Finding Mitford


Our goal for today was to check out the little town of Blowing Rock, which is the inspiration for the town of Mitford in Jan Karon’s books. I took a wrong turn immediately, which sent us past stunning views of the Watauga River and a couple of little waterfalls as the recent rains drained down the mountainsides.

Once we got on the right track, it was a quick trip to Blowing Rock. It’s an interesting mix of vacation spot (i.e. touristy places) and tiny town charm. It has a cute Main Street with good places to eat, and plenty of places to spend too much money on things you can get cheaper elsewhere. But I suppose it’s all in the experience. We spent about 3 hours (the length of time you can legally stay parked) eating an early lunch (whistlestop – which was basically a BLT made with fried green tomatoes - and trout sandwiches) at the Storie Street Grill, then browsing the shops. I managed to get a bear Christmas ornament that is reminiscent of North Carolina, as well as some fudge and gifts. As we were leaving, we drove past the Methodist Church, which the google says is only open in the summer. Wouldn’t that be a posh appointment?!

Next in our plan was a visit to the original Mast General Store in Valle Crucis, and dinner across the street at Over Yonder. But when we finished in Mitford – I mean Blowing Rock – it was too early to head over yonder. So, we made the short drive back to Boone and stopped in at the Daniel Boone Native Gardens. We had a lovely time looking at all the native Appalachian botanicals, taking pictures, and resting on the occasional bench. While resting on one such bench in front of the cabin that once belonged to Daniel Boone’s father, a nice gentleman came by and asked if we’d like to see inside. The sign said that it was furnished with period furniture, but the door was locked with a padlock. We took him up on his offer and got a personal “tour” of the tiny cabin (not much to tour, but we learned about the old odds and ends in there, the design of the fireplace and the roof, and heard the story of how they pulled it down off of the mountain in Ashe County and rebuilt it here). Turns out, the man who opened it up and told us about it is Dr. David Kline, a retired neurosurgeon who is the volunteer director of the volunteers for the gardens. What a treat!

We were warm, thirsty, and generally worn out. So, we headed on to Mast General Store. Mom was probably a little too tired to thoroughly enjoy the experience, but we found a few things to take home with us, including a new puzzle, some sugar free syrup for Dad, and fried apple pies to have for dessert later. We sat in some Amish rocking chairs and almost didn’t get up.

As we were getting ready to check out, it looked like a storm was coming over the mountain quickly. It hadn’t rained on us all day, and I fully expected it to. We lucked out, though, and it moved on past without incident. We were the first at the door for dinner at Over Yonder, and were seated in the same dining area that Kef and I enjoyed around this same time three years ago. I had the meat loaf with mashed potatoes and broccoli slaw, and Mom had the chicken fried chicken with cheese grits and green beans. The food and service were excellent, as before.

Having had an early dinner, and being overly full and tired from a long day, we headed home and were tucked back into the cabin by 6:30 or so…. In time for a nap before time to watch the sun set on our last evening in Boone.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Curiouser and Curiouser

Image
We slept in a little bit this morning and had brunch at the appropriately named Curiosity Coffee Bar, a highly-rated little place just a couple of blocks from the White Rabbit (our Alice-in-Wonderland-themed bnb). Curiouser and curiouser, we spent the rest of the day at the South Carolina State Library.  The library staff were quite accommodating of our multiple requests from the stacks (I don't have a pic of the big pile of books we left behind at the end of the day).  The things we're curious about make some people (Kef and Dad specifically) shake their heads. Today's finds included a listing of early settlers to South Carolina, among which was my 5 greats grandfather Samuel McGill, described among the "poor protestants lately arrived from Ireland on the encouragement of the Bounty given by this Province." His age was listed as 23, and he was granted that bounty of 100 acres. Although we knew he was born in Ireland, we didn't know what year. So this 1766 lis
Read more

Home

Image
I've been mulling over my final blog entry for this trip, primarily because I wanted it to be profound. So, since I'm still waking up at 5 AM I figured I might as well go ahead and try my hand at it. Today, I go back to work in the church that descended from John Wesley's work. After a pilgrimage such as the one we've just had, I find myself wondering what I've learned that may impact my outlook on life and work moving forward. I started this trip (the first day, if you recall) wondering about the likability of John Wesley. Awfully presumptuous of me, I guess, to judge the man who impacted the lives of so many. I find myself now thinking more of John Wesley in context. In the same way that we read the Bible with the time period in mind, I remind myself that Wesley's way of sharing life with others was very different for his time period. We modern Methodists perhaps don't appreciate how different it really was. We are "mainstream" now... no long
Read more

London, Too

Image
Thursday was our day of touring London with a guide on our bus. I've been to many of the key places in London, so I was glad to get a tour that told more about the different areas of the city and how they are changing. The area where our hotel is located is known as the "Silicon Valley" area of London... so you can imagine the people we've seen commuting by foot to work around here. All young(ish). I won't go over all of the places we drove through... if you've been to London you know and if you haven't you can imagine. We stopped at the Methodist Central Hall across from Westminster Abbey for a toilet break and hoping to see the inside. Unfortunately, the hall was booked for a conference and so all we did was have a coffee in the Wesley Cafe and use the toilet. This was one place I didn't get to go the last time I was in London, so I was happy to read a little more about it and go inside, even just for a minute. Central Hall was built
Read more