"My 'Pickle Country' Travelogue"

My Mommy tells a story about how, when she first met her college roommate Amy, Amy said that she was from Faison, NC. "You know, where they make Cates Pickles." Well, at the time there was a TV commercial for Cates Pickles that went something like this:

[old man in overalls]: "Why do we take so much pride in making the best-tasting, crunchiest, and most delicious pickles in the whole U S of A?" [pause] "We ain't got nothin' else better to do."

I've never met Ms. Amy and since Mommy says she ate a lot of pickles, banana peppers, and green olives when she was pregnant with me, it seemed fitting that we head down to Faison to visit with friends and pay homage to Pickle Country, USA.

They take pickle making pretty seriously, I hear. Downtown Faison even has intersecting roads Cucumber St. and Vine St. (a play on the more famous intersection of "Hollywood and Vine" in L.A.). So, we headed down East to visit with Ms. Amy, her husband Mr. Curt, and their three kids: Mason, Evan, and Ashton.

Big Bro and I haven't spent much time in the country, so we had fun naming crops in the fields as we drove past--mostly tobacco, soybeans, and corn.

As we pulled into the driveway of Ms. Amy's house, Big Bro noticed the thick pine trees on both sides of the driveway and said in a tone of wonderment, "They live in a forest!"

















Here I am, getting to know Ms. Amy. She and Mommy roomed together one year at UNC-G and one year at NCSU. Now she's a labor & delivery nurse.















Are you gonna make me eat pickles?

















This is Mason, Ms. Amy and Mr. Curt's oldest.

















This is Evan. He's 7. He's very sweet...he even volunteered to ride this too-small trike so that Merrit could use his "big boy bike."

















This is Ashton. She's 5. She's quite the photographer. She takes pictures all the time, staging photo shoots with her stuffed animals, cats, and dog (in costume of course), and even makes her own photo albums.

















Ms. Amy had lots of cool toys for me to play with.

















Peek-a-boo...I see you...

















I'm getting really good at crawling...and, boy, am I QUICK!

















Even surrounded by so many fun toys, it's the simple things that capture my attention...like this empty water bottle.













While I socialized, Big Bro played video games with Evan. Hey dude, you need to get out more! C'mon, let's go outside and play...there's lots to see and do, I bet!

















Whoa, like this cool spider. And look at that web! Charlotte, is that you?
















And this totally sweet motorcycle! Vroom vroom.














Ashton and Merrit tooled around in her purple and pink Disney Princess convertible. Wow, Big Bro sure is a stud.

















Ashton and Big Bro are almost exactly the same age. Here, they look like two peas in a pod.

















I'm going to be so bummed when I grow out of my sling. There's nothing I love more than kicking around town or hanging around the house in it.

















Is this a Norman Rockwell moment, or what? Evan and Big Bro search the pond for catfish as Jack Russell Terrier, Ella, looks on.













The kids threw catfood into the pond to lure the catfish to the surface. (Hmmm...catfood, catfish...coincidence?)

After lunch and a little more playtime, it was back in the car for our drive back to the city. We bid a fond farewell to the fields of soybeans, the catfish pond, the hog houses and, of course, the pickle factory.

Y'all take care,
Oliver William