Opps. . . . Price Lake and Mellow Mushroom

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Spruce Pine NC

WEDNESDAY AUGUST 24, 2022

Wellll, it turns out that it is even harder than I thought doing blog posts so long after the fact.

My pictures of Price Lake were mislabeled and in the wrong date folder.  I thought I’d taken some pictures of the campground but when there were none along with the lovely lake shots I guessed I was mistaken.

When writing yesterday’s post I wondered how I could have done the Boulder Field AND Price Lake on the same day, but the pictures were there.  HOWEVER, it turns out that when I went to Price Lake after the Boulder Field, I only checked it out for a return visit and didn’t do the entire trail that day but came back the next and then went on to do a return trip to Blowing Rock which I’d really loved last time.  On the way, I stopped at a couple of campgrounds for potential future month long stays but they were not as nice as the ones I’ve been in this summer already and were nearer Boone than Blowing Rock. 

Here are the much larger number of pictures from the Price Lake circumference walk.

You can rent canoes and kayaks or launch your own.  Nobody was on the lake today so it would have been the perfect time to bring my kayak but as I said yesterday, there were no birds, turtles or any wildlife at all any where around.  So the walk was enough.

The lake trail is lovely, flat, and easy.   The first two are rare in the mountains.

Lots of fungi on this walk.  I didn’t have to watch my step so closely and had the time to get their pictures

Aren’t they cute standing right up there together?

Pictures of the lake today were not as picturesque as yesterday but there was one sort of boulder sticking out that was interesting.

Definitely calm waters which make for easy paddling.  I was surprised to find no one on a Wednesday afternoon in late August.

A few flowers were blooming

Fall is beginning.   I wonder how long until full color?

This section of the trail goes along the parkway at the edge of the lake.

I walked across the parkway to see the spillover from the lake

Here are the pictures of the campground I thought I had taken.  As Sharon explained yesterday, this is only one loop on the lake side.  There are apparently other loops across the parkway.  I did not know that at the time or see them.

And then it was back to Blowing Rock for a second visit.  It is definitely my favorite town in the relatively immediate area.

The town is just filled with beautiful flowers.

Behind this flower border are benches for sitting and beyond them is a city park.
Great spot for watching the activity on Main Street.

Another  reason for returning to Blowing Rock was that when I was here before having dinner at The Speckled Trout, I noticed that across the street was Mellow Mushroom.  It has a nice outdoor seating area as you can see.

Yes it’s a chain but I first found my #1 pizza love, the Holy Shitake, at the Mellow Mushroom in Charlottesville.   The pizza is beautiful and delicious if you are a mushroom lover like I am.  I ordered a medium which was outrageously expensive but I wanted to take half of it back with me to enjoy again.  I seriously LOVE this pizza.

Isn’t it beautiful?   My mouth waters just typing this.  It has an olive oil and garlic base, shiitake, button and portobello mushrooms, caramelized onions, mozzarella, and Wisconsin aged white cheddar and is finished with a garlic aioli swirl, a spritz of black truffle oil and a garnish of fresh chives and shaved parmesan.   Plus, the crust is delicious too.

Having both The Speckled Trout and Mellow Mushroom is almost enough to motivate moving to Blowing Rock.  I have actually tried to find a campground near by without any luck so far.   If you know of one or know someone who might know of one, please let me know.  I could definitely do a return trip to the North Carolina Mountains especially now that I know which roads to take and not to take to drive into these mountains.

The perfect dinner with a book.

I stopped at a couple of  overlooks on my way back to Winnona.  There wasn’t much of a sunset with all the clouds but the view of the mountains is always beautiful.