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Showing posts with the label North Carolina

Surrounded by Alpacas and Kissed by a Llama in North Carolina 😂🦙

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  I went to Serenity Alpacas in Stony Point, North Carolina thinking I was going to spend a nice peaceful morning walking an alpaca. Well... apparently nobody told Carl that I was supposed to be in charge. 😂 Carl knew the trail, knew where the snacks were, and knew exactly where he wanted to go. I’m pretty sure I was just the person assigned to hold the leash while Carl handled the tour. And Carl wasn’t the only cute face around there. I got surrounded by alpacas, fed the herd, and met an absolutely adorable baby alpaca that was only around two months old. These animals have the funniest little expressions too. Half the time I couldn’t tell if they were curious about me, judging me, or just wondering why I was taking so long with the food. 😂 Either way, I wanted to hug all of them. A North Carolina Alpaca Farm Experience Serenity Alpacas is a family owned working alpaca farm in Stony Point, NC, not far from Hickory and Statesville and about an hour from Charlotte and Winst...

5 Surprising Pickle Facts From My Visit to The Pickle Fetish Company 🥒

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  5 Pickle Facts You Probably Didn’t Know 🥒 Apparently I’ve fallen pretty deep into the pickle world lately. 😂 After visiting The Pickle Fetish Company in downtown Lincolnton, North Carolina , I realized there is a LOT more to pickles than a jar sitting next to the sandwiches in your refrigerator. This place has more than 100 pickle flavors, pickle candy, dill pickle marshmallows, pickle fudge, plush pickles, pickle earrings and an entire museum filled with pickle history and memorabilia. I even came across what they call a haunted pickle , which was definitely not something I expected to see that day. So after seeing all of that, I started wondering just how much I actually knew about pickles. Turns out, not much. Here are five pickle facts I found pretty interesting. 1. People have been pickling food for thousands of years Pickles are definitely not a new obsession. Food historians trace pickling back to ancient Mesopotamia around 2400 B.C. People figured out that salt an...

Inside Hickory Antiques Mall, Where Yesterday Is Still for Sale

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A nearly 40 year Hickory institution holds everything from vintage Coca Cola and Playboy magazines to Pokémon, Barbies and the uncomfortable realization that your childhood is now collectible. HICKORY, N.C. — The first surprise at Hickory Antiques Mall is how little the building gives away from the outside. You walk through the front door expecting an antique store. Then you keep walking. And walking. There are Tiffany style lamps near the entrance, collectible Barbies, furniture, records, old advertising, clothing, glassware and enough miscellaneous pieces of American life to make any attempt at seeing everything fairly hopeless. By the end of our visit, closing time was approaching and we still had entire sections left unexplored. “This place is like never ending,” CoreniaBug said while walking through the mall. She wasn’t exaggerating much. That is part of what makes Hickory Antiques Mall interesting. This is not a carefully arranged museum where someone has already decided...

Mountain hiking is always hill-arious: Our South Mountain State Park Adventure! Join me while I summit the North Carolina Trail

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 I originally wanted to see the big waterfall at South Mountain State Park, but the trail was closed. So, I thought the Chestnut Knob Overlook would be a great, easy alternative. Oh my gosh, I was so wrong. What I thought was a quick two-mile walk turned into a steep five-mile trek up the mountain. Plus, wearing a cotton t-shirt in 95-degree heat with crazy humidity was not my best idea. My legs were basically jello by the end. But honestly, it was an amazing adventure. I have been on a weight loss journey for a while, so I definitely got my heart rate up and got my steps in. I even had to team up with a trusty branch I named Mr. Stick to clear out all the giant spidey webs early on the trail. We saw some cute little lizards and salamanders, which makes sense because North Carolina actually has the largest variety of salamanders of any US state. If you ever go, just know it is a serious workout. South Mountain is North Carolina's largest state park, and the elevation goes from 1,20...