A Weekend in Mayberry

We spent this past weekend in Mayberry, U.S.A. Well, it was actually Mt. Airy, North Carolina but it might as well have been Mayberry. Mt. Airy is Andy Griffith's home town and the town that The Andy Griffith Show was modeled after. We visited all of the "Mayberry" attractions. Our first stop was Andy's old homeplace, which you can actually stay in for $150 a night. Then, just down the road a bit, we stopped at the Andy Griffith Playhouse. This is home of the Andy and Opie statue that was erected in 2004. Our next stop was at the Mayberry Courthouse. This is a replica of the courthouse on the show. As you can
see, Garrett was trying to escape. But, never fear, we caught him! There are two jail cells and Andy's desk just like on the show. The boys got a kick out of that since they've watched many a show with their Papa. Right next door is Emmitt's Fix-It shop which was also mentioned on the show a time or two. Wally Service station was the next place on our tour. They have a replica of the squad car as well. You can take a tour of Mayberry in it for only $25 for five people. But, since it was in the 90's and the car isn't equipped with A/C, we decided against that. Gotta have those modern conveniences...even in Mayberry. Main Street was our next destination. This is where you'll find Snappy Lunch (which is closed on Mondays), The Blue Bird Diner (where we ate lunch), and Floyd's Barber Shop. "Floyd," Russell Hiatt in real life, still cuts hair
from 7:00 am to 5:00 pm five days a week. They boys were lucky enough to have their hair cut by him while we were there. He's such a sweet man. I could have stayed to listen to him tell stories for hours. He has over 18,000 pictures of tourists who have stopped by his shop to get a haircut. Even Oprah has been there! We had a wonderful time seeing the real places made famous on the show. The next time we see an old rerun, it will have new meaning for all of us. And, ,as always, you can see more pictures from our trip on flickr.