4 Days on the Blue Ridge Parkway

On Friday, July 9th, we went to visit Jetta one last time before leaving Fredericksburg. We arrived at Wilburn Place just after Jetta had finished having lunch we sat with her for a couple of hours, looking at a stash of old photos she had with her. Most of the ones we looked through were of Rainy when she was just a little girl. Jetta seemed to enjoy the pictures and could grasp who was in the picture, but couldn't necessarily relate them to the young woman who was sitting by her side. We left when Jetta was tired and ready for a nap.

We left Fredericksburg, driving west, to pick up the Blue Ridge Parkway at Rockfish Gap near Waynsboro, Virginia, the very northern end of the parkway.  The Blue Ridge Parkway extends 469 miles along the crests of the southern Appalachians and links two national parks - Shenandoah and Great Smokey Mountains.  As we drove, late in the afternoon, it started to rain, the rain was much heavier than what we experience in Arizona, but it is quickly absorbed into the ground.  There was a bit of runoff next to the roads, but none of the flash floods we would expect in the desert after this kind of drenching. The rain lightened up and we set up camp at Otter Creek.  Otter Creek tumbles for 10 miles down the Blue Ridge into the James RiverIt was a quiet campground without many visitore, so we were able to find a secluded campsite tucked into the forest.  We set up our tent, but the surrounding wood was too wet to start a fire.  Rainy read a short story by Barbara Kingfish until it started to rain again.  We scrambled into the tent for the night.

We awoke to a beautifully sunny day!  Traveling along the parkway is a beautiful experience.  The winding roads have a 45 mph speed limit, no one is in a hurry, and there roadside overlooks are plentiful.  We took a detour off the Parkway to see the Natural Bridge, one of the seven natural wonders of the world.  Just past the natural bridge is a replication of an indian village with interpreters, a bit further down the trail was Lace Falls.                                   

  

We continued our journey along the parkway, stopping frequently to enjoy the overlooks and the hiking trails.  Rainy looked up swimming holes  and found a great place for us to detour slightly off the parkway for a swim.  The swimming hole was deep enough that we could jump off the rocks at the edge, plus there was a built-in water slide!  The cold water felt refreshing on this warm day.  Of course we had to walk along the creek for a bit.  Rainy lifted rocks searching for water creatures and found a salamander.  She also captured a couple of crawdads!  We took another detour, this time into Roanoke, Virginia for an early dinner at Thelma's Chicken & Waffles.  Rainy and I both ordered the fried chicken, which was outstanding.  On the side we shared grits, green beans, sweet peas, and of course, a waffle.  Back on the parkway, we camped at Rocky Knob, a much drier location without the fire flies that were prevalant the previous night.  There were way too many spiders at this campsite, so we quickly went into the tent, zipping up all possible spider entry places.  It was a warmer campsite, bit it did cool off quite a bit during the night.

 

Our first stop the next morning was Mabry Mill, which was run by E.B. Mabry from 1910 to 1935. We took the trail that lead to the gristmill, sawmill, blacksmith shop, distillery, and other exhibits.  The exhibits were all fascinating, set up to recreate what the area would have looked like when Mabry ran the mill.  There was a restaurant nearby which featured pancakes made from grains ground at the mill as well as ham.  On the menu there was city ham and country ham.  I made the mistake of asking the waitress what the difference was, she replied "City ham comes from city hogs and country ham comes from hogs raised in the country".  Actually, city ham is baked while country ham is salt cured and then fried, of course I ordered the country ham.  Along with my ham I had the cornmeal pancakes.  Rainy ordered the combo plate which came with a cornmeal, buckwheat, and pumpkin pancake.   She also had a side of sausage patties which were fabulous.

Our next stop along the Blue Ridge Parkway was the Blue Ridge Music Center which celebrates Blue Ridge Music and Musicians, a significant strand of American musical culture alive and thriving in the region.  Lucky for us, there was a group of musicians playing on this wonderful Sunday afternoon.

We continued our journey, with our next stop being the original Brinegar Cabin which was built by Martin Brinegar about 1880 and lived in until the 1930's when the homestead was purchased from his widow for the parkway.  The cabin had two rooms, the main room filled dominantly with a large loom and a spinning wheel.  The loom is in working condition and is used for demonstrations to park visitors.  There was also a smaller cabin used for food storage.  There was a wonderful garden filled with sorghum, flax, corn, gourds, pumpkins, beans, and so on.  The garden must have been at least 4 times the size of the cabin!

Our goal was to reach Price Lake, set up camp, and have time to do some fishing.  We managed to find a camp site that was right along the lake but still secluded from other campers.  I told Rainy to start fishing as I was setting up the tent.  She had a few bites, was tortured by a fish that was stealing her worm.  She finally managed to catch the fish, a small perch!  Once camp was set up, we headed out to hike the 3 miles around the lake, fishing as we went.  I have to admit, the fishing was disappointing to say the least!  Rainy caught one more tiny perch, and that was it.  The highlight of our walk around the lake was that we came upon a beaver on shore that scurried into the water when we approached!

It began to get dark, so we picked up the pace as we continued our hike around the lake, stopping less frequently to fish, still we hiked the last 15 minutes in the dark, gently feeling our way through the giant rhodadendrum tunnels.  Back at camp we enjoyed a campfire (we had bought some wood) and had s'mores.  It was almost midnight when we crawled into our sleeping bags.

It had rained during the night, and we woke up to some pretty dense fog.  The driving was a bit slower but the views were fascinating with the fog creeping in and out.  When we reached Linville Falls, we left the Blue Ridge Parkway to head west to Nashville.

It was a 5 hour drive to Nashville.  We got into some pretty heavy rain again which forced us to travel at a reduced speed.  The drive was beautiful, but it wasn't the parkway.  We arranged for a private room at the Music City Hostel.  We got checked in and headed out to dinner at a restaurant called the Loveless Cafe.  The cafe has been in existence since the 1950's, originally as part of a motel.  Recently the cafe was expanded and the motel converted into shops.  Before the meal was served we enjoyed freshly baked biscuits with peach, strawberry, and blackberry preserves.  Rainy ordered Fried catfish, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes with gravy, and green beans.  I had the barbequed pulled pork with cucumber and onion salad and hash brown casserole.  For dessert we shared a blackberry cobbler with ice cream.  I think we left with take-out boxes showing that we ate less than we were taking with us.  The food was the best but the servings were huge!  After dinner we went to the popular Blue Bird Cafe to listen to music.  Monday night is open mic for singers and song writers.  It was wonderful to listen to the musicians, the youngest which was 13.  Some were really good, some were okay, some should have stayed home.  We stayed afterwards to listen to a country rock band that was playing.  They too were very good and their music was fun.  It was getting late and we were tired, so it was back to the hostel for a good nights sleep and a much needed shower.