Two Mountain Trips

Charlie took off work the week of October 6th. After a couple days, he said he wanted to go to the mountains. So, we went that Friday, the 10th. I wasn't sure if our usual route (Fancy Gap, VA, to Boone, NC) was open all the way, after the damage caused by Hurricane Helene, and for some reason I couldn't find that information at that time. (I checked a couple days later and found out that that section was open.) So we decided to just go straight to Boone (about two hours from our house) and Grandfather Mountain. 

 

I knew it would probably be busy, but it was much busier than I was expecting. The line of traffic on the road (hwy. 105) that leads to Grandfather was crazy. I thought maybe there was an accident or road construction, but it turned out to be that the traffic light in that area stays red much longer than it does green. It doesn't help that it's just a two-lane road.

 

Anyway, we got there eventually. (The line of traffic going up the mountain from the wildlife habitats to the swinging bridge was also slow going.) We hadn't been to Grandfather in several years, so it was nice to go back. We brought coats (and Kelly and I also wore boots) because I knew it was going to be cold, but it was quite a bit colder than I was expecting. I had forgotten my gloves and my hands were like ice. Charlie doesn't mind the cold and Kelly loves it, but even they commented on how cold it was. The wind didn't help. Brrr!

 

Elk. We also saw an otter (their other otter had died a few days before), a couple mountain lions, a bear or two, and a couple bald eagles.

 

View from the mile-high swinging bridge. Which actually bounces more than swings.

 

After leaving Grandfather, we went to Shoppes on the Parkway in Blowing Rock and bought a bunch of fall/winter clothes (including fuzzy, pink coat with ears on the hood) at Carter's for Lydia. They had really great prices. And I also got myself some cherry cordials at Kilwin's.

 

We had dinner after that at Dan'l Boone Inn Restaurant in Boone (delicious) and then came back home. 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

As I said earlier, I found out a couple days later that our usual route along the Parkway was completely open. So, on Wednesday, October 22nd, Kelly and I went back to the mountains. I-40 West to Winston-Salem, highway 52 north to Fancy Gap, VA, and then south on the Blue Ridge Parkway to Boone.

 

Unfortunately, I started feeling bad somewhere between Mahogany Rock overlook and The Bluffs restaurant. Also unfortunate, there was a plumbing problem at the restaurant, so the bathrooms were out of order. All they had was one porta potty. We sat there in the car for I don't know how long while I tried to talk myself into using the porta potty. I didn't feel like I really needed it, but I didn't want to leave and be too far from a bathroom if I ended up needing one.

 

After awhile, we left and then Kelly started feeling bad around the time that we stopped at Basin Cove overlook. I drove on as fast as I safely could after leaving that overlook (speed limit is 45; I went 50 at most, when I could) trying to get her to a bathroom. I knew that the Northwest Trading Post (gift store) was closed :-( , but hoped the bathroom was open. It was not, no surprise. I continued on until we got to the Boone exit (highway 421), heading away from Boone, and eventually came to a Dollar General. I bought some medicine, we both took some (I thankfully never got sick, I just had pains in my stomach), and came home.

 

I hate that we missed some of the overlooks and had to cut our trip a little short. (Including not being able to eat at Dan'l Boone Inn again.) I had wanted to make one more mountain trip this year and bring my mom somewhere she might like (she's very picky and difficult to please - she wouldn't enjoy it if it's cold or if there's too much walking and she doesn't like most food), but that didn't work out.

 

Anyway, here are some of the pictures from our second trip.

 

Stone Mountain overlook.

 

Mahogany Rock overlook. That rock mountain is actually Stone Mountain.

 

Air Bellows overlook.

 

Alligator Back overlook.

 

Kelly at Alligator Back.

Tree at Bluff Mountain overlook.

 

Bluff Mountain overlook.

 

Basin Cove overlook.

A Day in the Mountains

Thursday, October 31st, my kids, my mom and I went to the mountains for the day. (Charlie has been in Oklahoma working for a couple weeks now.) It was nearly 10:00 AM when we left Greensboro, but it only takes just under 2 hours to get to Boone. It was lunchtime when we arrived in Boone, so we went straight to the Dan'l Boone Inn Restaurant to eat. We love their food (my favorite are their country ham biscuits) and eating there was one of the things we were most looking forward to doing while in the mountains.

After leaving the restaurant, we went to the Mystery Hill House in Blowing Rock, just a few minutes down the road from Dan'l Boone Inn Restaurant. This was the place Kelly, and maybe Sean, was most looking forward to going. It was a cool (around 60°), windy day in the mountains and those winds seemed to be especially high at Mystery Hill. We felt like the wind was pushing us across the parking lot.

Anyway, we had fun at Mystery Hill House with its crazy sloped room (kind of messes with your head and throws you off balance a bit) and other little things to check out. There's also the Appalachian Heritage Museum next door (old furniture, toys, and books) in an old, white farmhouse, and the Native American room full of arrowheads in glass cases. I hope someday they have more than arrowheads on display. I reckon we'll have to go to Cherokee if we want to see and experience more of the Native American culture and artifacts.

Kelly on the left, guide in the middle, Sean on the right.

Shoppes on the Parkway (near the Blue Ridge Parkway) in Blowing Rock was our next stop. My mom wanted to go to the Coach store (she loves their purses) and see if she could find anything she liked. She bought a purple, sparkly toboggan (what you non-Southerners call a knit hat) and a purse.

Sean wanted to go to the Blowing Rock next, but unfortunately we were running out of time and I really wanted to go to Grandfather Mountain. So, we made our way there, got our tickets at one of the booths you drive up to, and headed up the mountain. On our way up, we stopped at the museum and animal habitats. It was cold and windy up on the mountain and I was very glad that I had brought my coat and scarf.

In the animal habitats we saw deer, cougars, bald eagles (they can't fly; one of them only has one eye), and bears. There used to be a couple golden eagles, but they died not long ago, and the otters, which I've enjoyed seeing in the past, weren't out at the time that we were there.

Female cougar playing with a ball.

Male cougar.

One-eyed eagle.

 After leaving the animal habitats, we quickly made our way to the car (cold and windy!) and went the rest of the way up the mountain. Mom got out with us and walked to the edge of the parking lot, but then went back to her car, because it was so cold, while the kids and I went up to the Mile High Swinging Bridge.

The view from the edge of the parking lot.

Sean and Kelly on the bridge.

Part of the view from the bridge, obscured a bit by clouds.

Taken from the other side of the bridge, looking towards the parking lot and gift shop. 

There weren't a lot of people up there (no surprise), but those who were there had ventured out onto the rocks beyond the bridge. Sean and Kelly wanted to go out there too, but I didn't think it was a good idea on such a windy day to be walking out on uneven ground near the edge of a mountain. It's not really a good idea on a good day, let alone on a day when the winds are so high. So, naturally I said "no".

The winds were so high that the suspension cables hummed and sang as the winds blew against them. It was also a cloudy day and we had seen a few drops of rain when we were down in Boone and Blowing Rock, but up on Grandfather Mountain we saw a few snowflakes or sleet. Despite the cold and wind, we enjoyed being up on the mountain.

It was close to 5:00 when we came down off the mountain. We stopped by a produce stand on our way back to Boone and bought some apples and honey. We made one more stop, at a gas station in Boone for snacks and drinks, before heading home.

We had a good time in the mountains and hope to go back to see the places we didn't get to visit on this past trip - Linville Caverns, the Blowing Rock, Rough Ridge (a friend recommended it), Hickory Ridge (a living history place) in Boone. I'd like to go back in the spring.

I'm hoping to make another trip up to the mountains before Christmas so that we can take my mom to Biltmore Estate. It's so beautiful there at Christmas (well, all the time really) and my mom has never gotten to see it.


Speaking of my mom, she just has two more rounds of chemo and she'll be done. The last round she did was about a week after her final radiation and that combined with the shot they gave her the next day really wiped her out for the whole week prior to our trip to the mountains. She didn't have the energy to do much of anything. She's feeling good right now though. Hopefully the next round of chemo (this Friday, I believe) won't be as difficult.