impart to the overall experience.
- Stony Knoll Vineyards. We were able to meet the owner here, and a had a very interesting conversation with him about the history of the property and the region. Here our favorite wines were the Syrah and, well, Cabernet Franc. (We really are open-minded about reds, but something about Cabernet Francs in this area really appeals to us!)
JOLO 
Hutton 
Stony Knoll
We enjoyed some lunch at JOLO before continuing on with our wine tour of the day. In contrast to our dinner the night before, the food at JOLO was fabulous all around from appetizer to entrees. In fact, we had plans to return the next night (Friday) as they are only open for dinner on Friday and Saturdays and we wanted to try that menu, also. Unfortunately for us, there was a wedding on Friday night which pre-empted the dinner service and we were departing on Saturday morning. So we consoled ourselves by returning for lunch on Friday.
Both days we had deviled eggs as a starter, because… we just love deviled eggs and they were quite delicious here. The pickled onion garnish added a nice little kick of extra tartness. For lunch on Thursday, I had the ravioli and really, really wanted to lick the plate clean. Dean had the meatloaf, for which the recipe comes from the mother of one of the owners. Now I’m not ordinarily a meatloaf fan, but I tasted it and thought it was excellent. Apparently, Dean did too because he ordered it again on Friday. I suppose I’ll have to try to find a meatloaf recipe to cook for him. I tried the risotto on Friday and enjoyed that as well, but really the ravioli was the tastier of the two. We ended lunch with a treat of Beach Bubbles and carrot cake.
There is so much more to do in this area. We love food and wine, so that’s how we prioritized our short time here and we were quite happy with that choice. However, we’d love to explore the state parks and enjoy the many different types of outdoor activities here. And more wineries, of course!
We definitely want to come back! For now, we have to stick to our schedule and head north to Virginia.
