Southpoint Access

[SoDu Sunrise Showcase] Find Your Way to A Little Gelato

Have you found the hidden gelato shop off N.C. Highway 55? Read about Chef Ken and check out Jeff Stanford's latest Nerdspresso column!

Wes Platt

31 Jan 2025 — 3 min read

I'd just finished breakfast when the phone rang Thursday morning. It was Hope Valley Elementary calling to tell me Athena didn't feel well.

I picked her up about 10 minutes later. We went home. I let her watch all the ridiculous YouTube videos that she wanted while I tried to get some work done (with limited success - she's seven, she didn't feel good, and she demanded and deserved my attention).

Mid-afternoon, it was time to get ready to pick up John Michael from Rogers-Herr Middle School. Athena didn't want to go, but didn't have much choice. I defused the impending meltdown the best way I knew how: bribery.

"We'll get a Happy Meal," I said. McDonald's has had Pokemon meals the last couple of weeks, and let's just say that Athena has become quite focused on the cards and toys.

I pulled up to the pay window in the drive-through of the McDonald's across from Target on 15/501. The clerk, a polite young man who urged me to have a good rest of my day, leaned out of the window to get a look at the magnetic sign on my car door.

He smiled: "Southpoint Access News? You somebody important?"

"I don't know about that," I replied. "I just spend a lot of time writing about what's happening around here."

"Hey, that sounds important to me."

"It is," Athena piped up from the back seat. She hugged an opaque plastic bathroom trashcan that I brought along, just in case she got sick. Parenting! "Can we go now? I want to see if I get a Charizard."

"Check out the site and stay informed," I told the clerk, and onward we rolled.

Neighbors, she got an Eevee, but didn't freak out about it.

And then we had some news, didn't we?

Take a Sweet Diversion

Saturday is National Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, but you could be forgiven for chasing down A Little Gelato instead. Check out this literally hidden gem on the back side of an office building at 4823 Meadow Dr., Ste. 114. Read about Chef Ken before you go, and check out his recipes for readers!

[Nerdspresso] Kieran Emerges as Power Culkin in "Real Pain": In the latest Nerdspresso column, Jeff Stanford examines the award-worthy performance by Kieran Culkin.