One of the highlights of our visit to Boone NC was taking the scenic drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway!
The amazing layers of the Blue Ridge Parkway NC
White knuckle drive
Check out the curvy road we were driving!
If you ever have a chance to take that drive, you really should do it. Be warned though, it’s not for the faint of heart. The parkway follows the winding curves of the mountainside with sheer drops to valleys waaaayyy below. I don’t recommend this in an RV. Fortunately we have a Jeep Cherokee Trail Hawk (we named her Cherry Hawk) that we flat tow behind Ladybug which enables us to take amazing drives like this one.
Blue Ridge Parkway
Just one of the many breathtaking views along the Blue Ridge Parkway NC
To drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway NC is so spectacular that you should put it on your bucket lists. Ideally it should be done in October to catch the fall colors. When we went in mid September the leaves were just beginning to turn. Many of the trees had one side that was tinged with red, orange and yellow. But what truly took my breath away was the many, many layers of mountains. Hills and valleys in varying shades of green for as far as the eye could see. It was so humbling to realize just what a true artist G-d could be in creating this gorgeous landscape.
A visit with friends
A golf course in the Appalachian Mountains
The trees on the golf course were just starting to turn colors.
Our second full day in Boone, NC was spent visiting with our Florida friends Connie and Guy, who have a summer home nearby. Their home is in a town called Montezuma.We had been warned not to bother using our GPS to get to their home because it wouldn’t work. They met us at a nearby hospital so we could follow them to their mountainside abode. The driveway was sooooo steep but their home was right off the street so except for the incline of the hill, they had easy access. Most of the homes we had seen were up winding roads and miles from a main highway.
The Appalachian mountain chain
The idyllic garden in front of our friends home in Montezuma NC
After enjoying a casual lunch with our friends they morphed into awesome tour guides. Connie drove the S curves like Mario Andretti. I guess after so many years of maneuvering those Mountains she had become as comfortable as if she was driving on a straightaway. The tour encompassed almost all of the area mountains that are part of the Appalachian Blue Ridge Mountains, including Sugar, Banner Elk, Linville Peak and Grandfather.
Wild flowers and rolling hills
We were surprised to see so many gorgeous homes hidden in the trees on all of these mountains. There was even a huge two building condo on the top of one of them that we had noticed from the valley. I had commented to Steve that you would never get me up there. Well, guess what? Mario (Connie) took us all the way up to that condo in the sky. They have friends who live there and the view is certainly mind blowing.
Banner Elk Woolly Worm Festival
Price Lake along the Blue Ridge Parkway
Moses Cone Overlook Elevation 3865 feet above sea level!
Connie and Guy told us all about the infamous woolly worm. The 3rd week of October each year there is a Woolly Worm Festival on Banner Elk to celebrate this caterpillar. But the premise is pretty much the same as Ground Hog Day. Instead of predicting when Spring will arrive it predicts the harshness of winter. The position of the longest dark bands supposedly indicates which part of winter will be coldest or hardest. If the head end of the caterpillar is dark, the beginning of winter will be severe. If the tail end is dark, the end of winter will be cold. Unfortunately it won’t be held this year due to Covid.
Grandfather Mountain
While we didn’t actually drive up Grandfather Mountain we did get to appreciate just how cool it is. Grandfather Mountain is privately owned and they charge a fee to go to the peak. The thing is that it is really best to appreciate the mountain from down below, on the highway. We discover this when we were on our way to Connie and Guy’s. As we were driving I looked up and realized that you could perfectly discern the Grandfather’s profile. It was an awesome sight!
Incredible scenic drive
A pretty little waterfall we found along our drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway NC
More spectacular views along the Blue Ridge Parkway NC
I can’t get enough of that Carolina Blue sky!
More of that breathtaking vista
Adored the unusually shaped rock along the side of the road and more Carolina blue sky.
Part of our tour including a drive along the Blue Ridge Parkway NC. But since we were in the back seat and moving too fast for pictures we knew we had to return for our photo ops. We returned the next day for scenes that made us gasps with joy and awe.
Craft market
Everyone wears a mask. Even King Kong.
A fantasy horse sculpture at the craft market we stopped at.
On our way back to Ladybug we stopped at a fabulous craft market so that we could buy a Welcome Autumn flag for our RV patio. It was our first seasonal flag. Now we need to look for Winter, Spring and Summer. Love having something to shop for!
