This is a blog of my five-week exploration of culinary experiences in North Carolina. Baaswell Sheep is accompanying me and offering his own commentary on the trip, although he refuses to go into any place that serves lamb chops.
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All good things must come to an end, and so we had to leave Peaks of Otter and head back south. Unfortunately, there's a closure of the Blue Ridge Parkway right now just below the Peaks of Otter. We decided to go as far south as we could, then come back to VA 43 north and take it up to Buchanan, from which we detoured down to Roanoke before picking up the parkway where it crosses US 220 on the south side of the city. The views up here are breathtaking: kind of like a well fitting prequel to the Shenandoah National Park further north.
The Blue Ridge Parkway detour made it quite feasible to go right by my companion's favorite BBQ place in Virginia, Three Li'l Pigs in Daleville, just north of Roanoke off I-81. In spite of being a Virginia restaurant, the place has a great Carolina vinegar sauce that he loves, and the atmosphere and people are great, too. Personally, I'm not a big fan of barbecue for obvious reasons, but I nibbled on the slaw and tried the iced tea, which were both pretty good.
Blue Ridge Parkway, US 220 to US 52
While this entire section of the parkway is still open, it's kind of a desolate place, especially on a rainy day. The main attractions along here are three picnic areas (Smart View, Rocky Knob, Groundhog Mountain) and the famous Mabry Mill. The odd thing is that we've been by the Mabry Mill three times over the years and have never seen more than a handful of people there, and we've never seen the restaurant open. I don't know if it only opens for the spring and fall, or if it's just closed for good. The big problem right now is that they've shut down all of the restrooms along this stretch. The ones at the Rocky Knob visitor's center might still be open, but we got there after 5 PM, so the center itself was closed. All of the other restroom buildings at all four locations had signs reading "No Bathrooms Available" along with locked doors. Only Mabry Mill had portable toilets, which is appreciated, but they need signs at the other three locations to point you to Mabry Mill for restrooms. All that said, the Rocky Knob and Smart View picnic areas are just plain awkward: huge, hard to navigate with lots of one-way lanes, and just not well maintained, thus hardly anyone seems to use them, making them a bit creepy. They'd probably do well to close both completely and maybe build another small picnic area like Groundhog Mountain: something easy to see and access and with a lot fewer picnic spaces, since it seems like people just don't picnic like they did in past decades. With the rain, we didn't get many pictures along this section, but we did get to see three mother deer with two fawns, one of them the liveliest thing I've ever seen. That made the short hike in the rain more than worth it. Interestingly, on the way back from seeing the deer, we spotted a three-foot long snake crossing the road. We didn't get a picture, but it was interesting to see something like that: contrary to popular belief, most snakes stay out of sight and don't want to hurt people. Most snake bites come from people disturbing them accidentally (or unnecessarily) and then, as you'd expect, they're going to defend themselves.
We made it to Mount Airy, albeit a bit late, and went down the street to Arby's for a quick dinner. Not a North Carolina specialty, but my companion likes it for a quick and simple meal when nothing else sounds all that good at the moment. He went with his usual: a beef and cheddar, add lettuce and tomato to make it healthy, with curly fries and an apple turnover. Not sure I call it all that healthy, but at least he had something to eat.
Please note that all restaurant and product names are used simply for referential purposes and links provided as a courtesy. Reviews are the sole opinions of the reviewer: no restaurant has paid to be listed here, and no restaurant is being explicitly endorsed. In other words, go out there, try them all, and form your own opinions!
All good things must come to an end, and so we had to leave Peaks of Otter and head back south. Unfortunately, there's a closure of the Blue Ridge Parkway right now just below the Peaks of Otter. We decided to go as far south as we could, then come back to VA 43 north and take it up to Buchanan, from which we detoured down to Roanoke before picking up the parkway where it crosses US 220 on the south side of the city. The views up here are breathtaking: kind of like a well fitting prequel to the Shenandoah National Park further north.
