On Saturday, we woke up to somewhat clear skies so we decided to head to Grandfather Mountain. This is a privately owned mountain that mimics a national park, complete with bears, river otters, deer and eagle preserve. We did stop and visit with the bears. It was so foggy and wet that you could barely see them atop a bunch of boulders! Then we stopped at the store for some fudge. 
By the time we finished with the bears, it was pouring down rain and blowing at about 60mph...not really conducive to exploring atop the Mile High Bridge! You can see my photo at left. Click on this link to see what it looks like when it's clear! W braved the winds to cross it but I had to turn back at about a third of the way across - the winds and the lack of visibility caused some serious vertigo. Next time.... We slowly made our way back into Blowing Rock, passing by
'Forrest Gump' curve on the way down. (Check out 2:53 - 59 in the clip.) Too bad we didn't have the Mini!
We warmed up and dried off at Six Pence Pub while watching Maryland get...um....hosed by the official during the MD / UVA lacrosse game. That would be the nice way to put it. A little shopping downtown and we headed back to the cabin to check up on the puppies. It was still raining but we saw a ton of waterfalls on Route 105 on the way back. This is definitely an area to return to for great photos!
For dinner we tried
Peppers in Boone, an unassuming restaurant in a shopping center. It came highly recommended as a cool little bar which was non-smoking and had live entertainment. (Non-smoking is a rarity in the High Country unfortunately.) We hung out and listened to the band for awhile, then satisfied our sweet tooth at Marble Slab, rented a movie (Wanted) and headed back to the cabin. Magic Hat and Oreo's on the futon while the puppies played ball.
March 29th, 2009
