Making a quick stop in the town of Angier

In North Carolina, the state capital Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks," but because I don't actually live within the city limits, and haven't done a whole lot exploring of the capital just yet, I haven't seen enough to feel it's justified.

In fact, since traveling through a lot of the Southeast since 2014, I've come to the conclusion that there are a lot of places in that part of the country that can call themselves the city of oaks. Charleston and Savannah immediately jump to mind. I saw tons of oaks in those communities.

What I have seen a lot of in these parts are crepe myrtles, a flowering tree that I can't say I'd ever seen before traveling through North Carolina and other southern states. Lee Ann and I spent much of our first year here trying to figure out its name. I have one of the trees in my backyard. In fact, it's within easy view of the window in my office, and its pink blooms are plentiful right now. I showed a picture of one of the blooms in the recent post about the solar panel installation at the home.

Before visiting Gregory Vineyards the other day, we stopped in the northern Harnett County town of Angier, deciding to look there for a place to lunch. Angier (pronounced ANN-jur) isn't too far from our home in southern Wake County or the vineyards in the Johnston County community of McGee Crossroads. It was in Angier that we noticed a sign in the downtown area proclaiming Angier as the town of crepe myrtles. We did see a lot of the trees sprinkled throughout the community, but alas ... I didn't stop to take any pictures. Maybe next visit ...

On the drive down, I picked out Ed's Family Restaurant in the town's downtown area as our dining destination, and when we found a parking spot, we walked in the direction that our Maps app indicated the restaurant was located. Turns out that Ed's has a lengthy canopy along the front facade, and the canopy blocked us from seeing the eatery sign.

We kept walking and ended up in about a half-block away in front of the Brick and Mortar Grill at the corner of Broad and Depot streets. The map clearly showed that we had allegedly walked past Ed's, so I was puzzled. Even when I ventured out into the intersection to look back at the path we had followed, the sunlight was so bright, I wasn't able to immediately see any signage that indicated where Ed's was.

Since we were right in front of the Brick and Mortar, we just decided to eat there. In retrospect, I wish we would have persisted to find Ed's. I wasn't thrilled with my meal (friend cod and coleslaw), and while Lee Ann was OK with her BTL, she would have preferred something more satisfying.

We had passed through Angier once before and were struck by its small-town charm, which is why we wanted to come back. But we didn't spend a lot of time there, and I grabbed only a few pictures, which I present here for this post -- with the hope that I get a chance to go back and do it better justice.

As always, click on any photo to bring up a larger, sharper version. This is particularly helpful if you access the blog from a mobile device. To see the entire gallery of images (which isn't a whole lot more than you see here) that I took in our brief stop in Angier, follow the link in this sentence.

Photo geek stuff: The outdoor images were taken with my Canon 6D and Tamron 28-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di VC PZD lens. I made three exposures of each composition for later melding into a single frame using Photomatix high-dynamic range (HD) software. Photos inside the Brick and Mortar were taken with the camera on my iPhone X.

Angier was founded in 1901, and if you can read the printing inside the clock face -- just below 12 o'clock -- you learn that the town celebrated its centennial in 2001. If you check further, you learn that the town residents pooled their contributions together to purchase and erect this 10-foot tall clock to mark the centennial. 

Above is a portion of the storefronts across Depot Street from the Brick and Mortar, while below is a sign along Depot proclaiming the Angier as the town of crepe myrtles.

After lunch, on the return walk to our car, we at last ascertained the location of Ed's Family Restaurant (above). A few doors down was the light blue door to Appliance Depot (below). 

Above: Broad Street looking away from the centennial clock. 

Two more storefronts -- a floral shop (above) and the Brick and Mortar Grill (below), our dining destination. 

Inside the Brick and Mortar, our server tends to business at the welcoming counter adjacent to the cooler containing bottles of beer and wine. Below, wall art and sign signage. 

Above, Lee Ann's BLT and side order of french fries. Below, my fried cod and two dipping sauces -- a house-made on the left, and ranch dressing on the right. Second below, my side order of chips. These chips weren't bad; in fact, I'd have described them an "excellent" if they hadn't been so salty.