New Bern, N.C. Saturday

The city of New Bern is celebrating it's 300th. anniversary this year. We found the town to be quaint and really interesting. The southern people are so courteous and friendly, it's great. We shopped in the revitalized city center. In the center of town the Episcopal church has been there for 300+ years.

The outdoor chapel is under the old oak trees, right niext to the cemetery. The cemetery is old with deaths dating back to the 1700's.

We found the original drug store where the druggist concocted Pepsi Cola in 1898. Now would you think the "original" Coke man would go into that store??

Well he did and I have the photo to prove it. Gad zooks, isn't that great?

We found a really old hardware store in the same building and going strong since 1898 - Martin's hardware amazing. It reminds me of the old Goodeynes hardware store on Third and Johnson streets in Bay City, when our boys were little. My how time flies, seems like only yesterday when the boys were little and we took them to sit on Santa's lap at Goodeynes for the first five years of their lives.

The rest of the downtown area has been preserved and many small boutiques have opened in the old stores places. But the city has done a wonderful job of making it truly an amazing city in which to shop and visit. We had to park in our brokerage offices parking lot as we could not find street side parking. Then again Wells Fargo Advisers isn't open on a Saturday.

We shared a smoothie in an old building where we think it might have been an old firehouse. Musicians played instruments in the courtyards all over the city. Really nice.