I set out to see America on May 27. With my bags packed, gifts for family and friends ready, and a 2018 Kia Niro to try out, I set off on a three-week solo adventure. I left my home in Texas and headed east to Birmingham, Alabama. The Westin Birmingham in downtown was my base. Between raindrops the next day,
Tag Archives: North Carolina
Time Travel in Wilmington, NC
Colonized in the 1720s, Wilmington prospered as an English settlement because of its location on the Cape Fear River. It grew into a busy port community with new residents flocking to the area from colonies throughout North Carolina and South Carolina. For anyone curious about what it was like for the wealthy during this time, they can tour Burgwin-Wright House and
North Carolina Gem Mining 101
I jotted down the names of gems and minerals that can be found at Mason Mountain Mine near Franklin, North Carolina, as Tom Johnson steered his pickup truck up a steep incline toward their source. “Rhodolite garnet, pyrope garnet, smoky quartz, moonstone, kyanite, cordierite, surface copper ore, ruby, sapphire and small traces of emerald,” he ticked off as he pulled