North Carolina Mountains - Beautiful Vistas & Great Retreats!

[giradman]

They're both nice.

Thanks - that 'panoramic' feature works well on this new camera and I love the way the stone wall runs to the tea house - Dave

 

[giradman]

Biltmore Winery - More History & Wines Offered

Just wanted to leave one more post on the Biltmore Winery which might be helpful to those visiting the area. The first vines were planted in the early 1970s mainly on the west side of the estate across the French Broad River which splits the 8,000 acre property in half. The winery started in the converted dairy and opened officially in 1985, so this is the 30 year anniversary. There are two winemakers - Bernard Delille & Sharon Fenchak - Delille is a French native who studied in Lyon & Fenchak is from PA (Pennsylvania) w/ degrees from Penn State & U of GA (Georgia). The first four images below show the winery relative to its location in Antler Village and the Inn on Biltmore Estate up on the hill (where we stay); there are several entrance ways; and the winemaking team.

North Carolina is about to enter the top 10 states in the USA for wine production - now has well over 100 wineries (see chart below). The Biltmore Winery is the most visited one in the United States (a tour and complementary tasting are included in the admission package). The tasting room is LARGE as is the sales area (shown in part below); there is also a 'Premiere Tasting Area' for a small fee. Biltmore is a somewhat unique North Carolina winery in that grapes, such as Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Riesling, & Viognier are grown on the property in the state; however, grapes are also grown in California, Washington State, Oregon, & Georgia; and in addition, wines are also produced in a West Coast facility w/ many of the more expensive ones having California appellations (e.g. Alexander Valley, Russian River Valley, etc.).

The 'Biltmore Collection' offerings is shown in the next to last image below - over three dozen different wines are made which may include only North Carolina grapes, wines made from multi-state grapes and labelled as 'American' or those from specific 'other' locations, such as California. In addition, the winery makes a wide variety of sparkling wines (last image) using the traditional Champagne method (i.e. final steps done 'in the bottle'). Finally, the winery offers more than just the traditional tour - there is one that visits the vineyards in the western portion of the estate, a sparkling wine tasting, and several other choices - we've not done any of the latter, but now on my list for our next visit. Dave
.

 

[scifan57]

Biltmore Winery - More History & Wines Offered

Just wanted to leave one more post on the Biltmore Winery which might be helpful to those visiting the area. The first vines were planted in the early 1970s mainly on the west side of the estate across the French Broad River which splits the 8,000 acre property in half. The winery started in the converted dairy and opened officially in 1985, so this is the 30 year anniversary. There are two winemakers - Bernard Delille & Sharon Fenchak - Delille is a French native who studied in Lyon & Fenchak is from PA (Pennsylvania) w/ degrees from Penn State & U of GA (Georgia). The first four images below show the winery relative to its location in Antler Village and the Inn on Biltmore Estate up on the hill (where we stay); there are several entrance ways; and the winemaking team.

North Carolina is about to enter the top 10 states in the USA for wine production - now has well over 100 wineries (see chart below). The Biltmore Winery is the most visited one in the United States (a tour and complementary tasting are included in the admission package). The tasting room is LARGE as is the sales area (shown in part below); there is also a 'Premiere Tasting Area' for a small fee. Biltmore is a somewhat unique North Carolina winery in that grapes, such as Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Merlot, Riesling, & Viognier are grown on the property in the state; however, grapes are also grown in California, Washington State, Oregon, & Georgia; and in addition, wines are also produced in a West Coast facility w/ many of the more expensive ones having California appellations (e.g. Alexander Valley, Russian River Valley, etc.).

The 'Biltmore Collection' offerings is shown in the next to last image below - over three dozen different wines are made which may include only North Carolina grapes, wines made from multi-state grapes and labelled as 'American' or those from specific 'other' locations, such as California. In addition, the winery makes a wide variety of sparkling wines (last image) using the traditional Champagne method (i.e. final steps done 'in the bottle'). Finally, the winery offers more than just the traditional tour - there is one that visits the vineyards in the western portion of the estate, a sparkling wine tasting, and several other choices - we've not done any of the latter, but now on my list for our next visit. Dave
.
View attachment 66277 View attachment 66278 View attachment 66279 View attachment 66280
View attachment 66281 View attachment 66282 View attachment 66283 View attachment 66284

They've certainly come a long way in their first 30 years. Any large estate like Biltmore costs a fortune to run and estate businesses like this go a long way to help.

 

[giradman]

Susan & I just returned from likely our last NC mountain trip of this year - went to Blowing Rock which is just a 90 minute drive from our home (w/ the last third of the trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway, discussed in some of my previous posts) - we go there once or twice a year, just a nice quick get-away w/ some excellent restaurants & shopping. And a recommended visit to anymore traveling in the area - close to Boone, NC and just 20 miles or so north of the Linville area & Grandfather Mountain (also discussed in a previous post or so).

The lodging in the area is quite variable from small inns and motels to larger accommodations - we nearly always stay at the Chetola Resort - there is a small 'hotel' inn w/ an indoor pool, pub, restaurant, and exercise room, BUT we prefer renting a condo w/ one or two bedrooms - huge place and a lot of options. Below is a pic of the small Chetola Lake (boat rentals available & fishing permitted) and the lodge - some of the condos are seem on the horizon, but again there are dozens and dozens of separate buildings w/ different mountain & woodsy views. Also shown are some of the many flowers around the lodge and the property. If you plan to visit this area w/ friends or a family, then I would encourage a condo rental here or in the vicinity. Dave

View attachment 47239 View attachment 47240 View attachment 47241 View attachment 47242

Susan & I are back @ the Chetola Resort (as discussed earlier in this thread) in Blowing Rock for a 3-night visit to enjoy the fall colors in the North Carolina Mountains - we always rent a condo w/ one or two bedrooms - have probably stayed here over a dozen times in the past - on this trip, we are in a 2-bedroom unit high up overlooking a pond - pics below first show a satellite image of the large property w/ an arrow on our current location - following pic on our drive here on the Blue Ridge Parkway w/ the fall colors showing and a Christmas tree farm to the right; additional photos my own of the nearby condos (similar to ours) w/ a lake, stream, and a couple of beautiful swans.

For our first night, we dined at Bistro Roca - started out sharing excellent salads (Caesar & Mixed greens) - Susan had the pheasant prepared as quoted below - I picked the 'special of the night', i.e. the North Carolina Black Drum fish, so not described on their regular menu but well prepared and grilled to perfection. Their flan dessert w/ berries and toffee pieces was delicious. We expect to eat well on this short visit -

The weather was a little gloomy driving in but the sun is suppose to shin the next few days, so I'm hoping to be posting some of my own pics to follow this post - Dave

P.S. I brought my laptop (no maid service here, so safe to leave all electronics out), so the reason I'm posting while here!

Pheasant Juniper Brined, Calvados/Apple Demi, Dauphinoise Potatoes, Horseradish Haricot Verts, Pumpkin Seeds, & Fried Sage Leaves

.

 

[J. A.]

Susan & I are back @ the Chetola Resort (as discussed earlier in this thread) in Blowing Rock for a 3-night visit to enjoy the fall colors in the North Carolina Mountains - we always rent a condo w/ one or two bedrooms - have probably stayed here over a dozen times in the past - on this trip, we are in a 2-bedroom unit high up overlooking a pond - pics below first show a satellite image of the large property w/ an arrow on our current location - following pic on our drive here on the Blue Ridge Parkway w/ the fall colors showing and a Christmas tree farm to the right; additional photos my own of the nearby condos (similar to ours) w/ a lake, stream, and a couple of beautiful swans.

For our first night, we dined at Bistro Roca - started out sharing excellent salads (Caesar & Mixed greens) - Susan had the pheasant prepared as quoted below - I picked the 'special of the night', i.e. the North Carolina Black Drum fish, so not described on their regular menu but well prepared and grilled to perfection. Their flan dessert w/ berries and toffee pieces was delicious. We expect to eat well on this short visit -

The weather was a little gloomy driving in but the sun is suppose to shin the next few days, so I'm hoping to be posting some of my own pics to follow this post - Dave

P.S. I brought my laptop (no maid service here, so safe to leave all electronics out), so the reason I'm posting while here!


.
View attachment 68478 View attachment 68479 View attachment 68480 View attachment 68481 View attachment 68482 View attachment 68483

Nice pictures.
Enjoy your stay there!

 

[scifan57]

Susan & I are back @ the Chetola Resort (as discussed earlier in this thread) in Blowing Rock for a 3-night visit to enjoy the fall colors in the North Carolina Mountains - we always rent a condo w/ one or two bedrooms - have probably stayed here over a dozen times in the past - on this trip, we are in a 2-bedroom unit high up overlooking a pond - pics below first show a satellite image of the large property w/ an arrow on our current location - following pic on our drive here on the Blue Ridge Parkway w/ the fall colors showing and a Christmas tree farm to the right; additional photos my own of the nearby condos (similar to ours) w/ a lake, stream, and a couple of beautiful swans.

For our first night, we dined at Bistro Roca - started out sharing excellent salads (Caesar & Mixed greens) - Susan had the pheasant prepared as quoted below - I picked the 'special of the night', i.e. the North Carolina Black Drum fish, so not described on their regular menu but well prepared and grilled to perfection. Their flan dessert w/ berries and toffee pieces was delicious. We expect to eat well on this short visit -

The weather was a little gloomy driving in but the sun is suppose to shin the next few days, so I'm hoping to be posting some of my own pics to follow this post - Dave

P.S. I brought my laptop (no maid service here, so safe to leave all electronics out), so the reason I'm posting while here!


.
View attachment 68478 View attachment 68479 View attachment 68480 View attachment 68481 View attachment 68482 View attachment 68483

You have a beautiful setting to enjoy the great fall colours and scenery.

 

[giradman]

Nice pictures.
Enjoy your stay there!

You have a beautiful setting to enjoy the great fall colours and scenery.

Thanks Johanna & Scifan.. - Susan has a spa appointment for the morning and I'll go to the exercise room - sunny today but a little chilly, so will likely do a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway down to the Linn Cove Viaduct (which I've shown before in this thread) - only suppose to be in the hight 50s (i.e. F), so will skip going up Grandfather Mountain (mile high) where the temperatures are usually 10 degrees cooler - then add the wind and winter clothes are needed -

We have a couple of more nice restaurants left to try (one an old haunt and another a new try - this is a very popular small town mountain resort near Boone, so restaurants are always changing and trying to be innovative). The Chetola Lodge Bar last night had some excellent live music (two guys on bass & guitar w/ a good gal singer - jazzy arrangements) - plus, some tasty local craft beers.

For those interested in craft beers on draft, North Carolina now has over 130 breweries w/ many concentrated centrally (around the Triad where we live in Winston-Salem & the Triangle, i.e. Raleigh/Durham) and the mountains, especially in the Asheville area - map below shows the current locales in the state - the blue arrow is where Blowing Rock is located, just south of the larger town of Boone. SO, for those traveling to the Tarheel State and who are beer lovers, try the local ones - all varieties are made although I'm partial to the IPAs (India Pale Ales) - Dave
.

 

[giradman]

Hi Carol - same pics as in the posts elsewhere, BUT I do plan to periodically update the thread w/ other pics of the NC mountains! Dave



Hi AQ_OC - not sure where you are located (does the SC mean South Carolina?). If so, then you probably have been on the Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP), but for those not familiar w/ the scenic road - the BRP was started in 1936 under the Roosevelt administration as part of the Depression recovery, and not finished until 1987 when the Linn Cove Viaduct was opened going around the base of Grandfather Mountain - the parkway is 496 miles in length and starts in Virginia near Charlottesville (at the southern terminus of the Skyline Drive - another scenic but much shorter highway), and ends in Cherokee, NC. There are plenty of spots to leave the road - smaller towns in Virginia (need to start a VA mountain thread!) w/ the largest being Roanoke; similar in NC w/ Asheville being the biggest attraction as a city.

The Linn Cove Viaduct & Grandfather Mountain are just south of Blowing Rock, NC (near Boone) - we visit Blowing Rock about twice a year (just a 90 minute drive of us) - the LC Viaduct is the first pic - an engineering marvel (there is a visitor's center and a trail walk underneath the structure); Grandfather Mtn was private for many decades but was recently donated to the state of NC (except for the concessions) - famous for the spectacular views (a clear day is a MUST!) and the 'Mile High Swinging Bridge' - the 2nd & 3rd pics (years ago when I took my brother he was afraid to cross - not really that scary, BUT it will swing if windy). A small nature area is present on the property - last pic of one of the black bears. Dave P.S. the viaduct pic is not mine, although I've attempted over many years to obtain a similar one!

View attachment 45898View attachment 45899View attachment 45900View attachment 45901

Our first full day in late October Carolina mountains, and took a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway to observe the fall colors - below some pics of the Parkway and also several around Price Lake, which is near Blowing Rock - quoted an old post of mine from this thread just to show the difference between the summer green of these NC mountains vs. their fall appearance - actually a lot of the trees were already bare, so we probably missed peak season by a few weeks, AND certainly did not see the spectacular colors around the Linn Cove Viaduct as shown in the pic in the quote above - ' fall peaking' information is readily available, so we'll have to just do some better planning next time - Dave

P.S. Price Lake pics show a couple fishing from the shore, a common site and also a canoe w/ several in the boat fishing - Grandfather Mountain is in the background (suppose to resemble an old man reclining w/ his nose pointed toward the heavens - - what do you think?).
.

 

[scifan57]

Our first full day in late October Carolina mountains, and took a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway to observe the fall colors - below some pics of the Parkway and also several around Price Lake, which is near Blowing Rock - quoted an old post of mine from this thread just to show the difference between the summer green of these NC mountains vs. their fall appearance - actually a lot of the trees were already bare, so we probably missed peak season by a few weeks, AND certainly did not see the spectacular colors around the Linn Cove Viaduct as shown in the pic in the quote above - ' fall peaking' information is readily available, so we'll have to just do some better planning next time - Dave

P.S. Price Lake pics show a couple fishing from the shore, a common site and also a canoe w/ several in the boat fishing - Grandfather Mountain is in the background (suppose to resemble an old man reclining w/ his nose pointed toward the heavens - - what do you think?).
.
View attachment 68489 View attachment 68490 View attachment 68491 View attachment 68492 View attachment 68493 View attachment 68494

The scenery is still very nice, even with the peak fall colours having passed.

 

[giradman]

The scenery is still very nice, even with the peak fall colours having passed.

Hi Scifan.. - yep, still a wonderful scenic road to drive regardless of the season - actually in recent years, the map shown below is available predicting the times of the peak fall colors (white arrow our location) - most of the difference relates to altitude (e.g. Mt. Mitchell & Grandfather Mtn are a mile or more high) - now on Sunday when we descend from 3000-4000 ft. we will be entering the orange & yellow areas, so will still see some great 'peak' colors, as we did driving up to the Parkway.

And we are still eating well - tonight, dinner at The Speckled Trout Cafe which has been around for years - we shared a dozen Gulf Coast oysters to start - I had their trout (local farmed) broiled w/ a mild Cajun topping - Susan had the 'Shellfish Platter' (shrimp, crabmeat, scallops and oysters topped with fresh lime, herbs, and spices then broiled) - we were both pleased. Dave
.

 

[giradman]

Well, our last day of a short trip to Blowing Rock - having a great time here, as usual -

Posted below are NOT my photos of scenes off the parkway but those of the professional photographer, Dave Allen - we've seen his photos in many shops over the years when visiting the mountains - click on his website, a variety of items (single photos of varying sizes, calendars, etc.) can be purchased; BTW, I have no relationship to him but he does beautiful work - full descriptions of these images are available on his website, if interested. Dave
.

 

[giradman]

Well, our last night in Blowing Rock - overcast & chilly day, so relaxed in our condo and I went to the exercise room - decided to eat at the Chetola restaurant which is known as Timberlake's now since 2012 - we had identical dinners (a rarity), started w/ mixed green salads and a home made bleu cheese dressing, then had the quail entree w/ goat cheese polenta (ordered the doubles - these birds are SO small!) - stuffing, as described was excellent - shared a seasonal dessert of apple-pumpkin pastry w/ ice cream.

Bob Timberlake is a local North Carolina artist who started out w/ watercolor paintings in the early 1970s about the time Susan & I moved to NC - we could have bought some of his originals back then at a great price, but our interests were not into 'realist' type art works - these originals are selling to 10s of thousands of dollars and his numerous prints into the hundreds - just a couple of examples of his work below. Dave
.

 

[scifan57]

Well, our last night in Blowing Rock - overcast & chilly day, so relaxed in our condo and I went to the exercise room - decided to eat at the Chetola restaurant which is known as Timberlake's now since 2012 - we had identical dinners (a rarity), started w/ mixed green salads and a home made bleu cheese dressing, then had the quail entree w/ goat cheese polenta (ordered the doubles - these birds are SO small!) - stuffing, as described was excellent - shared a seasonal dessert of apple-pumpkin pastry w/ ice cream.

Bob Timberlake is a local North Carolina artist who started out w/ watercolor paintings in the early 1970s about the time Susan & I moved to NC - we could have bought some of his originals back then at a great price, but our interests were not into 'realist' type art works - these originals are selling to 10s of thousands of dollars and his numerous prints into the hundreds - just a couple of examples of his work below. Dave
.
View attachment 68511 View attachment 68512 View attachment 68513 View attachment 68514

If I would have known about Bob Timberlake back when he was starting out I would have bought some of his paintings. Thanks for showing them. The restaurant sounds wonderful, set in a historic building.

 

[giradman]

If I would have known about Bob Timberlake back when he was starting out I would have bought some of his paintings. Thanks for showing them. The restaurant sounds wonderful, set in a historic building.

My same thoughts - Timberlake did not start painting until 1970 - he was then 33 years old - we moved to Winston-Salem in 1971 and saw a number of his earliest works at local galleries (cannot remember the prices but probably around a $1000 or so at that time) - I was on a medical intern's salary and our early art purchases back then were usually in the couple hundred dollar range.

Timberlake was inspired to start painting by seeing the realistic art of Andrew Wyeth (a couple of his works below), also famous for 'Christina's World (1948)' in MOMA in NYC which we seen multiple times and his Helga paintings (saw a nice exhibit of those in Florida a while back); there are a number of Wyeth (prominent artistic family) museums, especially in the New England area that are worth visiting - Dave

P.S. just had to add Christina's World, probably the Wyeth that I've seen the most 'in person'.
.

 

[giradman]

Sunday morning about 10 AM - returning from the Chelota Lodge on the Blue Ridge Parkway (to HW 421) - the sky was overcast and a light rain was falling - stopped at several overlooks to see some beautiful views of fog in the mountain valleys - when we descended on HW 421, had about a 10 minute stretch of driving through the fog - below just a few images I took w/ the last being a panoramic view which to me looks spectacular and gives a much better impression of what laid before one's eyes in 'real time' - Dave

P.S. be sure to click on that panoramic pic!
.