Blue Ridge Parkway, NC - May 24, 2009

5/24/09
We got a late start, slept past when we intended, and decided it was time to get moving. We drove I-40 further east hitting the little town of Hartford, TN. We decided since we hadn't managed to get breakfast we'd just have a good meal there and drive for a while. We stopped at The Bean Trees Cafe and had an outstanding breakfast. I had a 2 egg breakfast with rosemary seasoned homefries and bacon, Katie had a breakfast burrito, Bonnie got the sweet potato pancakes and Emily got French toast...I can vouch for all of it being good as I sampled and/or finished everyone else's food once they'd had their fill. I can't count how many times I've talked to people about this breakfast, but I know that I've talked about it just this week and am looking forward to hopefully stopping there on my way to South Carolina this summer (which will make state #35).


We made decent time after that and stopped at the North Carolina Visitors Center for a brief break.

The girls at the North Carolina Welcome Center.

North Carolina Welcome Center.

Flower at North Carolina Welcome Center.

The view over the roof of the North Carolina Welcome Center.

Flowers at the North Carolina Welcome Center.

Flowers at the North Carolina Welcome Center.

We got on to Asheville, NC where we picked up the Blue Ridge Parkway and drove it for about 100 miles. When we could see it, it was beautiful...

Blue Ridge Parkway, NC.

Blue Ridge Parkway, NC.

Blue Ridge Parkway, NC.

Blue Ridge Parkway, NC.

Flowers along the Blue Ridge Parkway, NC.

Blue Ridge Parkway, NC.

Blue Ridge Parkway, NC.

Blue Ridge Parkway, NC.

Blue Ridge Parkway, NC.

Blue Ridge Parkway, NC.

Blue Ridge Parkway, NC.

Blue Ridge Parkway, NC.

I say "when we could see it" because we hit a pretty good amount of rain and fog, which made looking off the road a bit difficult and the driving slow and challenging. We counted over 40 BMWs of all years and models travelling through the area. We stopped at a couple of the visitors centers and upon talking to one of the personnel there decided that if we wanted to make our next stop before the next afternoon we would need to veer off the parkway and do some interstate driving so we meandered up the parkway a little further and then cut across and drove through Boone, NC, snagging some dinner at Arby's and pushed on Broadway, VA where we stopped in and stayed with Bonnie's uncle Harry and his wife Flo.


Broadway, VA is home to the Broadway Gobblers. If you ever catch me walking around in my green shirt that says Broadway Gobblers on it, this is where I got it from. Bonnie's uncle Harry sent it to a family reunion for me because I told him I liked collecting shirts from random schools I never attended that have interesting mascots.