Thursday, August 21st, was a fun day of discovery. We drove over to see our friends, Lola and George, at their place on Scaly Mountain NC. Their mountain home is pictured above. The plan was to have lunch and explore Franklin NC.
One of the reasons was to check out RV parks for the 2009 season. Lola had gathered some information on 16 such places which was very helpful. We visited four or five such places in the Frankling area.
We quickly learned that RV parks, for the most part, were very tightly packed and not very neat. We couldn’t see ourselves spending a summer in any one of those which we had visited.
On the other hand there were three, which we didn’t visit, that appeared to be very spacious and pleasant. The problem seems to be price -- monthly rates averaging about $30 per day when paying on a monthly basis. That’s twice what we are paying this year in Paradise Valley.
Another reason for going to Franklin NC was to visit a rock shop. Lola suggested The Gem Factory on the south side of town on Hwy 441, shown inside and out with the other two photos above.
The Gem Factory opened its doors to retail trade in 1996, with jewelers Pedro Martinez, his wife Martha and son Chris. Lois visited with Chris and indicated that her daughter, Renee, needed a good source for her jewelry gems.
Whereupon Chris suggested that they call Renee in Florida and set up a business relationship then and there. No need for money to change hands. Chris said he was willing to send stones to Renee on an approval basis.
Renee must have been surprised as this was totally unplanned. Renee emailed her reaction today and wrote the following:
“I was surprised!! What a nice man though. Thank you for doing that for me. I think he will be a great contact. The store looks lovely from what I see on the website.”
The web site is: www.gemfactorynorthcarolina.com
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