The Blue Ridge Parkway & Asheville, North Carolina

Visited Nov. 8-12, 2020

By Janell

Note:  This is an "after the fact" post as we work our way backwards to catch you up on our previous destinations.

 

Driving the Beast through some beautiful scenery on our way to Asheville, NC

 

Marty said to find an RV park near Asheville, NC. I found one in Swannanoa, (which is just fun to say!), and it was called “Mama Gertie’s Hideaway Campground”. It was hidden away, up, up, up, the steepest terrain the Beast has ever seen! And this was just in the lower part of the campground; the upper portion was closed for the cold season already – it is too steep and treacherous for motorhomes and trailers to attempt when icy. Yikes! We were allowed to walk up there (no ice yet) and see the view at least.

The view from the top of Mama Gertie's Hideaway Campground

There was still some pretty fall color to be seen along the Blue Ridge Parkway. I’m sure the color was much more vibrant a month or so earlier, however at that time we were up in New England and being treated to a spectacular display of fall color. No regrets!! (Stay tuned for some gorgeous pics of that when we roll back to October.)

Along the Blue Ridge Parkway

Winter is just around the corner . . .

The Linn Cove Viaduct

 

The Linn Cove Viaduct is a 1,243 feet long, concrete segmental bridge which snakes around Grandfather Mountain in western North Carolina. Completed in 1983 at a cost of $10 million, it was one of the last major construction projects on the Blue Ridge Parkway which runs 469 miles linking Shenandoah National Park to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Built mostly along the spine of the Blue Ridge, the parkway was fully completed and opened for through traffic in 1987.

Construction of the parkway began in 1935 with the initial plan calling for a viaduct given the effects that a traditional cut-and-fill road would have on Grandfather Mountain. Towering almost 6,000 feet, this mountain is the highest and most rugged peak on the Blue Ridge and geologically the most ancient mountain on the North American continent. By 1966, the parkway was essentially complete except for the 7.7-mile section that circled around Grandfather Mountain despite the efforts of the government to acquire the needed property, a task which eventually took 40 years!

We took a short hike to see Linville Falls.

Watch your step!

 

Linville Falls

 

And then we took another short but steep hike up to Mount Mitchell. 

That is Elisha Mitchell's grave at the base of the viewing platform

We didn’t quite get the views we were hoping for from atop Mt. Mitchell. The little bit of blue sky you see in the photos above and below are all the view we got. The rest of the view was obscured by fog.

 

 

Back on the Blue Ridge Parkway again - fortunately the cloud cover we had at Mt. Mitchell had lifted somewhat

 

 

 

Despite the name, we didn't see any tobacco for sale, not even candy cigarettes!

 

We had some fun wandering around through a huge, old barn full of antiques and junk. Didn’t find a single thing that we had to buy; well actually, they had ice cream bars, and Marty bought one.

Someone went to a lot of work to tag every single tool - and this is just a fraction of how many tools there were!

 

Now, here's a fun one, right?!

Bring back memories?

 

 

 

 

Yeah, we thought about buying this, but where would we hang it?

 

 

 

Asheville was fun to walk around. Artists are really well represented in this community.

Asheville’s original Woolworth store – established in 1938 and restored in 2001 – is now known as “Woolworth Walk”. It is an art gallery featuring several local artists. The building contains a fully operational Old Fashioned Soda Fountain built to resemble the original Woolworth Luncheonette. “The Soda Fountain” is in its original location within the building and is open daily. They serve many of the original menu items, including egg creams, club sandwiches, coffee and, of course, old fashioned ice cream sodas. Although we didn’t have an ice cream soda, we did have lunch, and it was delicious! 

 

The Soda Fountain

 

 

Interesting side note: there’s an old Kress store in Asheville that has also been turned into a gallery displaying more local artists’ work. The Kress however, does not have a lunch counter.

In addition to these two repurposed department stores, there are many traditional galleries that host individual artists or small groups of artists.

 

 

 

They seemed to be taking mask-wearing seriously. No, seriously.

Would you call this "playing with my food"?

 Salad fixins

I did buy something in Asheville - this shirt!