Off on our road trip - Blowing Rock

I know it seems to everyone that we are on a permanent holiday but to us this felt like our holiday as we set off on the 350+ mile drive from Portsmouth Virginia to our first destination of Blowing Rock, North Carolina.  The drive was quite dull but funny to be passing through or close to – Southampton, Suffolk, Oxford, Durham, Hillsborough, were we still in the US?  As we neared Blowing Rock we were able to deviate off the Interstate and enjoy what we had driven all this way for, we pulled off onto the Blue Ridge Parkway and meandered through the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Here we are joining the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina

Look at the views

The Cliff Dwellers Motel was just outside of the main village of Blowing Rock and we were met with a warm welcome and bombarded with tourist information, all we wanted was food and bed!

Next day we headed out walking, we drove along the Blue Ridge Parkways and joined one of the many trails which are well marked.  We walked for an hour through the undergrowth and over boulders.

Mark being spiderman

Yep that is were the path leads - it is so green

We didn't see anyone until we reached the top and this was only because there was much shorter walk that reached the same destination.  We were rewarded with some aching legs and great views.

Amanda with aching legs

In the distance is the viaduct where we started our walk

Mountains as far as you can see

Mark on top of the World

Funny that the day after doing this walk which took us through a place called Wilson Creek we were told by a local that "troublesome" black bears brought in from other States are released in this area - not a word about this when we picked up the map in the visitors centre!!

Later that afternoon there was more walking at Linville Falls, really beautiful but a bit busy as a popular tourist destination as you can get some good views without walking too far.

Linville Falls

Little friendly snake

The next day there was more walking but with the risk of rain we could not venture too far so visited the Moses Cone House and the amazing grounds.  Moses Cone was supposedly referred to as “Mr Denim” in the 1800s but also had an interest in roads and apples so his grounds are criss-crossed with horse & cart tracks and a large apple orchard along with a beautiful lake.  

Lake at Moses Cone Mansion
The mansion was used as a film set for the hospital scenes in The Green Mile

Look at the little ducks!

Finally reached the house and you can see the lake where we started in the distance

Squirrel, Chipmunk ..... neither, what is he? He liked having his photo taken

In the afternoon we dodged the thunder storms and visited the town, pretty with touristy shops.  We also visited Mast General Store which has been in this location since the 1800s, it had old fashion american games (made in china !), toys, coke in bottles and general touristy bit plus a separate store 2 minutes away which was a sweet/candy store with lots of old fashion sweets, we tried a few traditional america sweet like Salt Water Taffy and mostly did not like them!