DAY TWO

ROANOKE, VA - ASHEVILLE, NC

311 MILES. Left Roanoke: 11am, Arrived Asheville: 9:30pm.

Today was a long, but beautiful day on the road. We left our hotel around 11am and went back in to Roanoke to explore a bit. This little city is beautiful - a bunch of little shops and restaurants, and a downtown-wide farmer's market. Hotel Roanoke is across the railroad which is accessed by a skywalk, and is extremely nice. Kenny and I pretended we belonged there and gave ourselves a little tour of the grounds and first floor, but left as we were attracting a few looks after taking so many pictures. 

Entrance of Hotel Roanoke

Hotel Roanoke lobby

We eventually got a move on and drove about five miles north to re-enter the Blue Ridge Parkway, about 100 miles south from where we exited the day before. We filled our gas tank on the way at a crazy-low $3.19 per gallon, and were soon back on the parkway!

The Blue Ridge Parkway is a lot from its sister Skyline Drive - in that it offers variety in its views, and also incorporates actual communities and roads along the way. I really enjoyed our first stretch here of the BRP, and got off to hike a bit around the Roanoke River. There, we ran into a woman who is biking the length of the Skyline Drive and Blue Ridge Parkway alone - who asked us if we had any water we could spare. We got to talking after giving her two bottles, and found out she was also from Philadelphia (Fishtown)! We continued on and it did start to rain a bit, which brought on some fog. It wasn't too thick, and the views were still stunning. 

 

We stopped to have lunch in a little picnic grove, and then checked out Mabry Mill - an 1800s mill with a bluegrass band, and expositions of blacksmithing and chair weaving, but soon after decided to turn to the highway for a bit in order to make it to Asheville at an earlyish time. 

Mabry Mil

Blacksmithing demonstration

Bluegrass music

We hit some traffic, and reentered the Parkway around Boone, North Carolina. This stretch proved to be possibly the most beautiful. The view was so wide open and vast, and we decided to go for another hike around the Lincove Viaduct. 

The walk was amazing. We found a trail of boulders scaling the side of the mountain where we found a beautiful view, waterfalls, and huuuge boulders. 

After the walk we returned to the highway and drove to Asheville through the foothills of the mountains where we got a chance to see how the locals really live.
In Asheville we ate at the Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company, a really cool restaurant with a built in movie theater. After, we stayed at Motel 6 Asheville which was actually pretty gross.