I was feeling a bit stir crazy in mid-October, so I suggested we head to the mountains for a weekend in early November. Unfortunately it rained for a majority of the trip and our room was small, but we made it work.

Where we stayed

I found a good deal on a room in Blowing Rock that was available at the last minute. It was small but comfortable and had everything we needed for a weekend trip. Well, except a TV to watch the Georgia v Tennessee game when our hike(s) got rained out – but the internet worked fine so we watched on my phone instead.

The shower and bathroom were very spacious and we liked the dedicated parking spot right outside the entrance to the unit.

Friday

One of my web design clients has their timber frame workshop in West Jefferson, so we started out weekend there. Eric loved seeing the ROBOT arm in action and after the tour we enjoyed beers and apps at New River Brewing Smokehouse and Eatery. Eric chose a soft pretzel and marzen while I ordered (the messiest) chicken wings and a milk stout.

Thankfully we had dinner reservations at Bistro Roca – they were very busy! The parking was a bit tight but we lucked into a spot near the entrance. Eric went with the crepe which was not quite like it was described, a little salty with a small amount of chickpeas, but the plantains were good. It paired well with a glass of French Chenin Blanc. I over-ordered with the beef brisket which was a ton of food and very rich, and paired it with a Carmenere. We were both too full for dessert.

 

Saturday

The day started out rainy and visibility was quite poor, but we decided to try the parkway regardless to see if we could get some reprieve.

 

We drove a ways down Blowing Rock Highway and onto the parkway to hike to a few falls but the weather was uncomfortable and then Eric’s SLR died. :( On the plus side, along the way back into town we randomly stopped at the Moses Cone Manor and found a lovely stained glass piece to bring home.

We arrived at the very busy Booneshine Brewing around 1:30pm and had to wait 45 mins for a table. Thankfully there is a line for beer orders so Eric secured us stools in the loft area while I got our first two pours, a Strawberry Sour Patch Kids Gose (E) and The Professor Oatmeal Stout (L). With our lunch, Eric tried two half pours of the Foeder #1 Oak-Aged Table Saison and the Smooth Brain pineapple sour. I had a half pour of the Long Winter Mocha Stout and liked it so much I brought a 4 pack home! Our lunch was tasty: Hot Honey Chicken Nuggets, fries with sweet bbq sauce, and ham biscuits (skimpy on the ham but the biscuits themselves were delicious).

Not wanting to spend more time in the room, we decided to explore downtown Boone. The Mast General Store brought me back to my childhood with all the varieties of candy!

We waffled on whether to get a pizza but without a good way to heat it up, we opted to get bread and cheese from Publix for dinner back at the room. We had brought a bottle of bubbles with us to celebrate our 25 year (!!!) dating anniversary so it was a nice relaxing night in for us.

Sunday

In the morning the rain seemed to be clearing out so we went back to downtown Blowing Rock to walk around and see some of the sculptures I had found online.

 

It’s a pretty, compact downtown that I would love to explore more on a future visit.