over the last year, i have been taking prerequisite classes so i can apply to winston-salem state’s accelerated bachelor’s of science in nursing program. i finished then up, took a big entrance exam sort of test, and applied in july. and then waited. if i get in, i’ll start in january, so i had high hopes of getting a bunch of last hurrah bucket list items checked off before life gets truly wacky.
one such item was a getaway with derek. originally, we planned a quite epic vacation to california, with lots of hiking and adventures. unfortunately, i have been hobbled by a neverending case of plantar fasciitis AND there was a government shutdown AND the weather and foliage were looking a little less than optimal for our time there, so we canceled and took ourselves to the high country of north carolina. so much less stress and low key.
our first stop on the way was west jefferson, where we hit up ashe co. cheese, visited many a downtown store, had a delicious lunch, and scoured a giant antique shop (where i scored a fab vintage quilt).
also. on our way into west jefferson, i texted my old pal tim to see if we could meet up, and they happened to be in town and about, so he and his wife gloria met us at ashe co. cheese. it’s been YEARS since i’ve seen them and it was so good, but when a tour bus rolled in, we said some quick goodbyes hurried out.
while we were in the boone-ish area, it was supposedly prime leaf peeping season, so we tried to plan our activities accordingly. (avoid crowds as much as possible). so, for our first day, we drove along the blue ridge parkway, stopping for several small hiking excursions. the first such excursion was beacon heights overlook. not too bad.
of course we hopped off at the viaduct. i’m not really one for man-made structure admiration, but since it’s the iconic crown jewel of the blue ridge parkway, we had to do it. 🙂
from there, we headed over to rough ridge. it’s only a couple of miles, but the overlooks and fantastic. there’s also quite a few people, even on a thursday morning. we didn’t do the whole thing. my plantar fasciitis was already doing it’s dumb thing and we still had a lot of vacation remaining.
next stop. the moses cone manor house.
twenty two years and five-ish months ago, we were on this same porch, on an abnormally cold may afternoon, we were getting married. crazytown.
ok. so. disclaimer. it’s now almost a month later as i type this, and if i’m honest the days ran together a bit. a lot of leaves. a lot of farm stands. a lot of the blue ridge parkway. a lot of eating. a lot of shopping in boone and blowing rock.
i have had my eye on betty’s biscuits in boone for awhile, so one morning, we awakened quite early, to beat the crowds. haha. except there were zero crowds. my theory is: if you get there at 8am and you’re done by 9am, there’s nothing to do until the shops open at 10am. so, we parked easily, had the place mostly to ourselves, and got on the road to do other things before the rest of the high country was even awake.
also. we ate so much. i had the caramel apple pie french toast biscuit (um, what?). it was amazing. derek had chicken or something. whatever. and of course we had to try the biscuits and gravy.
then we hit the road towards tennessee to do some thrift and antique shopping. on the way, we saw a roadside waterfall on the map, so we made a quick stop. it was definitely road side. and lovely. until you viewed the road from the top of the waterfall. i mean, what’s more iconic and fitting than a dollar general on the side of a highway in rural nc?
i did a terrible job of documenting the day. we saw a lot of cool stuff. reminders of our 70s and 80s childhoods. i found a brobee plush for anna, my yo gabba gabba loving ex-toddler. one of shops in tennessee was all vintage. not like other antique shops with weird stalls full of eclectic randomness. like. organized. and staged. i took a moment to sit in a lounge chair and watch a vcr movie with dolly parton on a big console tv with rabbit ears. it was surreal. the town of elizabethton, tn is mostly antique shops, but there was also a really cute coffee shop, a fabric store(!!), and a great barbecue restaurant. we stopped and talked to so many locals who were so nice. it was a really chill and fun day.
and then, just before we were ready to head back to boone, derek heard from his old friend stephen, and we were able to meet up with him and his lovely wife corrinne and their girls, who i haven’t seen in YEARS. (derek is bff’s with stephens brother and there’s been weddings and such).
anywhoooooooo. it was delightful.
and. then. like that. our last hurrah was all hurrah-ed out. in the morning, we packed up and made our way back to wsnc. the kids. real life. so on. so forth.