Lenoir and Morgonton NC

We arrived at Thousand Trails Green Mountain RV Park on Tuesday 5/27 and were placed one mile back in the park, which is what the RV Life reviews said would happen. I didn’t mind as it made for a good morning walk. The site was narrow, we had only a few feet between our RV and the one to our right. It also was not very level, we were able to get the rig leveled for the most part but the water in the shower pan didn’t drain all the way. The park is lovely though, it’s surrounded by woods and has several hiking trails. Just walking in the park was good exercise as the roads were steep. On Wednesday we went to Morganton and met Cheryl and Jon at Brown Mountain Bottleworks brewery for drinks and live music. Thursday was Kevin’s birthday and we celebrated at Cheryl and Jon’s house, grilled steaks and had a wonderful meal with roasted vegetables, baked potatoes and spice cake for dessert.
On Saturday, May 31, we joined Cheryl and Jon plus a few of their friends for an afternoon of music and wine at Silver Fork Winery. The musician, Leeda “Lyric” Jones, was excellent. She has a Tracy Chapman style and the music genre she played along with the low acoustic sound was perfect for the setting. Normally she has a 5 piece band but that day it was her and her dad.
Monday we left Lenoir and moved an hour down the road to River Pointe RV Park in Morganton. This is a much smaller park with no amenities but the sites are level and much wider than most.
On Tuesday Cheryl and Jon picked us up at the campground and we went to the town of Boone, stopping in Blowing Rock first just to visit the town. In Boone we had lunch, browsed shops, and went to Lost Province brewery for lunch. After lunch we drove on part of the Blue Ridge Parkway and stopped at Moses H Cone Memorial Park. We arrived too late to tour the 1900 home but the view was spectacular. On the parkway we stoped at several overlook points including Linn Cove Viaduct, a bridge built along side Grandfather Mountain that is suspended and famous for its landscape architecture that blends into the environment and civil engineering accomplishment.
On Wednesday, June 4, Kevin and I ventured out to hike Upper Creek Falls off Hwy Hwy 181. We decided to take the less strenuous route which we discovered does not lead to the falls! We ended up back on the road and walked about a mile back to the parking lot! Oh well, it was a nice hike anyway, lined with beautiful white mountain laurel flowers. Then we hiked the Linville Gorge and Falls which was beautiful.
On Thursday we went with Jon and Cheryl to Whaley Farm Brewery in Old Fort for their soft opening. The whole area was hit hard by Hurricane Helene and this stomping ground for Jon was finally reopening after 9 months. We were lucky to be able to tag along with them. Beer was good and the owners were wonderful people. On Friday we all headed to Asheville with the intention of purchasing an America the Beautiful park pass, only to learn that they are sold at the campground an hour away! Oops. Nevertheless it was fun to drive around the city. We thought of it as the Austin of North Carolina. It’s a very artsy college town with, unfortunately, a lot of homeless people. We stopped in at the bar Jack of the Wood, a place Kevin’s golfing buddy, Ken McFarlen, recommended. We then went to the Wedge, a place Jon and Cheryl wanted to visit again, having been reopened since the hurricane.
Saturday night Kevin and I went to Bones Jones Burger and Butchery for dinner. The food was excellent and reasonably priced, with live music outside.
We spent Sunday at Cheryl and Jon’s house, played a mediocre game of darts and had a lovely farewell dinner together.Baca lagi