Boone, NC
August 14, 2018
We set off at 4am towards the mountains of North Carolina, more specifically, Boone North Carolina. Car was packed with 3 sleeping kids, one sleeping dog (brought the dog), one sleeping mother and a father driving on a mission. My high school friend was kind enough to give us her mountain house for the week so that we could enjoy all there was to offer in the area. After stopping for a quick bite at 8am with the dog we arrived to Boone by 12:45 and began our summer adventure.
We first met my friend in Boone for a quick bite at a dog friendly restaurant, Lost Province. The food was great and the local beer selection was awesome. Grabbed a flight, food and introduced the kids to Cheerwine. Cheerwine, a local soda favorite that kind of tastes like Dr. Pepper with a shot o Grenadine. Great thing is I found it in our local Wegmans in the Baltimore area. After we went straight to Valle Crucis Park in Foscoe and let the kids run around in the stream with the dog. It is a nice park located in a valley with a creek and some playgrounds and fields. I guess there are a lot of music events on weekends in the summer that families can come to for an evening out. The kids looked for some trout and then headed over to the Mast General Stores, where the kids bought some barrel candy and drank more cheerwine. The dog was even allowed in the stores. By the time we were finished in Valle Crucis, we were ready to go to the mountain house and relax before dinner.The house was up on Mt. Echota with spectacular views of Grandfather Mountain. It had a community pool and the house had all amenities needed to make our week wonderful.
August 15, 2017
My high school friend stayed the night and took us on an adventure today to show us around Boone and some places it had to offer. We started the day off at Linville Falls and hiked around to see all the falls and the scenery. We were starving after the hike and ate lunch at Lowery's BBQ Company. It was awesome, gas station serving "home cooking." Can't find this in the Mid Atlantic states or Tri-State area very often. Kids went nuts over the local soda as well. We made our way to the Linville Caverns after and had an awesome tour that took probably 45 minutes. Bring a sweater or jacket if you are doing this as it does get cold in the caverns. The tours are given by enthusiastic college aged guides that keep the pace moving and stories interesting. At this point my friend left and we went back to the house to relax, enjoy the view and settle into our summer vacation. In the evening we took the dog and drove to Blowing Rock for dinner. The town is cute and we strolled around for a bit before going to The Speckled Trout for dinner. It is a dog friendly restaurant, with great rustic food and great local beer. The smoked trout toasts and the hoecakes with sorghum butter to start were delicious and don't miss the mountain trout entrée.
August 16, 2017
About 4 days before we left, our youngest son broke his arm and was placed in a full arm cast. Therefore, he was not able to do the white water rafting planned for today. I reserved with Wahoo's Adventures prior to leaving. They did refund me for our son and myself due to the broken arm. So the two older kids and my husband set out to go white water rafting and I took our youngest to Tweetsie Railroad. We took High Country Taxi to our destination, as I could not get an uber. Probably the best taxi ride I have ever had. Our driver was so kind and offered to pick us up at a certain time. Tweetsie will forever be burned in my mind. It was a wild west theme park with an authentic steam train and a couple of carnival rides. The train ride, which is an authentic steam engine, comes with a wild west theme show, Cowboys, Cowgirls and Indians. Fortunately, they made it into a comedy show in order to deal with the more sensitive issues. Our son thought it was the best place ever! If he was happy so was I.
The other three ended up having a blast water rafting. Wahoo runs an excellent operation; he guides were terrific. The Nolichucky River is over the state line in Tennessee. The river features a great mix of rapids, including a stretch of Category IV rapids that goes on for over a quarter of a mile. Nestled in a deep ravine, it's also a chance to watch wildlife, including a large number of birds. In the end, I was happy our youngest didn't make it rafting; it sounded maybe a bit too crazy for his age. We stayed in the house for dinner that evening, as everyone was a bit tired. It was nice to just relax, cook and sit around with the family.
The other three ended up having a blast water rafting. Wahoo runs an excellent operation; he guides were terrific. The Nolichucky River is over the state line in Tennessee. The river features a great mix of rapids, including a stretch of Category IV rapids that goes on for over a quarter of a mile. Nestled in a deep ravine, it's also a chance to watch wildlife, including a large number of birds. In the end, I was happy our youngest didn't make it rafting; it sounded maybe a bit too crazy for his age. We stayed in the house for dinner that evening, as everyone was a bit tired. It was nice to just relax, cook and sit around with the family.
August 17, 2017
Our day began with a trip to Grandfather Mountain. The trip starts with a cd being given so you can listen to the history and learn about the mountain as you drive up towards the top. We did make a couple stops along the way and then made our way to the Nature Museum. The kids loved visiting the native captive rehab animals there, especially seeing the black bears being fed. Eventually we drove up to the mile high swing bridge. We crossed the bridge and hiked the rocks just beyond and then sat and enjoyed the scenery for a while before heading back. For lunch we ate at the Blowing Rock Brewery Ale house Restaurant. The flight of beer allowed us to try their different homemade offerings and the food was good as well.We decided to head over to Mystery Hill for the kids to enjoy. It's a fun house that uses optical illusions to make it look like gravity doesn't exist. For kids it's fun to watch balls move uphill, for adults it's vomit inducing exercise in vertigo. I was so nauseous coming out of Mystery House room, felt as if I had been at sea for days. Kids went in and out of the room, completely fascinated. However,I did enjoy the Appalachian Heritage and Native American Museum that was on sight and part of the ticket, worth a visit.
Dinner was BBQ at the The Pedalin Pig. It was great food and the dog was allowed to come and eat with us (really sit with us ) on the outdoor patio.
August 18, 2017
Rock climbing was on the agenda for today. We set up an adventure with Rock Dimensions in Boone, NC and the five of us drove into town and met up with our guide and we given helmets and proper climbing shoes. The dog joined in on the adventure. All in all it was about a 4 hour adventure. We are novice rock climbers, but adventurers nonetheless. Our guide took us to an area where there was a 20ft rock face and three different areas to climb starting with the easiest and progressively gettingharder. The guide walked us through proper climbing, helped us locate areas to put our hands and feet as we climbed and encouraged all of us to keep going. It was a great bonding experience for al five of us and the dog. I was able to do the first climb, but bowed out on the rest. Our son with his broken arm was able to scurry up the rock and the other two kids and my husband made it look like a cake walk. The guide was great and professional and the dog couldn't have been better until the very end when she decided to follow the guide to the top of the rocks and try to walk down
Dinner was in the house. I guess Friday night fish fry at some of the local shops/gas stations is a thing. It was awesome. Local beer, fried shrimp, lake trout and hush puppies. Dog got some scraps.
August 19, 2017
Our last full day in Boone we arranged a morning of zip-lining with Hawknest. They offered an easy course and harder course. Our youngest had to do the easy course due to height, age and weight. He went with his father, I went with the older two kids. What an amazing zip line, zipping over fields of wild flowers, through trees, over creeks and in the mountains. Our guides were extremely helpful and professional and the experience was well worth it. Even with a broken arm, our youngest was able to enjoy the adventure. Pictures were taken while on the course and available for purchase upon the end. We purchased them.
Lunch was back at Lost Province and a stroll in town with the dog while we waited for our table outside. Once again the food was great and the local beer was enjoyable.
Our daughter really wanted to go fishing at one of the local lake trout facilities, she insisted. We ended up going to Grandfather Trout Farm. It was a man made lake/pond with large trout that are obviously farmed and supplied to the lake. Not really the rugged, outdoor, adventurous fishing experience, but outdoors nonetheless. The kids loved it and went crazy fishing. One of our kids actually caught a fish who swam too close to shore with a net. We caught our dinner, stopped at Maws Produce for our greens and corn and headed home for our last night on the mountain. Lake trout prepared in a Beurre Blanc sauce with a nice tomato salad and fresh corn with some local beer and local soda for the kids and we were happy. The stay at the mountain house was wonderful and I am forever grateful to my dear high-school friend for a wonderful five family adventure.
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