One More Day on the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Blowing Rock

After a few relaxing days just hanging out at Tom Johnson,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

we decided to take one more drive up onto the Blue Ridge on Saturday, and check out the town of Blowing Rock.  Walt and Tina rode along with us.

We took Hwy 221 north, past Linville Falls, and onto the parkway.  We turned north toward Blowing Rock, and saw a family of turkeys crossing the road.

It was a beautiful day on the parkway – hardly any clouds in sight – and we enjoyed the view from a few overlooks.

 

We stopped for a look, but no hiking today!  OK, a little climb up to see a small waterfall, but no major hiking!

 

We picked up this hitchhiker somewhere, but he couldn’t hold on for long!

We found a lake in the mountains, too.

It looked like a peaceful place to spend the day,

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

but we were moving on.  These kayakers were having a good day!

We arrived in Blowing Rock, and parked in the downtown business district.  We walked through the shops, and got Bryce a snack – because he’s ALWAYS hungry!  We managed to get past the snowcone shop without getting him one . . .

He managed to get a sample, though!

There were some beautiful old buildings in Blowing Rock,

and lots of beautiful spring flowers.

We walked through the park in the center of town, and there was a group serving lunch for donations.  They had subway sandwiches, hot dogs, corn on the cob, cookies, krispy kreme donuts and fruit.  Lunch as free – they were just accepting donations for the community center, so we all decided to have some lunch. 

After lunch, we went looking for the Blowing Rock Furniture Gallery,

where we had purchased our dining room and library furniture for our house.  It’s still a nice furniture store, but not the same company any more. 

From there, we went in search of THE blowing rock.  It was a little challenging to find, but we found it!

 

It’s another one of those  “touristy” destinations that has become a major money generator, but isn’t really worth the price of admission – $7 per person!

 

 

They could afford to build a really nice gift shop, though!

We all passed on viewing the rock, though.

 

There must have been a car show somewhere because we saw quite a few old hot rods like these as we drove out of town on the way back to Tom Johnson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a nice day, and we enjoyed spending it with friends!