Ok, so we cheated on this one. We didn’t do this on the bike, we took the truck. It was still an awesome trip and worth writing about.
My wife and I left Virginia Beach on Tuesday August 17th and got home on the 20th. We chose Chimney Rock NC as our destination. Chimney Rock is near Ashville NC. It was a seven hour trip including rest stops and lunch. We headed west on VA route 58 through Emporia to Interstate 85. South on 85 to Winston-Salem Where we picked up 40 west towards Ashville. About 20 miles east of Ashville we turned onto Gerton Hwy (Hwy 74a). After an approximately 20 mile drive including a winding mountain climb, we arrived at the Mountain Meadows Motel, recently renamed Peaceful Quest Retreats. Peaceful is the key word here. This place was pretty awesome.
I counted only 9 rooms, all overlooking the pond. The rooms were small, but they had everything you would ever need . TV with Dish Network, refrigerator, microwave, and coffee pot. There is a hot tub for guest use, a soda machine with .60 cent sodas (I can’t remember the last time I paid .60 cents for a soda), and don‘t forget the pond. There were fishing poles available and a paddle boat. I almost forgot, they even have a basketball court if you are so inclined. All of this is available to you at a very reasonable $69.00 per night. Ok, I can’t say enough about this place, check the links page for the web address and check this place out.
That evening we went down to the motorcycle friendly village of Chimney Rock for dinner. This is a quaint village loaded with tourist happenings. There are two Harley stores in the small village (although I found out later they are both owned by the same folks). We ate dinner in the Laure House Bakery restaurant. Fried chicken, corn, coleslaw and biscuits all washed down with sweet tea. A very good meal at a very reasonable price.
On Wednesday morning we skipped breakfast and headed to Chimney Rock for a day of hiking (BTW, we bought our Chimney Rock tickets at the motel - just another service they provided). We spent most of the day at Chimney Rock. We hiked every trail they have except one and that went to a kiddie adventure park that we were not interested in. We hiked to the top of Chimney Rock, then we continued heading up the three observation points they have that are higher than the rock itself. Don’t miss Devils Point, it’s pretty cool. We then hiked to the Hickory Nut falls. It was a pretty easy hike and the falls were something to see, however, they were just a taste of things to come.
The next day we left Chimney Rock and headed North on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Our destination was Linville falls with a brief stop to hike to Crabtree Falls. Sorry Chimney Rock, Crab tree Falls was awesome and well worth the time. We continued north on the BRP to Linville falls. There are two different trails to hike with several observation points for the falls.
These falls were spectacular from all views.
We spent that night in the Parkview Lodge. Not really a recommended stop. Everything the Peaceful Quest Retreat had, this place did not. I told my wife I expected the Ricardos and the Mertz’s to pull in any minute. This place was straight out of the 50’s and it hasn’t changed much, although it looked like remodeling was in progress.
The next day (Friday) we took route 221 South to Interstate 40 and came home the same way we went.
All in all this was a great trip that I would do again. If you do this on a bike be very careful on 40 around Winston-Salem, very congested. Also, as always, be careful in the mountains, mountain roads are always nasty on a bike no matter what mountains they are.
My wife and I left Virginia Beach on Tuesday August 17th and got home on the 20th. We chose Chimney Rock NC as our destination. Chimney Rock is near Ashville NC. It was a seven hour trip including rest stops and lunch. We headed west on VA route 58 through Emporia to Interstate 85. South on 85 to Winston-Salem Where we picked up 40 west towards Ashville. About 20 miles east of Ashville we turned onto Gerton Hwy (Hwy 74a). After an approximately 20 mile drive including a winding mountain climb, we arrived at the Mountain Meadows Motel, recently renamed Peaceful Quest Retreats. Peaceful is the key word here. This place was pretty awesome.
I counted only 9 rooms, all overlooking the pond. The rooms were small, but they had everything you would ever need . TV with Dish Network, refrigerator, microwave, and coffee pot. There is a hot tub for guest use, a soda machine with .60 cent sodas (I can’t remember the last time I paid .60 cents for a soda), and don‘t forget the pond. There were fishing poles available and a paddle boat. I almost forgot, they even have a basketball court if you are so inclined. All of this is available to you at a very reasonable $69.00 per night. Ok, I can’t say enough about this place, check the links page for the web address and check this place out.
That evening we went down to the motorcycle friendly village of Chimney Rock for dinner. This is a quaint village loaded with tourist happenings. There are two Harley stores in the small village (although I found out later they are both owned by the same folks). We ate dinner in the Laure House Bakery restaurant. Fried chicken, corn, coleslaw and biscuits all washed down with sweet tea. A very good meal at a very reasonable price.
On Wednesday morning we skipped breakfast and headed to Chimney Rock for a day of hiking (BTW, we bought our Chimney Rock tickets at the motel - just another service they provided). We spent most of the day at Chimney Rock. We hiked every trail they have except one and that went to a kiddie adventure park that we were not interested in. We hiked to the top of Chimney Rock, then we continued heading up the three observation points they have that are higher than the rock itself. Don’t miss Devils Point, it’s pretty cool. We then hiked to the Hickory Nut falls. It was a pretty easy hike and the falls were something to see, however, they were just a taste of things to come.
The next day we left Chimney Rock and headed North on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Our destination was Linville falls with a brief stop to hike to Crabtree Falls. Sorry Chimney Rock, Crab tree Falls was awesome and well worth the time. We continued north on the BRP to Linville falls. There are two different trails to hike with several observation points for the falls.
These falls were spectacular from all views.
We spent that night in the Parkview Lodge. Not really a recommended stop. Everything the Peaceful Quest Retreat had, this place did not. I told my wife I expected the Ricardos and the Mertz’s to pull in any minute. This place was straight out of the 50’s and it hasn’t changed much, although it looked like remodeling was in progress.
The next day (Friday) we took route 221 South to Interstate 40 and came home the same way we went.
All in all this was a great trip that I would do again. If you do this on a bike be very careful on 40 around Winston-Salem, very congested. Also, as always, be careful in the mountains, mountain roads are always nasty on a bike no matter what mountains they are.
