June 2014 We decided to take a road trip...the kind where you make no definite plans and you just stop wherever you feel the urge. No reservations, no dinner plans, nothing...just you and the open road seeing what you can find along the way. The best way to take a road trip in my opinion. This blog entry will highlight our Blue Ridge Parkway trip and hopefully motivate you to take it yourself. We left on a Friday morning. The weather worked perfectly for us. As we began the 469 mile trek we met two hikers coming off the App. trail. They were from England and happily offered to take our photo with the park entrance sign below. We had our car packed with camping gear, food, cold drinks, first aid kits, reading materials, cameras...you name it we had it squished in there. Packing essentials like that was a great way to save money. We often just ate bfast and lunch on the road as there were numerous places to pull off to picnic with views that were breathtaking.
That first day of driving we were amazed at the beauty nearly every 5 miles you could pull off to marvel at the mountains or see some other attraction. We used the VERY HANDY Blueridge Parkway milepost travel guide and by the time were were finished the book looked like it had been mauled by wild animals. Here you see one of many old settlement cabins you can find along the way. We stopped for a picnic and took a small hike up to Humpback rocks....on the way back we ran smack into a black bear who just stood there with his ears perked up and eyes fixed on mine for what seemed like hours. We were very startled at first, and just froze. The bear was within 50 feet of us just staring. We were too startled to move and grab our cameras and I am so sad we didn't! I said to Tim.."what do we do now?" he replied..."Not much" and we then we just kept standing. It wasn't until later that we recalled basic bear safety such as making noise...waving arms...and backing away slowly. It was exciting. The bear finally appeared bored of us and sluggishly turned its butt to us and walked away into the woods. I wanted to see another bear ...but we didn't have such luck again .
Tim was equally excited to cross paths with a man who was ready to jump off a cliff and sail away. We videotaped his takeoff. It made me lose my breath. Tim says he wants to get trained and start this hobby asap. What a view watching him take off from here! He told us that usually he stays in the air for 3-4 hours and lands in a pasture below eventually.
Night one we decided to camp. It was a beautiful campground at Peaks of Otter, but it was primitive with no showers. I figured I could manage to be dirty for one night. I had some trusty Body bath Wipes that I had purchased a few months back. They worked pretty well. A woman who loves to camp the REAL way just has to get over the stubble leg feel.
Our camp pictured here.
Peaks of Otter was a gorgeous place with wonderful lodge. We were told it books up a year in advance. There were trails all around this lake and the air was perfect. No bugs biting and no ticks for me yet even! We enjoyed a very tasty seafood buffet here before heading back to camp.
Every where you turned there was Mountain Music..and major talented mountain musicians! These two lived nearby and just came up for the evening to play on the porch of the Peaks of Otter Lodge. The lady on the left told Tim her mother was also from hazard Ky. It was agreed upon that they were probably distant cousins.
Day two we ate breakfast at camp and headed on down the parkway to Mabry Mill. A beautiful and highly photographed mill. We fed some ducks as this one seen below..i threw in some crumbs and she went diving after! The Mill had a wonderful ice cream shop we stopped at b/c of course Tim has to have that ice cream on vacations...and even not on vacations.
Saw this ad for a Lymes Disease support group and got me wondering if ticks were pretty bad there this year...they are certainly bad in eastern ky right now...but luckily the entire trip I only had one tick and Tim had none! Thankful!
Found a shop with some great oddities on the wall..unfortunately they were not for sale..it was a tattoo shop and these were her private collection. I want one of those MONKEYS!
What a great little Inn we found...it had a huge pond in the back with beautiful view. Restaurant and decent prices. The couple who ran it was very friendly. Many of the places we chose to stay were old Inn's or lodges from 50's and 60- it added to the old fashioned road trip feel for me. It felt great to get a shower here after the primitive camping. Food was good
View from room at woodbury.
Had to go in many, many general stores like this one...I love old general stores and Tim loves to pose with unusual wax figures. This General Store had some really great items and food.
As we left this morning we encountered the MOUNTAIN FOG! It was harsh! Couldn't see anything! Even after fog burnt off down on the ground..the fog up on parkway lasted until nearly 2PM!! It was eerie!
After we managed to find our way through the thick fog we drove down off parkway into Mt. Airy NC (Aka Mayberry) where Andy Griffith is from. it was a quaint little place and we spent some time checking out the actual places that inspired the TV show ..,such as Floyd's Barbour shop. We snagged some geocaches here (at this point there has been no wifi or cell service unless we go into a town) The parkway is entirely National park land and geocaches aren't allowed there. =o(
The views just kept getting better and better. We could sit at the overlooks all day. The mountain air and spectacular views NEVER got old!
ON top of it all! A little too close to the edge if you ask me though! It is very hard for these pictures to do the scenery justice....you just HAVE to be standing there to really take it in!
I managed to walk across their mile high swinging bridge but it was a little scary..I froze up in the middle for a few minutes but then I was able to go on. The wind up there was blowing so strongly I felt it was going to push me over. I just stood there as the bridge made these crazy creaking sounds... that didn't comfort me much.
was starving today and had a little trouble finding a place to eat...we were literally in the middle of nowhere once off the parkway and we got somewhat lost winding up in a little town called Spruce Pine...we did find a very cool pizza shop/brewery though and we planted ourselves there. After that...we went in search of a campground....it was dusk. When we got there we found a little scribbled sign that said..CASH ONLY...guess what we didn't have on us? Cash. Luckily just down the road we found the only place nearby ..a little lodge from the 50's...we were the ONLY people there. The couple running it was also very nice...she was an artist too with some very cool glass work that I would have purchased if I had a way to get it in the car. Car was too stuffed. The little lodge was called Parkview Lodge. Below is Linville falls...we hiked the trails here and enjoyed the views. Met a couple who had just gotten married...we took their pic in front of the falls below.
We stayed in Little Switzerland NC at a wonderful little cottage. The rainbow appeared for us after a very short little shower...the photo below is view from our cottage porch! This lodge included a wonderful dinner AND full hot breakfast in the price!
and of course we had to make the stop at the famous Biltmore Mansion! Walking around in the house alone equaled 4 miles of walking...according to my mapmywalk ap! =o)
Back to the parkway and down to Chimney Rock NC...about 25 miles off parkway. We LOVED this little town and place! Off the beaten path for sure but worth the detour! Check out the River in back of our room!....we went down and played in the water. It was so nice there.
My traditional Bathroom pic from one of our trips...this one was pleasant...there were even waterfalls in the restrooms!! Loved it!
The village at bottom of Chimney Rock was so cool...this cafe was yummy yummy and sat right on that same beautiful river pictured above. Got a buffalo chicken sandwich here and Tim said it was the BEST PULLED PORK s-wich he had ever tried in his entire life! If you know Tim..you know he is a HAM/PORK connoisseur so this was saying something! You need to go here! 
Next we drive through Mt Pisgah Nation forest where we saw Looking Glass Falls and watched folks slide down a waterfall into 8 ft of ice cold water. We were ready to do it too but then a group of about 100 girls puts showed up and we just got out of there while we could ... Such a neat place though.. Check out the slide below
The trip rounded out through Cherokee and the ever popular Gatlinburg....this old man just dancing away for the crowd. Music everywhere as usual! as charming as Gatlingburg is...for all of those who make an annual trip there...think of it as merely an appetizer to a FULL and REAL Mountain vacation...which you can have if you travel the BlueRidge Parkway which starts down in Cherokee or in VA at RockFish gap!
The trip ended...and I cried here at Waterrock Knob..the last stop before the parkway hit mile 469...the end. We drove back slowly and made stops in gatlinburg...Manchester KY to see ancient markings on a fallen rock....and Natural Bridge KY where we took a quick trip up for the view. If there is anything about this Blueridge trip you would like to know so you can plan your own adventure there I will be happy to assist you! I may add travel agent to my list of dream jobs!
