Advance, North Carolina
So, far this is a really neat park. Right smack dab in the middle of the woods and the drive up here is the best. Woods and pastures and meadows all over. I love it here. I thought I loved the other parts of NC but this is becoming my favorite.
The park is nice we got a spot further away from everything. We are on a hill which is kinda nice. It’s super cold right now. so we bundled up and tried to stay inside as much as we could. Thankfully there were some warmer days so they kids went out and got to play with their new friends.
We have also been told there are lots of snakes coming out because the weather is warming up. We asked our neighbor if he would blow out the leaves from our site and he found several snakes. Also several people said as they were hiking the trails they found snakes. As this place is very wooded we made sure to stay on the trails and not venture through the woods, as temping as that was for me.
This trip we ventured out and found some great neighborhood parks. One of them was Granville Park. This thing was a 3 story play structure!! The kids had so much fun with it. I also liked there were restrooms nearby as well as the fact the playground was all fenced so no littles escaping. Hahaha.
We hiked the trails and played in the little stream there. This was a fun day trip.
Black Mountain Chocolate was a cool place to go with the kids. You got to sample chocolate and learn how its made. We had such a good time. The tour was self guided and short but the chocolate is the best Ive ever had. If you balk at the cost of the bars just think of this. This is hand crafted and handled chocolate. Not mass produced like you find in the store. The owners are super sweet and so willing to share information and teach you about the process. The source their beans through Fair Trade, which is great for the workers at the farm. We went the one day with the kids and shot a little film but then Hal and I went back and took more video and did more interview with the owner. They have a super cool story as well. We saw them take the chocolate nibs and make them into the chocolate that then gets turned into the bars and other sweet treats they sell in their store. This place is located in the arts district of Winston-Salem and its really a must see place to go. There is also a distillery and artsy wood shop in the same plaza. We wanted to go the the distillery but the day we went it was closed. There also is great food there as well.
The Smoke Pit was where we went to for dinner one night because it was recommended by us by so many people and folks this did not disappoint. They had great food and huge portions. We ordered the meal that has 4 different meats, a few sides and drinks. It was so good. I really recommend the cheesy hashbrowns and street corn. The meat was cooked to perfection and this place was so busy. Those waitresses were all over the place but it seemed like a well oiled machine, so smooth and very little wait time. You can call ahead and order take out. Price wise it wasn’t too bad.
Hal and I went to Old Nick Williams Company Farm and Distillery on a date and met the owners and went on a small tour. It was so cool the guys were so informative and really friendly. I loves it. There is so much history and such a great story to this place. We sampled some whiskey and it was the best I’ve ever tasted. I am not a straight whisky or really any kind of alcohol drinker but this really change my mind. It was soooo good. Hal went back the next day and took Alima with him. She helped make barrel racks while Hal took video and got more of their story for the podcast. They then went back the next day and Alima met their daughter Poppy and she had a blast. Alima went with Poppy to a horse farm that had 35 horses and they do all kinds of training and lessons. She got to ride an ATV and fell in love. She told Hal it was the best day ever! She went on a paddle boat and went fishing for a bit. This is a must do tour for adults they also have kind of like a ladies night where ladies can come and learn about the different kinds of alcohol and the different ways to drink it. We learned a lot about how a distillery works and how alcohol is made. We sampled some whiskey and bourbon. It was so smooth and amazing! This family takes pride in their product and they have a passion for making it the right way.
Groundwork Commons is a small local coffee shop that Hal stumbled upon after we needed to help him find a place to work while we went to explore for the day. Now anyone who know Hal knows he an talked anyone about anything and make a connection. This time was no different. Hal went and talked with the owner for awhile and he was so sweet. Groundwork Commons is in a bit of a lower income neighborhood but it has a great mission. Their aim is to serve the community and bring it together. They are planning on making a common space for local artists and other people in the community to come together and gather.
Washington Park Dinosaur Playground was such a cool neighborhood park. There is tons of trails to hike and a dog park as well. It was kind of hard to find because the directions that I was given on my GPS didn’t take into account that the road its on is behind a neighborhood. It was kinda of busy that day. There is a water fountain but it wasn’t working. There were restroom but I didn’t use them. There was plenty of parking. The dinosaurs and a part of the play equipment and the kids loved that. There were slides and all kinds of climbing things as well as swings. There were also picnic tables and other seating. This is by far Calvin’s favorite park. Unfortunately ALL the super cool pictures I took here are gone. I have no idea what happened to them but they are ALL gone. It makes me so sad because I got some hilarious pictures.
Who we met
Rv Park Review
It has a playground. Landry was $1.25 to wash and $1.50 to dry. Site was sunny rock grass and dirt. sites were big. We met some great families by going to the playground. There is a family rec. hall and an adult only one. They also have pools and a lake. There are lots of nature trails and the staff is pretty friendly. They also had a mini golf course that was ok. I heard they are doing a remodel of the park and it was one of the things to gets face lift. The sites have a fire ring and picnic table. The fire pit had trash in it from the people who were there before us and there were leaves all over that were not blown out from the sites. There is a dog run.