Sue and I flew out of Manchester, NH 04/27/23 for a week long trip to drive the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.

The Parkway runs 460 miles through Virginia and North Carolina across the tops of the series of Blue Ridge Mountains, which form part of the Appalachian Mountain line.

We drove it from Boone, NC to Cherokee, NC. Most of the road is very, very narrow, extremely winding, many times traversing steep climbs or drops requiring 20 mph slow driving, but the many pull-offs offer spectacular views. And, many folks I've talked with - including us - have experienced motion sickness traversing many of those winding roads.

In addition, Internet service is marginal in many places, and some areas have no cell service. Having said all of that: every pull off is more spectacular than the last one; it's simply something I'm so glad that we chose to do.

Thursday 04/27
We landed in Charolette, NC Thursday 04/27/23 to pouring rain at just after 5:00pm. Major issue though when we went to pick up our rental car as they had no reservation for us.

The problem was booking through Expedia. We had originally intended to fly into Raleigh, NC, but Sue had spent over an hour and a half switching that to Charlotte as well as verifying that the car rental reservation had also been switched. It had not.

Were it not for Sue having all the phone numbers, account information, etc. we would never been able to resolve it. Basically, Dollar Rental said they couldn't help us either transferring the rental from Raleigh, where there was a car waiting for us, to Charlotte, but they absolutely refused to rent us a car on the spot without a reservation.

I walked over to National, locked a car in with them in under a minute, and Sue got a refund from Dollar.

Then, in a heavy downpour, we had to go through the f'n Wendy's drive up window 3 times to get the correct order so we could eat something at 8:00pm before we got on the road around 8:30pm to Deep Gap, NC, which should be just under a 2 hour drive in good weather.

We were going there to meet up with Sue's cousin Marion and her husband John who had driven almost 5 hours from their home in New Burn, NC to a friend's cabin where we'd spend a couple of nights before hitting the Blue Ridge Parkway.

The rain was so heavy, though, that traffic was down to 20 mph in places, and it took us until after 11:00 pm to get there. And to get there, we had to get off the highway and drive for about an hour over some very winding and narrow mountain roads, still under downpour conditions. We were sooooo tired....

Friday 04/28
I didn't get up the next morning until after 8:00am, but Sue had already been out and walked over a mile around the heavily wooded development where the cabin was located on one of the many mountains in the area. It was just a beautiful area, as was the 'cabin' itself ‐ which was more of a very expensive private home.

Deep Gap, NC

Sue and Marion out on the deck of the cabin.

Our first adventure of the day was a beautiful drive down part of the Blue Ridge Parkway to Blowing Rock, a spectacular rock formation on top of a mountain with sweeping views of peaks, forests, and the Johns River Gorge. It was so nice up there that we stayed and had lunch on the outside deck of a small kitchen that was part of the facility. Even though this was one of the first places that we stopped at on our entire trip, I think I enjoyed it the most.

One of the pull-offs on The Blue Ridge Parkway

Sue on Blowing Rock

Sue stretching out for a shot off the edge of Blowing Rock, NC. Yikes!!!

But, there was more to see, and so we hopped back onto The Blue Ridge Parkway continuing south into Linville, NC where we swung around, and headed north to Boone, NC. We stopped at a local grocery store there where I bought spices, pork chops, a couple of bottles of 19 Crimes Red Blend, and other supplies for the night and following morning.

We all sat out on the deck chatting and enjoying the smells of the woods carried to us by a gentle breeze that rustled through the trees. I filled my wine glass around 5:00pm and headed into the kitchen to cook up some rosemary seared pork chops. Along with those, I did sides of green peas cooked in rosemary, paprika, a splash of A1 steak sauce, some Italian spices, and maybe a couple splashes of wine, and a couple of boxes of some really nice Uncle Ben's Wild Rice - with maybe a pinch and splash of other 'stuff'....

Back at the cabin after a long day....

It all came out just grand! However, the altitude, all the driving from the day before and then again today, and perhaps just a little too much red wine did me in. I was trying to sit up straight on the sofa to watch a movie with everyone, but I got so, so tired that I just gave up and went to bed probably before 10:00pm — I don't remember I was so tired....

Saturday 04/29
We had a long day ahead of us Saturday as the goal was to traverse as much of the Blue Ridge as we could over to Maggie Valley, NC where we had hotel reservations for a couple of days so we could explore that whole area of Cherokee country, and the areas by The Great Smokey Mountain National Forrest.

Saturday morning and back onto The Blue Ridge Parkway.

Though The Blue Ridge Parkway has so many spectacular pull‐off areas, the most spectacular of them that we experienced was the observatory on top of Mt. Mitchell at 6,684 feet. The road off of the Blue Ridge to the observatory parking area was just over 3 miles, and then Sue and I hiked an additional half mile up to the observatory itself.

I can't even begin to describe it, and pictures don't do it justice. At one point, a billowy gray hued cloud swept down the side of one of the adjacent mountains into the valley below us, and then up the side of Mt. Mitchell not far from where we were. Just makes you feel very, very small and insignificant. No wonder many of these parts of the Blue Ridge are closed to weather at times.

We came down the Blue Ridge Parkway from Mt. Mitchell to pick up Route 74, then 240/40, and finally Route 19 into Maggie Valley. We were so glad to get to finally settle into our room at the Route 19 Inn — a "...down-to-earth hotel with a retro vibe".

Sue had specifically requested a room along the brook, and that brook was a churning wonder that we enjoyed sitting out on the room's back porch area sipping some wine.

John and Marion had arrived earlier as they had driven their truck rather than with us since we'd be heading back to catch a flight out of Charlotte before they left; hey had gotten one of the inn's dog friendly rooms for their 2 critters. We were all starved after our long travels over all of those winding roads, and had such a great meal at Frankies Italian Trattoria.

Sue and me on an antique motorcycle at the Route 19 Inn in Maggie Valley, NC.

John just loved this old car, so I had to get a picture of him in front of it.

Sue and me at Frankies Italian Trattoria.

Sunday 04/30
Sunday morning we all drove the short distance to Joey's Pancake House for a terrific breakfast before heading over to explore Cherokee, NC.

If you like a main road lined with gift shops, Cherokee will keep you busy — though many of the shops have goods from Ecuador, for example, rather than local native Cherokee. Regardless of that, we enjoyed dropping into many of the shops.

From Cherokee, we got onto Rt. 441, and drove up to Newfound Gap in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Man, that drive up 441 was beautiful, though very winding along the edge of the mountains.

Newfound Gap itself sits at 5,046 feet above sea level, and is the lowest drivable pass through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. It also sits at the boarder of North Carolina and Tennessee, and we saw folks that were walking the Appalachian Trail crossing through to continue their journey.

We had heard about how neat the Mingus Mill was. and so we pulled off the road, and hiked down to it.

Amazing water trough that powered the mill.

On the way back down 441 from Newfound Gap, we wanted to see Clingmans Dome. It was about 9 miles along a winding road off of 441 that actually moved in and out of North Carolina and Tennessee, with really spectacular views. But nothing like Clingmans Dome! Holy crap was that something!

Clingmans Dome

At 6,643 feet, Clingmans Dome is the highest point in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the highest point in Tennessee, and the third highest mountain east of the Mississippi. From the observation tower on the summit you get 360° views of the Smokies, and clear days views expand over a 100 miles.

Temperatures at the dome can be 10-20 degrees F cooler, and the winds they say can be hard. Well, it was so chilly and windy along the steep half mile trail that Sue and I hiked from the parking area to the observation tower, that we had to button our jackets up and hang onto our hats up on the tower itself. But the views....

Sign showing the cross over path for the Appalachian Trail

It was getting late, and so we headed back down 441 to return to Maggie Valley, which would be at least an hour's drive. However, it was not an easy trip back. Going up and around those winding steep mountain switchbacks is far different than going down, and we were all quickly feeling the effects of the car's twisting motion.

By the time we got back to the Route 19 Inn in Maggie Valley, Sue was not feeling well at all, and so we decided the best thing would be to just call it a day, get hydrated, and try to shake off the motion sickness.

The deck off the rear of our room at the Route 19 Inn with that brook just roaring away, but in such a soothing way!

Monday 05/01
Sue and I both slept soundly and felt better when we got up Monday morning. Because our flight back home was late Tuesday morning, our plan was to visit the Museum of the Cherokee Indian in Cherokee, and then drive the 3 hours into Charlotte, NC where I had booked a room at the Hilton Garden Inn on Cascade Pointe Boulevard. That way, we could have a relaxing dinner, and drive the short distance to the airport to return the car without scrambling around wearing ourselves out.

We met Marion and John for breakfast at Joey's again, asking for our waiter, Jeff, from the day before. Marion and John followed us over to the museum in their truck as we wouldn't be seeing them again. I was a little unsure about the drive back to Cherokee as Route 19 had some very winding sections, be we took it slow and both felt fine when we got to the museum. The exhibits were so very well done, and the facility itself was really nice. I'm so glad that we were able to visit here as we both really enjoyed it.

Route 19 entering Cherokee, NC.

Museum of the Cherokee Indian

Rather than returning through Maggie Valley for our drive back to Charlotte, we decided to drop down onto Route 74 via a short stretch on Route 441. 74 is a really nice, easy going highway with great views - without the steep switchbacks.

The only issue we ran into was traffic on 85 into Charlotte; it was heavy commuter type of congestion, and not pleasant at all. We hear that 85 is pretty much always like that. And, in fact, on our trip from the airport up to Charlotte, we had to get onto 85 then, and it was just a mess.

The Hilton Garden Inn Charlotte Airport was a really nice place. I had chosen it not only for its proximity to the airport, but also as the reviews on its restaurant were good. I'm glad that I booked there, and would do it again. Not only was the room nice, but the entire facility was great. And our dinners were true restaurant quality. Sue and I had picked a table by the windows overlooking some nice grassy areas, and just had the best time sipping some wine and recapping the trip.

Tuesday 05/02
After a quick breakfast, we checked out of the hotel, gassed up the rental car, and headed for the airport - only about a 10 minute drive.

Charlotte Douglas Airport is under a lot of renovation, it's crowded and filled with the hectic place of any big city airport. After checking our bags, we picked a quiet area by our gate, and just relaxed for an hour and a half until boarding. Though the flight back to Manchester was pretty bumpy in several places, we were fine - and very glad to finally land.

We got the shuttle back to the hotel where we had left our car, and were back home about an hour later. Whew!