Skip to main content

2024 First Day Road Trip

Image
By

At around 10 am on New Year's Day, my wife says, "OK everyone - get dressed. We're going on a roadtrip. Oh, and wear warm clothes."

The dusting of snow as we drove along the Blue Ridge Parkway was a great part of the trip.

This is how some of my family's most interesting adventures begin.  You see, after a long holiday break - the kids out two and a half weeks of school, my oldest and I got sick (stomach virus) on Christmas day in Virginia, among other things - we just needed to get out of the house, and we did just that.

My wife didn't tell us the destination - all I knew was that it was about two hours away and it was 28 degrees there.  So, I knew it was the mountains, but she wisely put the destination in the GPS before I got in the car.

With that in mind, we headed on various routes to US 321 south of Hickory.  And with all four of us starving, we decided to get lunch. After a quick Yelp! search and a phone call to see if they were open - we headed into Downtown Hickory for lunch at the Olde Hickory Tap Room.


This was really my first time in Downtown Hickory, and it was a pleasant surprise. The Union Square area allows for somewhat of a larger pedestrian mall, there's also City Walk - a multi-use trail, a very nice playground, a restored train station, and more.  Lunch was delicious and we decided to let the boys play at the playground.  If they had their way, we could have stayed another 30 minutes.  

Both of my kids climbing inside a sphere at the Lowes Foods City Park in Downtown Hickory, NC.

Instead, we continued North up US 321 to Blowing Rock and then onto the Blue Ridge Parkway. The Parkway was lightly covered with a dusting of snow.  It was very pretty.  We hadn't seen any snow in Charlotte for nearly two years - so the excitement of seeing fresh snow on the ground and even the slightest flurry was exciting to all four of us.


My wife wanted to do a 'First Day Hike', so we stopped at Sims Pond Overlook near Price Lake.  We did a short one-mile or so out-and-back hike - we weren't walking across Sims Creek. (I don't think kids having wet feet would be a good idea.) It was simple but so enjoyable.

Our hike was a simple one mile or so out and back around Sims Pond. It didn't matter - the snow made it worth it.

As I mentioned earlier, we drove through Blowing Rock on our way to the Parkway.  In the center of town is a large playground / public square.  The kids were practically begging us to stop - and of course we did.

My oldest enjoying the playground in Downtown Blowing Rock.

Blowing Rock had a Hallmark Movie feel to it.  With it being New Year's Day - and Blowing Rock is a mountain tourist town - there were several people out walking, enjoying the snow in the playground, and many shops were open.  We stopped at got ice cream and then headed home.

Downtown Blowing Rock

This was an unexpected pick me up for my whole crew. It had a lot of unexpected surprises that made this roadtrip so much fun.  And isn't that what a roadtrip is about? Regardless of distance?

Additional Links:

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Abandoned US Route 40 in the Truckee River Canyon

By
Within the Truckee River Canyon in the Sierra Nevada range numerous abandoned portions of US Route 40 can be found alongside modern Interstate 80.   This segment of highway was opened during 1926 as a bypass of the Dog Valley Grade which carried the early North Lincoln Highway and Victory Highway. The corridor of the Truckee River Canyon State Highway would be assigned as US Route 40 when the US Route System was commissioned during November 1926. During 1958 the segment of Interstate 80 between Boca, California and the Nevada state line was complete. When Interstate 80 opened east of Boca numerous obsolete portions of US Route 40 were abandoned. Some of these abandoned segments have been incorporated into the Tahoe-Pyramid Trail.  Part 1; the history of US Route 40 in the Truckee River Canyon The Truckee River Canyon for centuries has been an established corridor of travel known to native tribes crossing the Sierra Nevada range.  The first documented wagon crossi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Former California State Route 41 past Bates Station

By
When California State Route 41 was commissioned during August 1934 it was aligned along the then existing Fresno-Yosemite Road north of the San Joaquin River.  Within the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County, the original highway alignment ran past Bates Station via what is now Madera County Road 209, part of eastern Road 406 and Road 207.   Bates Station was a stage station plotted during the early 1880s at what was the intersection of the Coarsegold Road and Stockton-Los Angeles Road.   The modern alignment bypassing Bates Station to the east would be reopened to traffic during late 1939.   Part 1; the history of California State Route 41 past Bates Station Bates Station was featured as one of the many 1875-1899 Madera County era towns in the May 21, 1968, Madera Tribune .  Post Office Service at Bates Station is noted to have been established on November 23, 1883 and ran continuously until October 31, 1903.  The postal name was sourced...
Post a Comment
Read more

The William Flinn (not Flynn) Highway - Pittsburgh's Misspelled Street

By
For decades if you traveled along PA Route 8 in Pittsburgh's North Hills suburbs, you would have noticed signs that read "William Flynn Highway" at every intersection.  Even today, many businesses and residences have their addresses listed as XXXX William Flynn Highway.  However, it's not William Flynn Highway, it is William FLINN Highway - and the gentleman who it is named for has a long and storied past in Pittsburgh's infrastructure history. William Flinn was born in England in 1851; however later that year, his family emigrated to the United States and would settle in Pittsburgh.  A 10-year-old school dropout, Flinn grew interested in politics and would join the Allegheny County Republican Party in 1877 as a ward commissioner and a seat on the Board of Fire Commissioners.  Flinn would serve in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives and Senate from 1877 to 1902. (1) Flinn along with James J. Booth would found the Booth and Flinn construction firm ...
2 comments
Read more