Stopped here as we were going past. They were closing up but said they would feed us. Had a good chicken pot pie.
Got here around 9:30 after dinner. Stayed in suite 3 for first two nights. Great view. Heated floor in the bathroom. Scrambled egg cups for breakfast. Heater didn’t seem to be working right so had to use portable heater. Very close to speaks of Otter. Had to move to suite 1 the third night. Not as big out as nice but still a great bathroom and a new cedar smell.
Our first hike and we see both mountain laurel and rhododendron in bloom. Here it seems like the rhododendron park before the mountain laurel. I want John that the rocks are slippery when wet but he still ends up slipping his left foot into the creek while taking a picture (of course).
We wiped out and take the shuttle to the top of Sharp Top mountain. Your e supposed to be able to get a 360 degree vote from here but by the time we get up there the top is all fogged in. But we still get to see some neat rocks.
The shuttle driver suggested this restaurant. Our B&B host suggested Bedford Social Club but they were booked up for tonight and tomorrow night so we went to Liberty station and weren’t disappointed. We had fried green tomatoes and raspberry chicken. The bread came in its own little crock and was delicious, as was the butter that came with it. The first buyer we got was either honey or caramel (e couldn’t quite tell). The second butter we got was cinnamon. We liked the first butter better. The waitress says they can go through 5 kind e of butter in one night. We also had a brownie with cream cheese frosting, I’ve cream, and chocolate sauce for dessert (even though this place is known for their cheesecake).
The kayaking place (Twin Rivers Outfitters) didn’t shoe any availability for today but when I called to ask they said they could take us just about any time we wanted so we told them we’d be there around 12:30. Our host wanted us out of our room by 11:00 so he could get it ready for the next couple so we packed up and moved things to suite 1 and then decided to go to the D-Day Memorial in Bedford. Our shuttle driver told us that was worth visiting. It was sobering but well done. A fitting place to visit a few days before Memorial Day.
We were a bit late getting to the outfitters and then had to get out kayaking gear on and then they drove us to they put in point so we didn’t get on the River until around 1:30. Were hurriedly ate our quiche (cold) in the shuttle van.
The trip was great. We were in spot on top kayaks that drained off they got water inside. We went through 3 class 2 taps and several class 1. The River was running high and faster than normal. The guide told us at this level we could paddle up a short creek to a waterfall, and later in the trip take the left channel around an island, both of which were highlights of the trip. At first we were a bit apprehensive about the class 2 rapids, especially with the high water, but by the third class 2 we were purposely shooting for the biggest waves.
The weather was perfect. Just around 70 degrees and cloudy so we didn’t get hot or sunburned. It was a great trip.
After our kayaking trip we walked across the swinging bridge next to the outfitters-the only swinging bridge across the James River. It had there since the 1800s thought it had been washed out and replaced a couple of times. While on the bridge a local woman told us about Roaring Run furnace and falls, about 30 minutes north of Buchanan (pronounced buck cannon) so we headed there. She had told us that there was a place in the River where you could slide down a rock. We think we found the place and I’m sure we would have done the slide if it was warmer (and we were braver).
The hike to the falls was beautiful. The Roaring Run had great little raids the whole way up. On the way back we went by the finance which looked just like the couple of furnaces we have around State College. On the way back through Eagle Rock we stopped at more furnaces but these were limestone furnaces rather than iron ore.
We were going to have dinner at the afoot of the Mountain Cafe in Buchanan, recommended by our kayak outfitters but it turned out they are closed this week so then we were going to just eat some of the food I brought at our B&B. But then we drove by this diner and the sign said open so we went in. They were close to closing time so all they had were burgers and sandwiches but the grilled chicken club I had and the hot ham and cheese sandwich John had were both very good.
Tonight we still stayed at the Graham ordinary but we had to move to Suite number 1 because somebody else had Suite number three reserved. Suite number 1 is smaller than Suite number three, it doesn’t have the sunroom but it still had a very nice bathroom with heated floors and a king size bed and was very comfortable. We did notice though that the windows were made of plexiglass and there were gaps between the plexiglass and the frame and so we’re not sure it would’ve been a very good place to stay in the winter.
This morning we woke to pouring down rain. Fortunately after we had our breakfast it had stopped raining long enough for us to load the car. Since they were calling for rain most of the day we decided we would head to Roanoke and shop for some new hiking boots for John. The hiking shoes I had brought for him were too small and hurt his big toe. The twin River outfitters shuttle drivers had suggested a store called Walkabout in Roanoke which is a local outdoor store, so that’s where we headed. Lucky for us it was sunny in Roanoke.
After John spent about an hour trying on different hiking shoes he finally settled on some Oboz shoes. We’ve seen this company advertised at the Banff Mountain Film Festival. They say they plant a tree for every pair of shoes sold.
Then we decided to visit the art museum which had a very interesting architecture and admission was free. But first week grabbed lunch from our picnic supplies, eating in the parking garage. We spent about 45 minutes and they are is Sam and then Sean wanted to go see the elevator museum. We debated whether to walk or drive to the elevator museum and started to walk but then we saw some rain clouds forming overhead and decided it might be safer to drive.
When we got to the address of the elevator museum all we saw was a storage facility. John went in to ask about the museum and like I said yes the museum is actually in one of the storage rooms, but that the owner was not always there. Then we took a closer look at the website and noticed that it said open by appointment only. Since it was getting close to 5 o’clock which is when the museum supposedly closed we figured it was a little late to make an appointment.
We hopped back on the Blue Ridge Parkway and headed for Mayberry Mill.
We didn’t get to Mayberry Mill until about 6 PM so I’m not sure if they had been doing any demonstrations during the day but it was still interesting to walk around the site. Fortunately it wasn’t raining at this time. I learned that you make lye from running water through ashes and then use that to make soap. I noticed a number of rhododendron plants that looked like they might be past blooming they had new leaves coming out. But this seemed earlier than what the blooming calendar had indicated. After walking around the site for a little bit we then headed to our lodging for the night pilot knob in.
On our way to the end we went through Mount airy North Carolina. This is the town that Andy Griffith grew up in and supposedly the town that inspired Mayberry. We did see a couple of old brick buildings that look like they were trying to cash in on that Mayberry designation. It was getting around dinner time so we looked for a place to eat and found a ribs steak and seafood place called 13 bones. But when we got there the parking lot was crowded and John was a little worried that the restaurant would be too busy for our comfort. We debated ordering online and doing a pick up and taking it to our lodge but in the end after sitting around in the parking lot for half an hour a lot of people left and so we went inside and ate. We had flounder and shrimp which was very good and a chocolate lava cake which was very yummy.
Today dawned bright and sunny. Pilot Mountain State Park was just down the road from the inn so after breakfast we headed there. They have an upper parking lot that you can drive to get you close to pilot knob but they close that parking lot as soon as it gets full in the morning. Fortunately we got there just in time. The ranger said we were one of the last five cars she was going let up. If we weren’t able to drive up we would have had to either take a shuttle or hike up.
It was not possible to hike to the top of pilot knob but there was a little short bike to a look out that gave you a good view of the knob and there was a trail that went all the way around the base of the knob. These pictures are from that trail. The rock and the knob was very impressive and the views from the trail all the way around the knob we’re just as impressive. Though the trail was less than a mile long it took us an hour and 15 minutes to do it so that John could get all the pictures that he wanted. I did get to see some mountain laurel and rhododendron on the trail.
After our hike we had a picnic lunch and then we headed for hanging rock State Park.
At Hanging Rock there was a trail that took you up to the hanging rock that had very impressive views and then there was a another trail that took you to a waterfall that the Ranger said was the best waterfall in the park. Since we had already seen a lot of impressive views and John‘s knee was bothering him a little bit we decided to take the easier trail to the lower Cascades waterfall.
When we got to the waterfall there were quite a few people actually in the water at the base of the waterfall. We enjoyed the view of the waterfall but we did not venture in. The water seemed a little cold.
It took us about an hour and a half to get from hanging rock State Park to our Airbnb in Piney Creek North Carolina. The house is beautiful and much bigger than we need. It has three bedrooms, three bathrooms and three floors. But the main draw for me was that it had a washer and dryer and was close to Grayson Highlands State Park. And the rate was very reasonable for such a large place. The house is in a community of small winding roads so it was a little difficult to get to. Once we were here we didn’t really want to go back out so we decided to have the Amish ham pot pie that I had brought along for dinner. The living room has a very large screen TV with Netflix so we watched a movie about a woman trying to break a record of distance swimming under ice. We also watched a national parks documentary narrated by Barack Obama before going to sleep on our sleep number bed.