Lunch in Graham

Yesterday, George and I found ourselves in Alamance County. We stopped in Mebane (population about 9,000) first, where I joined the credit union that George joined last week based on where he works. Although I already do the credit union thing from my own job, I decided it wouldn't hurt to have a little cashola tucked a little (but not totally) out of reach. It also gave us a chance to open a joint savings account, which was a step in the right direction for our financial future as a couple. (We've been together five and a half years, living together for the past 11 months.) Our opening balance in the joint account is minimal, as we haven't decided how we're going to deposit money in it, what we're going to save together for, anything like that. We have time to decide, though. Not stressing over it.

Afterward, we went to nearby Graham, another small town. (With a population of about 14,000, it's not the largest city of the county, but it is the county seat of Alamance County.) George has been there for lunch a couple of times, and he wanted to show me around. It's a quaint little town, at least what we saw of the downtown district. The courthouse stands in the middle of the round-about traffic circle, with various side streets and businesses around. We ate in a cute little place called the Graham Soda Shop. It's a quaint place with that old soda shop appeal. I got a salad and a baked potato, a pretty healthy meal. My only gripe is that the salad came with bacon bits, which weren't listed as an item on the salad, or I would've had them leave the bacon bits off (not a big fan).

Afterward, George and I walked around and poked our heads into a couple of places. On our way back to the car, I decided I wanted to get a shot of the Graham Soda Shop sign, so I asked George to stand beside it. I was pulling out my camera when a lady walking by offered to take a picture of us together (the picture above). That was very thoughtful, so we agreed. Other than needing a comb for my hair, not a bad shot! :-)

NC Odyssey Project: Alamance County

Since I'm off work today, I joined George for lunch at his work today. He works at a company called Kidde, which is part of United Technologies, and his office is in Mebane, so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and visit another county in my North Carolina Odyssey Project.

Mebane is in Alamance County, North Carolina, and is just west of the center of the state, between Durham and Greensboro. Burlington is the largest city in Alamance County, but Graham is the county seat.

Alamance County is the home of Elon University, a regional school that was called Elon College when I moved to the area. I'd intended to take a few shots of Elon to include here, but I got sidetracked! I took the exit before Elon to stroll down Memory Lane at on outlet mall I used to go to called BMOC (Burlington Manufacturers Outlet Center). Apparently, it's changed hands, though, and is now called Burlington Outlet Village. I was a little disappointed by the selection of stores--it made me wonder if I missed some of them! I certainly remembered being impressed by the area some years ago. I did stop in a FinishLine outlet store, but a customer who came in after me let me know one of the tires on the passenger side of my car was looking low. Yikes! I may have stayed longer and gotten into the shopping groove, but I decided to search out a place to get my tire looked at, since I was 30-40 minutes from home.

I found myself at Burlington Honda, and they said it would be about an hour before they could look at my tire. *sigh* I was glad to have made it there safely, though! One of the men there pointed out that my inspection was going to run out at the end of this month, so I decided to go ahead and have it taken care of there. They couldn't find a leak in my tire, so I'll just have to keep an eye on it. At least I got the inspection done, and they were friendly. I did pick up a pamphlet about the 2008 Honda Accords, as one of my 2008 New Year Resolutions is to start saving for a new car.

I decided to head toward home at the point, but I really wanted to do something touristy. I'd seen signs for the Alamance Battleground on my way down the interstate, so I decided to follow the signs and check it out. I enjoyed driving through rural Alamance County south of Burlington (about 6 miles out), but when I got there, it was closed! Rats! I did get to drive through the rural town of Alamance, though, and it was kinda neat.

Before I left the county, I stopped at a Sheetz station for some really cheap gas!!

One of the things I'd like to do when I return to Alamance County is visit some of the wineries on the Haw River Wine Trail. Having gas prices like this ($2.79 9/10) might help. ;-)