A short while back, I did a little scheming with our frequent travel
partners, Terry & Beth, because Ms. B. has been going through a lot of
stress, mainly from dealing with her parents' declining health, and we felt it
was high time we helped her unwind with a wining, dining, and sightseeing trip
together. We wanted something short of exotic (read not overly expensive) but
a bit out of the ordinary. So, we opted for a three-day trip to the mountains
of North Carolina — an apt destination because, in August, at
Necronomicon Providence, I'm going to be on the Appalachian Horror panel. What better than
spending a few days in the heart of legend-haunted Appalachia?
Thursday, June 4, 2026Brugger and I hit the road about 9:30 a.m. Three hours and a couple of
pee and geocache stops later, we met Terry and Beth in Blowing Rock, NC, at a
cool little bistro called
Storie Street Grille & Sidecar Bar, which was the first place that struck our fancy. Excellent food
and drink, and it was great to gather with our good friends again. I decided
to go marginally healthy and get a spicy lentil burger. I did have fries. These were fantastic.
Afterward, we checked into our lodgings, about ten miles out of Blowing Rock —
the cabin you see in the photo above. A fine place indeed, with all the
amenities and some lovely views.
Beth's number one priority was to visit the
Beacon Heights Trail, close to the town of Linville, about twenty miles west of Blowing Rock. She and Terry had
visited it a few years ago and loved the incredible mountain scenery. So, off
we went. Once there, it was a short hike to the top of the ridge, which
is a huge, open quartzite surface that offers an unbroken view of the world,
primarily eastward. As is our custom, once settled at the top of of the world,
we broke out the spirits and toasted our friendship. We spent the better part
of the afternoon taking it all in, and, eventually, made our way back to
Blowing Rock, with most of daylight now behind us. Here, we found a decent
dinner at
Town Tavern, which we'd noticed earlier in the day. They had live music—agreeable,
classic Americana—and some of the best damned chicken tenders I've ever
tasted. And the Aperol Spritz took me straight back to Italy. All in all, a
lovely day.
For the evening, we hung out at our place, enjoyed a
little wine, and had some great conversation. This is what I call the best
kind of therapy.
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Old Dude and Ms B geocaching in Blowing Rock
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Wine on the rocks
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This Earth is NOT flat
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Friday, June 5, 2026There was a geocache about a mile from our lodgings, so first thing
this morning, I set out after it on foot, and I've gotta tell you, the road
from our place up to the main road is steeper than steep. This made for one
hell of a strenuous trek. Once at ground zero, I had to scramble up, over, and
around some boulders and otherwise rugged terrain, but in the end, I found the
cache. Victory!
Today's group destination was
Linville Gorge, which I'd visited many years ago with an old friend. There are several
overlooks around the gorge, and we hoofed it to all of them. The farther up
we went, the more spectacular the views. At the highest of the overlooks, we tore into
our little cache of snackies, including our wine for toasting. From here, we
saw a little bear cub hanging out in a tree a short distance down the
mountainside, which was pretty neat, although we really hoped Mama Bear
wouldn't come wandering our way because, at the overlook, escape routes
were... shall we say... limited. (When I say limited, I mean going over
the edge of the cliff....)
As it turned out, we had no bear worries and eventually made our way back down
to the parking area. By now, it was mid-afternoon, and since the trail
snackies were not exactly filling, we were all famished. Not far away,
we found a little place called
The Famous Rockhouse, a quaint, southern-style diner, where the prices are right and they make a
very fine cheeseburger.
Not far away lay
Linville Falls Winery, so we decided to haul ourselves over to it and sample their wares. It's a
lovely location, and there was a good crowd on hand, with a band performing music.
Now, I really hate to up and say it when a lovely place has terrible wine, so
today, the less said about the wine, the better.
Our home-away-from-home featured a game room in the basement, with an
arcade-style video game console featuring Pac-Man and Galaga, which were kinda fun to revisit. And
there was a foosball table, which provided much entertainment. Back in college,
I played a lot of foosball, especially with one of my roommates, and back
then, I was pretty damn good at it.
That was a very long time ago. This time around, I scored more points for my
opponents than for myself.
And then that was all she wrote. Nighty-night.
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Miscreants on the rocks...again
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L: Brugger on a precarious perch. R: She put some pointers on her photo to
make sure you see where the bear is.
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"What the hell is that? What the HELL is that? Hey, kid, don't put your
lips on that thing! What the HELL is that?"
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A view of the Linville River down in the gorge
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Winery antics. No, I did not clock Ms. B. a good one in the jaw. She had
a problematic filling at the dentist the other day, which left her
beauty...marred. You should have seen the dentist afterward!
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Winding down in the aftermath
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Saturday, June 6, 2026After loading up this morning, we checked out of our place and headed
into Blowing Rock, where we planned to meet Terry & Beth's son Bryon and his
wife, Mary at 1:00 p.m. for lunch. Since we had a couple of hours, I went
geocaching, Terry went in search of coffee, and Brugger and Beth went shopping.
Once I completed the caching activities, I rendezvoused with Terry for more
coffee. Eventually, our group reunited, and we met Bryon and Mary at
The Speckled Trout Restaurant. Now,
this was a lunch. Excellent drinks (Bloody Marys for
some of us), and delicious vittles (I had smoked trout with hoppin' john).
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Mayview Lake, taken while out geocaching
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At last, it was time for goodbyes, and Brugger and I hit the road for
Martinsville. We arrived back right at 6:00 p.m. All in all, I'd say this proved to be a superlative weekend with good friends, with beaucoup laughs, chats, refreshments, and more. I'm quite sure we'll be doing this
kind of thing again, and hopefully sooner than later.
So, bye-bye for now.
