The only time I have ever been to North Carolina was for flight changes in Charlotte (which, by the way, is a really nice airport). So I was incredibly excited to be heading up there for five days of hiking in the Asheville area, and even more excited to see a white squirrel, as I had read about them on the Brevard website before our trip. Being from a small town, I sincerely appreciate traveling to other small towns. Unlike Savannah where everything is open and ready for tourists right at 10 am (or earlier) and open later, Brevard seemed to take its time waking up and getting going. We were at the visitors center before they even opened our first morning there. As the shop keepers started showing up one by one, we made our way down the street, peeking at local art works (I have to always scout others’ photography) and antiques. We came up to the White Squirrel Shoppe, and of course, had to stop in. As with all the other shops, we were cheerfully greeted with “good morning!” as if Mary Poppins had trained them herself. The young lady noticed my camera around my neck (hard to miss me in “tourist” mode), and asked if I had spotted a white squirrel yet. I held up the stuffed one I was going to purchase my son and said “this is it.” She smirked and gave me two locations where I would be “sure to find one.” So that became the goal of my trip: I refused to leave the area without catching a squirrel on camera. Three days into our trip (and many groans from my sweetheart about repeatedly stopping so I could snap off a few shots), we were trying to kill some time before going back to the campground (seems everything in the small town closes between 5 and 6, something we are not accustomed to in Savannah). We decided to visit this small park we had passed a day earlier. I was going to leave my camera in the car and just sit on a bench and enjoy the North Carolina breeze. Sure enough, we get the doors locked and I squealed: “Quick, give me the keys!” By...
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