Oregon – Day 1

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Caroline Wise at Pine State Biscuits in Portland, Oregon

We flew into Portland, Oregon, late last night and went directly to Rodeway Inn by the airport, where we’ve stayed a number of times and where we’ll stay at the end of this trip before flying back to Phoenix in 10 days. An excellent breakfast and knitting were had at Pine State Biscuits in downtown Portland, and then it was time to braid the Columbia River on our way to the Pacific.

Caroline Wise and John Wise making a pit stop at 420 Holiday in Longview, Washington

Recreational marijuana is legal up here in Oregon and Washington, so why not stop and inspect the goods as the last time I looked at legal marijuana in a shop was in Amsterdam. This particular shop in Longview, Washington, seemed fitting to the idea of a vacation with the name 420 Holiday. If you are wondering if we bought some weed, come on, do we look like stoners?

Caroline Wise in front of a Welcome to Washington state sign

From Oregon over to Washington and then Washington back to Oregon.

Wahkiakum County Ferry on the Columbia River between Oregon and Washington

And then Washington back to Oregon, or something like that. This is the Wahkiakum County Ferry on the Columbia River between Puget Island, Washington, and Westport, Oregon, and it is the last ferry on the river before it dumps into the ocean. Every chance we get, we’ll opt to take a ferry, even if it’s a bit out of the way.

Astoria, Oregon looking across the Columbia River to Washington

Made it to Astoria, Oregon, and while I’m tempted to drive over that bridge into Washington to go get a coffee and a pastry at Chinook Coffee (love this little roadside shack), we are here early enough to go to this place on the river that has been closed by the time we are passing through on our other visits.

Whalebone Yarn Swift at the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon

The day started with knitting, so let’s continue with a theme; here at the Columbia River Maritime Museum is a Whalebone Yarn Swift, which was used to hold a skein of yarn while it is wound into a ball.

The Light Ship Columbia at the Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon

This floating lighthouse is a Light Ship named Columbia and is a National Historic Landmark. The mouth of the Columbia and the crossing of the “bar” is notoriously treacherous, and this “Light Ship”  helped guide the way. As you might deduce from the available light, we were too late to visit this landmark and so now we have one more reason to come back to Oregon.

In-Between

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Floyd's Barbershop and Snappy Lunch in Mount Airy, North Carolina

While it was set in Mayberry, the one and only Snappy Lunch and their famous pork chop sandwich was and is right here in Mount Airy, North Carolina. This was the birthplace of Andy Griffith and the inspiration for the fictional Mayberry on his TV show called “The Andy Griffith Show,” which ran for most of the 1960s. Not only did it put small-town America on center stage, but it also propelled Floyd’s Barbershop into a cult status that has endured for the past five decades. We were able to have breakfast at Snappy Lunch, but it was too early for a pork chop sandwich, and although the sign says open at Floyd’s, it wasn’t yet as someone apparently forgot to flip the sign before locking up the day before. Two weeks before our arrival, the real Floyd the Barber passed away at age 92, Don Knotts passed away in 2006, and Andy Griffith died just four years before. Only Jim Nabors and Ron Howard were still around the day of our visit to the town, which catapulted their careers.

Caroline Wise and John Wise in front of a Welcome to Virginia state sign

Here we are on the Fancy Gap Highway at the Virginia and North Carolina state lines. We’ll continue north to Fancy Gap, reconnect with the Blue Ridge Parkway, and meander across southern Virginia to see what its countryside looks like.

Near The Saddle overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia

This was somewhere near The Saddle Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. We’ve moved up into the clouds.

The Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia

It’s beautiful out here in the solitude and quiet that the fog helps create. Without much of a horizon and the fact we are here before the summer season on a Wednesday, it feels like the world is ours and ours alone. The great thing about days like this is that when we come back someday it will appear as an entirely new place.

Moogfest wrist band

Yesterday, I mentioned that this was a pivotal 48 hours in my life, so here’s another part of that change. On May 4th, I was diagnosed with diabetes. On that very day, I made an appointment with a dietitian for May 12th, the day before leaving on this vacation. In the eight days between diagnosis and my next appointment, I made a radical change in my diet and started walking. Over those days, my blood glucose went from about 300 down to the 140s, and with that, I told the dietitian that I was refusing to go on insulin and that I asked her to bear with me as I showed her trending graph of where my blood glucose levels appeared to be heading. Reluctantly, she agreed but asked that I go get a Fitbit and start tracking how much physical activity I was getting. Caroline got one, too; as a matter of fact, you can see it on her in the background of this photo.

Caroline initially didn’t want to spend the extra money on a Fitbit for her, but while we’ve been back here, we have been making a game of getting more steps than each other. When we stop for gas now, she’ll jump out and pace back and forth to accumulate more steps, which prompts me to set the tank to fill and then start racing around the car myself. While we may look like loons to others as we walk around in circles, we are hoping it will continue to have a positive impact on my diabetes. All of the BBQ also plays well into this, as I’ve cut out sugar, rice, potatoes, pasta, bread, and, to a large extent, fruit until I get this under control.

Speaking of BBQ, dinner tonight was at The Pit in Durham, North Carolina. [Now closed]

Tomorrow’s blog entry will detail the third part of this monumental change in my life.

Bathrooms and Business in North Carolina

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All-Gender restroom sign in Asheville, North Carolina

Just a couple of months before we arrived in North Carolina, the state’s governor attempted to make the people of this state the laughingstock of the world. With all of our other problems, the state legislature decides to focus on who can use which bathroom. The enlightened people of Asheville and Durham took matters into their own hands and simply turned bathrooms into All-Gender Restrooms.

Caroline Wise and John Wise at Mt. Mitchell in North Caroline which is the highest point east of the Mississippi River

Here we are at Mt. Mitchell in North Carolina, which is the highest point east of the Mississippi. Seeing we’ve also been to the peak of Cadillac Mountain in Maine, which is the highest point on the Eastern Seaboard, this pretty much wraps up our need to visit any more mountains out this way. I know it’s just bragging now, but we’ve also been to the lowest point in the United States at Badwater Basin in Death Valley. I should add we’ve also been to Cape Flattery, Washington (farthest northwest), Lubec, Maine (and the West Quoddy Head lighthouse – easternmost point in the U.S.), Key West, Florida (southernmost incorporated place), and Lebanon, Kansas (the geographic center of the contiguous 48 states).

Espresso News coffee shop in Boone, North Carolina

Had to pull off the out-of-the-way road where we had zero phone signal and head into a town where I could join a conference call. My call today was with a couple of investors who would ultimately play a larger role in my life as they were about to invest in my virtual reality company. Not only would this ultimately lead to TimefireVR LLC becoming TimefireVR Inc. with publicly traded stock, but it would also result in me firing my entire staff and finding myself with the sour taste of corporate divorce left in my mouth after the various entities parted ways. It’s surreal to me that so much in my life was shifting during this trip, but while it was happening, I couldn’t have a hint of what was about to occur. To commemorate this fateful sequence of events, I’m noting that it was the 48 hours starting at 16:30 on May 17, 2016, until about the same time on May 19th, 2016 that would be the pivot. Hello, big change with my small company that was about to morph and an encounter with synthesizers that was about to morph my mind into adopting a new language.

Mayberry Inn in Mt. Airy, North Carolina

Up near the Virginia border, we checked in to the Mayberry Motor Inn in Mt. Airy, North Carolina. Yes, it is exactly that Mt. Airy where Opie, Floyd the Barber, Barney Fife, Gomer Pyle, and Sheriff Taylor would show America what small-town life was like. Tomorrow, we’ll explore the town and I’ll spend one more oblivious day as to the magnitude of change that was occurring in my life.

North Carolina to Tennessee

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Biscuit Head in Asheville, North Carolina

We were told that Biscuit Head for breakfast was popular but not 20-minute-line popular. Was the wait worth it? Of course, it was. After we ate, it was time to get on the road for a bit of driving.

Caroline Wise and John Wise on the Tennessee state line with North Carolina

This is where things get sketchy in our photographic history because it appears I only shot three photos all day. I had my DSLR with me, and on other days, you can see the black strap on my shoulder, but searching high and low we do not find any other photos of this trip. While I may have opted for the convenience of my smartphone to snap the majority of the photos, it just doesn’t seem possible that on such a beautiful day that took us from North Carolina over to Tennessee into Gatlinburg and back into the Smoky Mountains that I wouldn’t have any other images from the day. So it goes, at least I have this one of us in front of the state which I should point out that the “e” on Cocke County is silent.

The Admiral restaurant in Asheville, North Carolina

A break from the rush into BBQ with a luxurious dinner at a place called The Admiral. On the left are frog legs, and on the right are sweetbreads (pancreas chunks). Whatever we had for our main course is lost in time, like the details of our daylight hours wandering around a National Park and another state. One thing I’m certain of is that we surely had a great day.

North Carolina

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Caroline Wise and John Wise at the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina

On my shoulder is my Canon DSLR with an amazing lens that wouldn’t have been out of focus with the blown-out sunlight over the left of my head, but I was feeling lazy and decided to shoot this entire trip with the camera in my phone that while it was okay for Facebook is shit for my blog. Oh well, some blurry reminders are better than none at all.

I’m posting this two years after we made this momentous trip that would have serious implications regarding a change in direction in my life, more of that as the blog entry progresses.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina

This was our second visit to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park but our first visit to the absolute southern end of the park. These chickens had southern drawls and tasted like pork; it was the weirdest thing.

Caroline Wise at Luella's BBQ in Asheville, North Carolina

Guess what we had for dinner? BBQ, that’s what we had! By the time we got back to Arizona, we likely were emanating smoke from this meat indulgence themed around the smoker. Tonight’s meal was at Luella’s BBQ in Asheville, North Carolina, where we will stay and call home for the next few days.

Caroline Wise and John Wise at Firestorm Bookstore in Asheville, North Carolina

Amazingly smart bookstore and coffee shop here in Asheville called Firestorm. By the time we were done shopping here during our stay, we’d leave with at least half a dozen books and a sticker for the computer slung over my shoulder. It’s great to be on vacation, and it’s our first in six months, which is nearly a lifetime measured in John and Caroline years.