North Carolina Mountain Dreams » Blue Ridge Mountains

Are You Going To The Fair?

Gary Boyd — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 15:14:05 +0000

The Valle Country Fair. The 31st Annual Valle Country Fair is October 17, 2009 (always the 3rd Saturday in October).

Photo by Catherine Morton

A busy tent community is set up in the center of a huge hayfield in the center of one of the most picturesque valleys in the North Carolina mountains during the peak of the fall color season. In addition to crafts, guests can enjoy homemade Brunswick Stew, fresh pressed apple cider and hot-out-of-the-kettle apple butter.

I’ll miss the fair this year…again. Some day soon though I’ll wander the displays in the Valle…Sample the apple butter hot from the big iron kettles…Remember the days of my childhood, so many years ago, when my Grandma fed me apple butter on fresh bread for lunch as we played in the cool of the fall.

My fall memories do not include the technicolor hillsides in the photo above…In my Texas childhood it was only the Chinese Tallow trees that provided fall color…And the purples and maroons and yellows and oranges all on one tree always seemed a little strange when everything else was still green. Catherine Morton’s photo of the Fair graced my computer screen for all of the fall and winter months the first time I saw it. Until that time I had never visited anyplace where the colors were that vibrant. But after our fall 2007 trip into the mountains I know this is what fall should be…And someday I’ll share the pleasures of the Fair and the fall colors from my own place in the mountains…Until then, I’ll have to enjoy the Fair through others eyes.

Blue Ridge blog: Come with me…

Gary Boyd — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:35:10 +0000

August is the month which, like the morning fog, descends suddenly but burns off quickly, blending into September. Do you see the tree in the foreground is showing a hint of change?

I walked the Valle this morning. I started under the veil of fog. By the time I parked my Jeep near the Goodnight Farm, blue skies peaked overtop the clouds near the Taylor’s place.

Marie Freeman takes us along on a morning walk through Valle Crucis. Her photographs always provide me the mountain “fix” I need in the midst of a Texas summer. It is her photos and blog posts that help keep me connected to the Valley I fell in love with on my first family trip to the mountains. Follow the link and walk along with her through the Valle we both love and she calls home…via Blue Ridge blog: Come with me….

Are You Planning A North Carolina Mountain Dreams Vacation?

Gary Boyd — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 12:00:51 +0000

Every time my family and I plan a North Carolina Mountain Dreams vacation we end up within a short drive of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Whether in the southern part of the state or way up north in the High Country, we still like to have access to the Parkway. I have found that even with the slower speed limits, traveling the Parkway is a lot of times the quicker, less stressful route, especially when driving north and south along the Blue Ridge.

Our trips so far have led us to make two cities our base of operations during our stays. In the southern part of the state we tend to stay in Asheville. When we travel to the High Country, it is in Boone we base our stay. Our experiences at each place are completely different. In Asheville we tend to take a hotel room and eat out while in Boone we usually rent a privately owned log home and cook more of our meals in. Almost all of our Boone stays have been spent in the mountains above Valle Crucis in cabins we arranged through Valle Crucis Log Cabin Rentals.

I will be doing a series of posts on the attractions available in both locations in the coming days. For right now let’s look at the overall differences in the two areas…

Asheville

Asheville is the largest city in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains. With a population estimated to be above 74,000, Asheville has a more cosmopolitan feel than any other city in the North Carolina mountains. Asheville topped Relocate-America.com’s “America’s Top 100 Places to Live” in 2007 and ranked in the top 10 in 2005. The city, with it’s art deco downtown and thriving arts community, has become a mecca for the retiring baby boomers looking for a place to settle down for the second part of their lives.

Asheville regularly makes many “Top” lists in many different areas from Art to Retirement, from Vegetarianism to Freakness…In other words everyone seems to find something to like in Asheville.

For our part, while we never took the kids, my wife and I both found a day touring the Biltmore Estate both fun and informative if somewhat tiring. You do cover a whole lot of ground without ever leaving the house…And then there are the gardens.

The Blue ridge Parkway is a big part of what makes Asheville part of our North Carolina Mountain Dream and the views overlooking the city are awe inspiring. If you have chance take in a sunrise or sunset from the Parkway.

Another must see is the North Carolina Arboretum, still being developed, it is open daily except on Christmas. Tuesdays and Saturdays are good days to visit as they almost always have something going on. You can check the calendar here.

Boone

The home of the Appalachian Mountaineers, Boone still has a small town feel though with some major traffic. We love it anyway.

Whether we are shopping on King Street or at the Original Mast General Store in Valle Crucis, buying groceries at the Watauga County Farmers’ Market or eating pizza on top of Beech Mountain, hanging out in Blowing Rock or walking the Appalachian Trail on Roan there is a whole lot to do in the High Country. That includes a whole lot of porch sittin’ and just watchin’ the clouds rise out of the valleys below.

If you have kids along, young or think they are not so young, check out Mystery Hill…an old style amusement like I remember from my own childhood. If your youngsters really are youngsters, a day at the Tweetsie Railroad Amusement Park may be just what the doctor ordered to burn off some energy gained from the great nights sleep that comes just from the nature of the mountains…

Every time we spend time in this area we come home refreshed…But, after settling in to the slower pase of living, coming back to the rat race of home is an adjustment…That’s why we dream our North Carolina Mountain Dreams of making the move permanent.

More to follow…

Our State Magazine Has Announced The Winners Of The 2009 Photo Contest

Gary Boyd — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:09:54 +0000

The mail last week brought the current issue of “Our State”, the magazine about North Carolina. The photo essay for this months issue was of the winners of this years Annual Photo Contest. Unfortunately, our state did not put that online, so if you want to see the winners, you’ll need to track down a print copy.

Photo Essay
Our State’s 3rd Annual Reader Photo Contest Winners

We asked you to send us your best shots, and you responded, submitting more than 2,300 images in categories of Landscapes, Black and White, People, Places, and Animals.

via August 2009 Table of Contents | Our State Magazine.

Congratulations to all of the Winners and the Honorable Mentions that made the magazine…As an amateur photographer myself I was impressed with the images that were published. Joel Becton’s Mill Creek, the Grand Prize Winner, was just gorgeous.

The image that will be a part of my North Carolina Mountain Dream from now on though was Essence of Winter by Kevin Council of Chapel Hill. The snow, the mirror of a pond, the cabin…That is one heck of a shot. It took 1st Place in the Category of Places…Beautiful.

If you have a chance to look through the issue…go and spend some time looking at these beautiful images.

You can pick up a subscription through Amazon…I’ve had one since our first trip to the mountains and enjoy it more with every issue…

[ad#Google Adsense - Links Sq]