Boone, North Carolina

We left Little Switzerland this morning and rode up the Blue Ridge Parkway. We stopped at "the historic" Orchard at Altapass [a 100 year old orchard] and got some fresh picked apples. We then stopped at Linville Falls and hiked about a mile or so to see the falls. After our short hike we loaded back up on the bikes and moved up the Parkway a little further. We debated about getting off the Parkway to visit Grandfather Mountain. While pondering, we stopped at one of the visitor centers. We talked with a number of bikers at the stop and one told us that Grandfather Mountain was pretty crowded. We had already experienced a lot of traffic on the Parkway due to the holiday weekend, so we opted to skip Grandfather Mountain. Before leaving, Jim stepped into the visitors center. The park ranger told him that we likely would not find a room if we drove any further than Boone [because of the increased crowds due to the holiday weekend]. We really didn't want to stop that soon [only driving a short 60 miles or so] but took her advice to stop. We were glad that Jim asked and that we took her advice because we had a bit of a time finding a place to stay. The hotel we are staying at had gotten a cancellation just before we called looking for a room, which was the only room they had available. After checking into the room we went by a craft show and then went to dinner. We found an interesting restaurant with a Caribbean /Jamaican flair to it. It was really good. After dinner we went to a health food store called Earth Fare and picked up a few items. I was glad to see that they have a smoothie/juice bar so we plan to stop by in the morning before we leave town.