Monday, November 21, 2022

Opps. . . . Price Lake and Mellow Mushroom

Bear Den Family Campground                                   Most Recent Posts:
Site 7                                                                   Linn Cove Viaduct Boulder Field
MP 324 Blue Ridge Parkway                                  A Visit From Sharon
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.


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

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


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Aren’t they cute standing right up there together?

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


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


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A few flowers were blooming

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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.

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

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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.




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


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The town is just filled with beautiful flowers.

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

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PXL_20220824_230800310Another  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.




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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.


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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.

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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.


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19 comments:

  1. Wow, what a pizza! Good thing you took half back, I would have been stuffed for sure. Love the nice view from the overlooks.

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    1. I could have bought a small. But I wanted to have some for another day.

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  2. I echo Owens on the Road comment. What a pie! You’re lucky I wasn’t along for the ride else there would have been nothing left to tote home in a doggy-box.
    I’ve copied and saved the layout of the pizza and will be attempting to recreate one similar. I’ll let ya know how it turns out. 😉

    I’ll be checking out Blowing Rock on Google Earth. It really does look quaint and inviting. Who knows? It might be on my itinerary someday. Thanks for sharing.
    Ciao. ❤️

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    1. Let me know how your pizza turns out. I laugh at your itinerary. Without miss B how would you go? Love seeing you so consistently in the comments

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  3. That 2nd photo is so inviting, I desperately miss hiking, thanks for taking us with you! Love the pizza too, they are overpriced there, but very good and tasty, haven't had the mushroom one yet, guess that will be next though...

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  4. Blowing Rock does look like a sweet little town- flowers AND there is a Mellow Mushroom!!! The fungus are interesting and your pictures of the mountains are very nice. The clouds look soft with their muted colors.
    xxxooo

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    1. Happy early birthday and thank you for the comment

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  5. Gotta go back there now... for the pizza which looks and sounds wonderful. It's been years since we were there but we loved it when we visited the last time. Thanks for sharing all the pictures.

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    1. You are welcome Roger and thank you for the comment. Check around and see where the closest mellow mushroom is to you and try that pizza. It's a chain so it might be in Texas.

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  6. Showing pictures of that pizza was wrong in so many ways.
    PS: I'm in a pizza 12 step program. ;c)

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    1. Thanks for letting me know it was you Paul How terrible of Blogger to make you anonymous.

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  7. Once again it was me posting as anonymous for some strange reason.

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  8. wow, that pizza looks incredible. Although I wouldn't be able to get one unless I could eat it entirely by myself. Mo doesn't eat mushrooms. Sigh. I laughed at your consternation about writing from the past. It gets harder and harder to remember everything. I have two posts left to complete for our trip. Lucky for me, they are both mostly about visiting so I should remember everything I need to remember. Have you read Demon Copperhead yet???? It will keep you very busy and very engaged I would imagine.

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    1. I'm reading Demon Copperhead right now Sue. What do you think of it? Not having someone to eat the other half is exactly why I brought the pizza back for the next day. You could do that too.

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  9. You totally had me with that pizza. I LOVE mushrooms. May have seen a couple edibles in your collection. I find the photos help my memories of a place.

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    1. That seals it. We must meet up for a Holy Shitake. But I think they are only in the east. Although if you know your mushrooms maybe we could make one. As you will see in my next post. Mushrooms are EVERYWHERE.

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  10. Oh, I love mushrooms, too! And truffle oil! I need to check to see if Mellow Mushroom makes gluten-free pizza. :-) I agree, Boone is such a cool town—we're looking forward to more exploring when we move to NC. I'll let you know if we find a campground nearby, let me know if you find something first!

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  11. Boone was another little town we didn't get to see with our change of plans so I'm glad you included your explorations. I wish I hadn't become allergic to mushrooms as they are my favorite on pizza! At least I can still enjoy seeing them in the wild :-))

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  12. Amazing pizza!! Soooo good. We don't have a Mellow Mushroom near by and that is really too bad! Beautiful views after a perfect dinner. I like the mushrooms pictures too.

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