Ramblin' On... : 10/25/14 Starla and I toured Lenoir, Blowing Rock and 221 to 181. Awesome day in the High Country.

After Starla and I stopped by Luna Cycles and Shawn readjusted my bike, we walked around down town Lenoir and checked out the "lay of the land". We both liked the quaint small town vibe. We wanted to eat at the City Cafe but they had closed at noon. We have a coupon and think we'll be back to have breakfast there.

I found out I really like Lenoir and the bike shop. From the north side of Morganton, Lenoir is only about 15 miles away. Over the last 16 years I've passed through the town on my way to MerleFest, or the Brushy Mountain trails at either Kerr Scott Lake, Over Mountain Victory Trail, and Warrior Creek (in that order) but never stopped in Lenoir more than to gas up or buy some motor oil at the car parts store. I don't think I had ever been to the downtown section before last week. Now that I've found a cool bike shop that I can make it to after work, I'm sure I'll be spending more time in Lenoir.

We stopped on the way up hwy 321 for a few photos. Table Rock, Chimneys, and Hawksbill off in the distance and reversed from our normal view in Burke County.

First stop after Lenoir was downtown Blowing Rock. It was a zoo. They were getting ready for a Halloween parade and chaos ensued. We stopped in about 20 little shops and each one thought very highly of their merchandise, that much was obvious by the numbers on the little tags.
We made the most of it and walked from one end of downtown to the other, dodging through the throng of people. When we finally left town we headed out on Hwy 221 towards the parkway and an area that I am much more familiar with. Nice views via Parkway and highways 221 and 181 all the way back to Morganton.