CAROLINA COUNTRY STORE
Visit Carolina Country Store at www.carolinacountry.com
Patriotic music
Yah’s Best Yah’s Best specializes in salsas made with the freshest ingredients. The Huntersville-based company offers six traditional salsas ranging from mild to hot, with a variety of specialty salsas including fruits, southwestern, and verde, along with its popular Carolina Caviar (a twist on “Poor Man’s Caviar”). Most are offered in pint (16-ounce) and quart (32-ounce) sizes and range in price from $5 to $10. Yah’s Best also offers canned items, including vegetable soup, apple and pumpkin butters and chow chows. In addition, it sells a large selection of fruit jams, pickled items and its house seasoning called Herbal Delight, a dried herb blend for meats and seafood, veggies, eggs and bread. Yah’s Best products are found at both the Charlotte and Raleigh Farmer’s Markets and a growing number of retail locations. It doesn’t yet offer online ordering, but they accept orders by this e-mail, yah@yahsbest.com, or by phone.
(866) 927-2572 (YA SALSA) www.yahsbest.com
“Historically Patriotic” is a CD featuring a compilation of patriotic favorites performed by the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra. The 10 songs featured include “Lafayette,” an original composition of Maestro Fouad Fakhouri, who is Fayetteville Symphony’s music director and conducbl tor, along with the songs “Nationall Emblem March,” “Fanfare for the Common Man,” “Star Spangled Banner,” Stars and Stripes Forever” and “Fidelis March.” The CD, produced by the Fayetteville Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, was partially funded by a grant from the Arts Council of Fayetteville/ Cumberland County to help promote cultural tourism. A cover contest for Cumberland County artists to submit proposed designs reflecting freedom of expression was held, and the CD cover showcases winning artist Anne Evanco’s designs front and back. The CD sells for $10 each.
(910) 483-5311 www.VisitFayettevilleNc.com
Carolina Country Store features interesting, useful products, services, travel sites, handicrafts, food, books, CDs and DVDs that relate to North Carolina. To submit an item for possible publication, e-mail editor@carolinacountry.com with a description and clear, color pictures. Or you can submit by mail: Country Store, Carolina Country, 3400 Sumner Blvd., Raleigh, NC, 27616. Those who submit must be able to handle large orders.
on the bookshelf Easy day hikes for Smokies
Along for the Ride
Themed trips in the South
The latest book in FalconGuides®’ nationally popular “Best Easy Day Hikes” series, this guide features nearly 30 easy hikes throughout the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Hiking author Randy Johnson includes accessible trails with waterfalls, wildflowers, historic sites and spectacular views, along with 23 trail maps, GPS coordinates for each trailhead, a Trail Finder by level of difficulty and an introductory travel overview to the park, scenic drives, and surrounding towns. The author divides his time between his home in Banner Elk and Greensboro. “Best Easy Day Hikes Great Smoky Mountains” is softcover, 120 pages and by itself sells for $12.95. It can also be purchased bundled with a National Geographic’s Trails Illustrated topographic map of the Great Smoky Mountains Park for $13.57 online and in select outdoor stores.
It’s been so long since Auden slept at night. Ever since her parents’ divorce—or since the fighting started. Now she has the chance to spend a carefree summer with her dad and his new family in the charming beach town where they live. A job in a clothes boutique introduces Auden to the world of girls: their talk, their crushes. She missed out on all that, too busy being the perfect daughter to her demanding mother. Then she meets Eli, an intriguing loner and a fellow insomniac who becomes her guide to the nocturnal world of the town. Together they embark on quests: for Auden, to experience the carefree teenage life she’s been denied; for Eli, to come to terms with the guilt he feels for a friend’s death. In her signature style, author Sarah Dessen explores the hearts of two lonely people learning to connect. Dessen lives and teaches in Chapel Hill. Published by Viking Children’s Books, “Along for the Ride” is hardcover, 400 pages, $19.99.
Do you like fried alligator, wild ponies, haunted pubs, or civil rights history? They are included within trips in “The Carolinas, Georgia & the South Trips.” The book describes 65 themed itineraries day, weekend or week-long itineraries, including trips to/from Charlotte, Outer Banks, Asheville, Great Smoky Mountains, Charleston, S.C., New Orleans and Atlanta. Included are easy-to-use maps for every trip, plus driving times and directions. The Iconic Trips chapter covers must-do trips, including antebellum mansions and Southern cooking. The guide also mentions family-friendly, pet-friendly and green-friendly listings throughout. Published by Lonely Planet, based in Oakland, Ca. Softcover, 424 pages, $19.99.
(336) 508-2178 www.randyjohnsonbooks.com
(800) 526-0275 www.sarahdessen.com
30 JULY 2010 Carolina Country
(800) 275-8555 www.lonelyplanet.com