Barry and I got up earlier than usual on Saturday, and hit the road by 7:30am for a day trip to the Yadkin Valley. The purpose of this trip was not wine-tasting (although we did a bit), but to scout the area with thoughts towards possibly buying land there some day.

We made a brief stop in Old Salem to use the restroom, mail a bill and stretch our legs. We spent about 20 minutes walking around the old town, which was nearly deserted at that hour except for a couple of joggers. It was a perfect fall morning; we kicked up the first fallen leaves as we walked past the beautifully restored old homes. The Moravian garden was a marvel; how do they get plants that big during such a drought?

From there we headed to the north end of the valley and had a late breakfast in Mt. Airy, a lovely town in the hills whose claim to fame is that it was the model for Andy Griffith’s Mayberry. We wandered into the first place we saw that was serving breakfast, which turned out to be “Snappy’s Lunch,” the only real establishment mentioned by name in Griffith’s show. By the time we walked out, a line was already 20 feet down the sidewalk as people waited to be seated for lunch. We strolled both sides of Main Street, and by the time we returned to our car we’d had our fill of pictures of Griffiths and Don Knotts and a mop-headed Ron Howard, and establishments that are branded by references to Aunt Bea and Floyd the barber. There’s something odd about the town’s enthusiasm over a TV show that went off the air in 1968. I couldn’t decide if it was touching, or just creepy.

From there we headed west in search of the town of Toast, which was indicated on our map, but blended seemlessly into a nondescript commercial row. Our next stop was Shelton Vineyards, where we tasted and purchased some wine, and had a nice chat with the owner, Ed Shelton. We cruised through the town of Dobson, which was smaller than it appeared on the map, and then meandered the backroads down to Elkin. The main drag in Elkin has some boutique style businesses that, IMHO, are the key to reviving downtowns if they want to compete against the big boxes. And the town was devoid of references to 1960’s TV shows, which I consider a plus. Unfortunately, the town was fairly deserted for a gorgeous fall day.

Onward to one more winery, Grassy Creek. They also produce a brand called Klondike Farms, which is bottled in milk bottles in honor of an old dairy on the site. The co-owner was pouring wine here, too, which is one of the things we like about the Yadkin Valley–you get to meet the owners and winemakers themselves, not just people hired to pour wine for the afternoon.

We meandered some more, southwest to Ronda, and then back east to Winston-Salem before hitting the freeway for home. We picked up a handful of real estate guides; we’ll probably take at least one more trip up there to see the region heading up towards the Blue Ridge. Maybe I’ll dust off my hiking boots for that trip.