Memorial Day in North Carolina's Mountains

This past memorial day weekend, we escaped the heat of Atlanta and went up to the North Carolina mountains for some hiking and sightseeing. We've been to the southern Appalachians many times, but this time we drove a bit further north, near where North Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia meet. We planned the trip relatively last minute, but found a condo on Beech Mountain to stay in. Not a typical cabin like we usually look for, but the condo did have sweeping views over the mountains and valleys.

Our first stop along the trip was at Scaly Mountain, just over the border from Georgia. They recently installed an alpine coaster, so of course Paul had to ride it! It's a solid ride. We continued on and stopped for dinner at the Old Hampton Store and BBQ in Linville. The restaurant/store was serving double duty as what appeared to be a happy hour for older adults on one side, and the restaurant on the other. The food was good, so we'd recommend it. We checked in to our AirBnB on Sugar Mountain (uphill from Banner Elk), and relaxed for the night before a long hiking day.

Just David hanging out with a bear at the Scaly Mountain coaster.

Going up the hill.

Yum!

The inside of Old Hampton Store. The bar area was packed!

Saturday morning we set out on the longest hike of the trip - Calloway Peak on Grandfather Mountain. This is a very popular area, but they have a reservation system and we started early, so we avoided the crowds. Overnight a cold front swept through and it was windy and in the mid-40s. Unfortunately, it was also cloudy/foggy so we didn't get any views. The hike itself was pretty strenuous. The ground is very uneven and most of the time we were climbing on or over rocks. There are a few steep stone scrambles too. Overall a fun hike, but harder and less rewarding than we hoped for due to the clouds.

The path was very rocky.

Spooky!

Just a tad bit windy.

Some parts of the trail were so steep they required ladders.

Just imagine a spectacular view here. :)

More ladders!

A little bit of a view on the way down.

After the hike we drove back to Banner Elk for lunch. Since the drive was mostly downhill, our car got 151MPG. Not bad. 😀 We had lunch at Brick Oven Pizzeria back on Beech Mountain. The pizza was just OK, but it really hit the spot after a long hike! We relaxed for a bit, then later in the afternoon we went to another alpine coaster, Wilderness Run, just south of Banner Elk on Sugar Mountain. Even with a reservation system Paul still waited almost an hour to ride. While Paul was waiting/riding, David was cornered by two older southern women that talked his ear off for 30 minutes. It's great to see these coasters popping up everywhere - lots of new coaster credits all around. We closed out the day with a nice walk around downtown Banner Elk before heading back to our AirBnB - of course there was ice cream involved.

That's some mpg right there.

This pizza was not as tasty as it looked...but after a 6 mile hike definitely hit the spot.

Paul getting ready for his ride.

These coasters sure are scenic.

A cute little general store near our AirBnB.

View from our balcony.

Sunday, rather than focusing on another long hike, we explored the attractions in the area, including a cave, a waterfall, and a couple of cute towns. We started early with a trip to Linville Caverns. While not as impressive as some of the other caves we've visited (like Mammoth Cave, Grotte de Castellana, and Hwanseongul Cave), it was still an interesting and worthwhile stop. Notably, this cave is still actively forming, and due to recent rains it was quite wet inside. Our next stop was not too far down the road - Linville falls. The area was pretty crowded on a beautiful memorial day weekend, but we did a short hike for several viewpoints of the falls and gorge.

The pathway through the cave.

Some nice flowstone.

View from the top of Linville Falls - the river cuts around this rock before dropping into the gorge.

David with the crowds at the upper falls.

Overview of the falls and gorge.

It was a "gorge-ous" day.

Walking through the very welcome shade.

Paul at the upper falls.

From here we drove up to Boone, North Carolina, home of Appalachian State University. It has a cute little downtown, and we walked around a bit while waiting for a table for lunch at the Local. We finished off the day relaxing on our balcony enjoying the beautiful weather, and then dinner at Mi Jalisco (which was just fine).

David Livin' it up in Boone.

Downtown Boone.

The bathroom inside the Jones House Cultural Center.

Restored room in the Jones House.

Lots of App State gift shops in town.

Nice views from the ASU campus.

Paul just hangin' out in Boone.

A beer on the balcony.

A nice sunny view!

Dinner drinks!

On Memorial Day we drove back to Atlanta via the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway and Mt. Mitchell. The parkway is a really scenic drive through forests and over mountains. The road runs from the Georgia border all the way through Virginia along the peaks of the Appalachians...but we just rode for a couple hours on the way to Asheville. Along the way, though, we stopped at Mt. Mitchell, the highest point east of the Mississippi River (around 6684'). The mountain is part of a State Park with hiking trails, a rest area, an observation deck and a campy radio station that lets you know all the most relevant facts about the mountain and park. Don't miss it if you're in the area...unfortunately, it was cloudy again and we didn't really get any views.

We stopped in Asheville for lunch at Biscuit Head. This is a trendy little breakfast/brunch spot in West Asheville. The food here is really good but the wait can be a little long. Don't miss their jam/preserver bar in the back! The last stop of the trip home was at Jaemor Farms, a common stop-over spot whenever we head northeast out of town. They have a huge farmer's market, homemade ice cream and pies, corn mazes in the fall, etc. Stop by if you're passing.

One of the tunnels on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway.

Top of the (east coast) world!

*snicker* - this is a photo of a placard. There was not snow.

David learning about rocks on Mt. Mitchell.

Proof we were there.

Biscuits as big as your head at Biscuit Head!

Peach and strawberry ice cream at Jaemor Farms!

36 Hours in Rome

Taking the train back from Bari, we arrived in Rome for our final day and a half before flying back to the US. We stayed at the Room Mate Filippo hotel, a new modern hotel near Piazza Barberini and the Spanish Steps. We had a wide variety of lodging on this trip, ranging from this boutique hotel to a top floor AirBnB to a cave! We've also stayed in a few different neighborhoods in Rome now, and all of them are good options. This location is a bit quieter, very convenient to the subway, and still walking distance to all of the main attractions.

The Altar of the Fatherland, complete with giant flag, welcoming us back to Rome!

Our room. Very modern!

The over-the-top lobby of our hotel.

We didn't do too much on this rainy evening. We had dinner at a tiny restaurant called Fraschetteria, just a few blocks from our hotel. When we say tiny, we do mean tiny - there were only four tables, one chef, and one waitress (the co-owners). The food was great. The power went off briefly during our meal, but luckily didn't seem to affect the tiny kitchen. We took a short post-dinner walk, stopping by Piazza Barberini and the Triton Fountain, and picking up some limoncello from a corner store. We then took in the view from the hotel rooftop before heading to bed.

.

A lovely (but rainy) night in Rome.

Dinner time!

Cheese and meat board.

Date night in Rome!

The piazza near out hotel looked lovely in the rain.

Hotel rooftop views.

The next day, a Saturday, was our last full day in Rome. After breakfast, we walked to the Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore. This is the main church in Rome (keeping in mind St. Peter's is in the Vatican). We tried to visit on our last trip to Italy, but there was a massive line to get in. This time, during the winter and a pandemic, there were no crowds. This is a truly impressive church, with a variety of interesting art. It has a much older feel than St. Peter's, as it was originally founded in 432 and has extraordinarily well preserved 6th century mosaics. These mosaics served as the foundational art for the depiction of Mary and other figures.


After visiting the church, we went to a pharmacy to get our required COVID-19 test. It was a relatively easy process - we created an online account, got tested in a tent right outside the pharmacy, and a few hours later the results were available to us digitally, which we uploaded in the Delta app to pre-clear us to fly. David briefly considered bolting when he saw how far the swab vanished inside Paul's head...but reluctantly held his ground...the fight or flight reaction is one hell of a thing.


Our next stop was a museum not too far from our hotel, the Palazzo Barberini. This is a good museum if you're in to paintings. They did have a few interesting non-paintings, including a really old globe. Leaving the museum we walked to the Spanish Steps area and had a nice lunch at Dilla. After lunch we walked around some more, checking out the Trinita de Monti church at the top of the Spanish steps, having a quick espresso, and then returning to the hotel for a bit.

The soaring and expansive interior of the basilica.

Fascinating 6th century mosaics line the arches in front of the altar.

The mishmashed front of the basilica.

The Palazzo Barberini museum is an impressive complex.

Well that's interesting. Impressive marblework.

A really cool old globe in the museum.

The Spanish steps weren't exactly empty, but were WAY less busy than a pre-pandemic summer visit.

Lunch was delicious.

Wine in the morning, wine in the evening, wine at supper time...when you're in Italy, you can have wine anytime!

Plaza at the bottom of the Spanish steps.

In the late afternoon we took a taxi to Museo Centrale Montemartini. This fascinating museum is in a giant former power plant, opened in 1912 to supply power to the city. The plant closed in 1963, and the building re-opened as a museum in 1997. Many ancient Roman sculptures and artifacts are placed among the boilers and machinery. The temporary exhibit was a really cool collection of mosaics. After the museum, we walked to the nearby Basilica San Paolo, but we couldn't find a way inside, and assumed it was closed for the evening. 

From there we walked west and then north across the Tiber river to the Portuense neighborhood. Despite being only about 2.5 miles south of the historic center, this neighborhood is completely off the tourist radar. It's more of local residential and shopping neighborhood. We stopped by an AS Roma Store to buy some gifts, and then had a beer at Birifficio Marconi. This was a nice little brew pub with some interesting beers, including one with mint. Since we weren't near a subway or direct bus line, we caught a taxi back to our hotel (fighting quite a bit of traffic since it was a Saturday evening), and relaxed for a bit before dinner at Mazze. It was a good meal with a quirky waiter - would recommend.

Realistic fish mosaics from ancient Rome.

The museum has the pope's train!

Such a cool contrast between statues and machinery.

Marble and steel.

The bell tower of the basilica.

Happy hour!

We drove by Rome's Christmas tree in a taxi.

Our last dinner in Rome.

There's no upper limit to the amount of pasta we can eat, honestly....David made a tiktok about it!

Of course there was dessert...

Sunday morning we woke up around 7AM to start getting ready to go to the airport, but instead awoke to notifications that our flight had been delayed 5 hours. Our plane was just leaving New York City on its way to Rome. On the one hand this was not ideal because we wouldn't end up back in our home in Atlanta until after midnight, but on the other hand it gave us an extra half day in Rome. The weather was the most cooperative of the entire trip - a cloudless, sunny, cool Sunday morning. After a leisurely breakfast at the hotel we set off on a meandering multi-hour walk passing many sights including the Trevi Fountain, Roman Forum, and Colosseum. We also entered the Basilica de Santa Maria in Ara Coeli, a 12th century church that is a bit hidden behind the massive Altar of the Fatherland. We also walked back by the AirBnB we had stayed at earlier in the trip, and stopped by the store across the street to pick up some more biscotti to take home. After grabbing all of our stuff from the hotel, we went to the airport and flew home to Atlanta, with some nice sunset views of the Italian and French coasts.

Trevi fountain on a Sunday morning.

David taking in the view.

The interior of Basilica di Santa Maria in Ara Coeli.

After raining all week, of course it was a brilliant sunny day right when we had to leave. 😂

The Campidoglio, or Capitoline Hill.

One last walk by the Pantheon.

Monaco in the foreground, and Nice in the background.

We've been to Rome a few times now, and it's no surprise that we love this city! There are still museums, neighborhoods, and attractions we'd love to return to visit. Until next time, Ciao, Roma!