Traveled to Blowing Rock, NC this weekend with my friends Chelsea, Jen, and Lindsay. We rented a cute little place that was pretty central to the places we would be visiting. We arrived at 1159pm on Thursday. After unpacking, we called it a day and went to bed. Friday morning we got up, made breakfast, and headed out to Grandfather Mountain for a hike. It was a gorgeous day! The hike was a lot of fun yet very challenging. We were required to fill out a permit with our emergency contact info. There were cables that we had to use to get up rock faces, ladders to climb, steep cliff sides, snow, ice, elevation, and wind. We hiked 2.77 miles in 3 hours. We had an elevation gain of 1,134ft. Once we finished the trail, we headed out of the park. On the way out, we stopped at their museum and animal exhibit. It was a nice way to walk around a little before getting right back in a car after a tough hike. Later that night we headed into the town of Blowing Rock to walk around a little and have dinner. Then we just chilled for the rest of the evening preparing for the next days hike.

Saturday morning after getting up and making breakfast we made our way to the town of West Jefferson. We drove up Mount Jefferson and hiked 1.5 miles. After the hike, we went into the town to walk around and grab lunch. Turns out we were there on the day of their Christmas Parade. After lunch we were able to catch the last bit of the parade. Next, we went to the Ashe County Cheese Factory. Next stop was a winery/Christmas tree farm where we enjoyed their fall wine flight. Once we arrived back at our place, we started a fire in the fire pit and enjoyed the evening while listening to music, playing games, drinking, and snacking.

On Sunday, after packing everything up, we went for one last hike in Blowing Rock. It was a was a 2.6 mile hike to a couple of waterfalls. The hike was completely downhill on the way in which meant ALL uphill on the way out! The waterfalls were less than stellar due to not a lot of water but it was still an enjoyable and challenging hike. After we finished we hopped in the car and made the long journey back home.

So glad to have met this group of friends. Looking forward to our next adventures.