The morning started the usual for me with a 6'ish rollout to start the day. After my usual daily morning routine(s) we got ready for worship at Cornerstone. The temps were quite cool at the high 50's mark but the skies looked as if it was going to be another beautiful day here in the mountains and it certainly was that and even more as we traveled down the parkway after a lite lunch at Subway in Sparta after the service. We traveled in Patrick's hybrid Toyota which amazed me to its power and fuel consumption. We barely used any fuel for the mountainous driving which was close to a 200 mile round trip.
We headed out to the Mast General Store in Valle Crucis outside of Boone for one of our favorite shopping places and I sat an listen to an old time mountain music quartet play and sing some great songs. We met several folks from Florida as well as Arizona who were shopping as well. After an hour or so the gals came out with shopping bags of goodies then we headed over to the annex for ice cream for Patrick. We took several pictures outside by the small trout stream before heading down to Blowing Rock.
We walked through this quaint small town and found the B&B where they will be staying the end of July for a reunion with some of Patrick's fellow employees at Johnson & Johnson. The manager was most accommodating showing us the rooms and then recommending a restaurant called Bistro Roca. Wow was the food the best ever to cross your palate. It's a little French and Spanish cuisine and you would never know it was there as its walking distance from the town square but off the beaten path. We had a really sweet and very pretty senior at ASU as our waitress from Winston-Salem. This was a dining experience and the place filled up quickly after opening at 5'oclock. It kind of reminded us of the Salt Rock Grille with the open cooking area. It is a little pricey but well worth the experience and the desserts were according to Nancy the best ever, especially the bread pudding. I had just a little taste of two of them but I was satisfied with my entrée which was a pork rib eye steak sitting on a bed of creamy corn grits topped with steamed carrots and some type of awesome sauce and greens, yeow was that ever delicious while Nancy and Patrick had salmon; one on a bed of salad and the other on a bed of rice and Kathryn had wonderful crab cakes.
We headed out toward Sparta after a couple stops. We did another major stop in West Jefferson at the Wal-Mart to stock up for the Botbyl's visit this next weekend. They will stay a couple days with us and then when we leave for Lancaster, Pa they will finish up at Patrick and Kathryn's beautiful rental cabin. We will be busy once again being a tourist when they arrive this week-end as there is much to do besides enjoying this mountain ambiance and the fine people who live here. It was close to 9 before we got back to Sparta after taking the winding road up 221. We had left out truck in the parking lot of Lowes while we did our trip so it was time to pick up a few on sale items before heading home to the cabin.
We noticed large thunderheads and lightning as we approached the turn off and we just got a few rain sprinkles on us as we unloaded the truck then the skies opened up with some much needed rain. It wasn't a long lasting rain as it had subsided by bedtime around 11'ish, LATER
