Camel City

September 26, 2018

Marta

Dakota, Kathy and Sloane 

Jack

Camel City

Winston-Salem has long been known as Camel City due to their strong connection with the R.J. Reynolds tobacco company and Camel cigarettes. The Reynolds name can be found in almost every aspect of life in the city and the family estate as well as the company itself are located there. But the city is much more than just a tobacco town and has seen in recent years an increased focus on the arts and other cultural growth that has greatly widened the appeal to visitors.

During my last couple of days there, I was able to enjoy the city and spending time with my mother, Marta before I had to head back home to Key West. Marta and I enjoyed going to see a number of movies including the wonderful film, “Crazy Rich Asians” as well as “A Simple Favor”. I think attending movies is one of my mother’s favorite activities and it is certainly one that we share.

 

We also had the opportunity to get out and enjoy some wonderful meals together, having fun and enjoyable meals at Katharine Brasserie and our Mexican favorite Senor Bravo, which is located just up the street from her home. There is a reason that the city was recently named as having the second most livable downtown in the United States by the New York Times as there are many fun restaurants and bars and entertainment options all located in the ever expanding and improving downtown.

 

I managed to check out a couple of my favorite breweries while in town including Wiseman Brewing, the Fiddlin’ Fish and the old stand-by Foothills Brewing which are all located with-in a short walk of each other downtown. Fiddlin’ Fish was celebrating their annual Oktoberfest and the special brew they created for the occasion.

 

One of the cooler things that I did was walk down with our dog Jack from Marta’s condo to the Fiesta celebration that was being held downtown by the Winston-Salem Hispanic league. I was surprised first that a city in the South would be hosting an event like this and even more astounded at the size and scope of the party. It was awesome, an estimated 20,000 people show up each year to eat Latin food, enjoy music and entertainment, vendors and basically just a beautiful party to celebrate the Latin community. It was so cool. It felt more like I was in Miami than in North Carolina.

 

Sadly our short visit to Winston-Salem had to end at some point and soon Jack and I said our farewells and were back on the road heading south towards Key West. As on the trip up, I opted to take it slow and make as many stops as time allowed to break up the monotony of driving and to get a chance to see some of the interesting places along the route.

 

Our first stop was at the beautiful Congaree National Park in central South Carolina. This relatively new (2003) National Park includes the largest tract of old growth bottomland hardwood forest left in the United States. The lush trees growing in its floodplain forest are some of the tallest in the eastern United States, forming one of the highest temperate deciduous forest canopies remaining in the world.

The park combines beautiful hardwood forests, swamp land and has the Congaree River running through its heart. Jack and I took in the visitor center and took a hike on one of the many beautiful trails through the wood. It was fun, except that there were more and larger mosquitos than I have ever encountered anywhere. They were massive and swarming and hastened the conclusion of our hike.

Of course while Jack and I were on the road home, Kathy was continuing her visit with our friend Dakota and her new daughter Sloane in Clovis, New Mexico. Adorable, jealousy-inducing photos continued to arrive with regularity on my phone. It certainly seemed as if they were having a pretty amazing time themselves and as much fun as Jack and I were experiencing, it sure would have been great to make it out to Clovis to meet the newest arrival to their family.

Sloane