OUR FIRST DRIVE ALONG THE BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

Our second day off, and it was another nice sunny day with temperatures in the low 70's.  We decided to take a drive to Fancy Gap, a tiny, blink and you will miss it, Virginia town about 10 miles south of Hillsville, where there is an entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway.  This was our first time driving along this famous roadway built after the Depression.  Construction of the Blue Ridge Parkway began on Sept. 11, 1935, and was built in sections that were later connected.  The Blue Ridge Region was economically depressed, and the idea of this new paved road appealed to many mountain residents.

There were frequent turnouts along the Parkway, where you could stop to see the views either to the south towards North Carolina or to the north further into Virginia.  The views were spectacular but our camera did not due them justice.

You can see a hint of blue in the distance.  Perhaps this has something to do with the name--Blue Ridge Parkway.  The dark or shaded areas are where clouds were blocking the sunlight from reaching the earth.

Paul is seen here taking in the view.

Just how high up are we?  This sign was at the first turn-out.

When we walked along a path at a turnout, we enjoyed viewing this Pink Azalea Rhododendron fully in bloom.

The terrain quickly sloped downward from the Parkway, which was built mostly alog the crest of the mountains.

As we drove west along the Blue Ridge Parkway, we did seem to be going more uphill than downhill.  The elevation signs at the turnouts verified our assumption.  This overlook is over 600 feet higher than the previously pictured overlook.

The mountains were a collection of steep rolling hills which is the norm in the eastern United States.  There were plenty of trees and some great views.  It was easy to see why so many of the early settlers decided to try to build homesteads here.  

We stopped to view a very famous old cabin, the Brinegar Cabin.  Martin and Caroline Brinegar purchased this cabin, along with 125 acres of land, after they were married in 1878 for a price of $200.  They lived here for nearly 60 years and either grew or made everything they needed.  For example, Caroline made her family's clothes from the flax she grew.  Notice how the wooden shingles on the roof are curled up on the edges from the weather.  There are not a lot of windows because windows would not keep out the cold during the winters.  No such thing as double pane windows back then.

If you look at the side view of the cabin below, you will see two fireplace chimneys, with the larger chimney venting the fireplace in the main room of the cabin and the smaller chimney in the kitchen.  These fireplaces provided the only heat source for both cooking and warmth during the cold winters. 

The outdoor pantry, shown below, was a separate building about 50 feet to the side of the main cabin.  This building was where all their food was stored to be able to exist during the winter.  The upper level was used for dry storage, items such as dried corn, buckwheat and herbs.  There was also a meat box holding the butchered meat after it was cured with salt.

The lower level, below ground and encased in stone, was their root cellar.  They kept fruits, vegetables and canned goods here because the food was protected from freezing by the surrounding earth and stone.

After our leisurely afternoon drive, we exited the Parkway in West Jefferson, NC.  Our purpose for this evening was to attend the Boondocks Brewing Company's monthly beer dinner.  Dinner consisted of a four courses, each paired with a different beer to complement the flavors in the food.  

Our first course was Chipotle Black Bean Soup paired with Allagash Odessey.  The beer was a limited brew that helped cool the palate after the heat in the soup.  Note: We toured the Allagash Brewery in Portland, Maine last summer.  

Our second course was Buffalo Chicken Bites, shredded buffalo chicken wings hand breaded and drizzled with an Ashe County Bleu Cheese Bechamel.  The beer was Blind Squirrel-Belgian Tripel, a sweet beer which complemented the hotness in the wing bites.  We enjoyed the chicken wing flavors without having to pick meat off bones.

Our third course was a Jalapeno-Cheddar Beer Brat with Great Divide (Denver, CO) Chocolate Oak Age Yeti beer.  The beer provided a good mix of flavors to chill down the heat from the brat.  Yes, there was a hint of chocolate which provided most of the cooling affect.  After the cool down, the beer was not a good sipping beer.  It is rare that we leave a glass on the table with beer remaining, but we did with this glass..

Our fourth and final course was homemade key lime pie paired with Wyerbacher-Insanity Barley Wine, which was actually a beer.  The key lime pie was as good as we have eaten, even in Key West.  We both would have preferred to replace the beer with a cup of good coffee.

Paul is holding the two souvenir pint glasses we were given at the dinner.  We had another great day of sightseeing and beer sampling.  Boondocks holds these beer dinners on the 2nd Thursday of each month.  We plan on attending a few more beer dinners while we are in Virginia.