On Friday night we drove about an hour down Route 221 through the Blue Ridge Mountains to Stonewall Bed and Breakfast, which would serve as our home base for the next day and half. We arrived at about 9 pm, greeted by the owner’s dogs (we soon dubbed them “The Welcoming Committee”). We got settled into the “apple” room and I was asleep by 9:30.
If you feel like roughing it a bit, the Stonewall B&B also offers one room cabin accommodations with no plumbing, just an outhouse.
The next morning we woke up to the smell of a country breakfast cooking down the hall. Sally and Scott, the B&B owners, cooked a wide array of breakfast specialties, such as quiche, scrambled eggs, French toast, eggs, bacon, biscuits and gravy, blueberry cobbler and fresh fruit.
After filling our stomachs, we got in our car and traveled to the most photographed spot on the Blue Ridge Parkway - Mabry Mill. Ed Mabry built the mill nearly a century ago to grind corn for his neighbors. This created a community gathering place, and is now a popular attraction along the Parkway.
We picked up a few souvenirs for family members at the gift shop, and headed back to the car. But not before we attempted to photograph ourselves in front of the mill. As we were trying to capture ourselves, I saw a man walking towards us. I thought he would offer to take the picture for us. No, he was Peter Frank Edwards, a photographer for Travel and Leisure magazine, and he wanted to take a picture of us, taking a picture of ourselves. So we obliged. I doubt it will make it in the magazine though.
(Our theory is that he didn’t want to take our picture because we were holding two Nikon cameras and he was of course shooting with a Canon. haha…jk)
Our next stop was the town of Floyd. I was quite impressed with this quaint town. Floyd is a rural, one stop light town, yet full of culture. We just meandered down Locust Street into a bookstore, then Mitchell Music Co. - a community music store for a musical community, and finally to the The Floyd Country Store which features merchandise, food and music. Actually the Country Store is a venue for the Crooked Road Music Trail. (Read more about that in the links I provide below.)
The wind was blowing very strong on Saturday and ruined our plans for a picnic. So we headed back to the B&B for a little nap, which was just as nice.
For dinner we jumped back on the Blue Ridge Parkway and traveled to Chateau Morrisette Winery. The Morrisette family has produced premier wines since 1980. The property features a winery and restaurant. Unfortunately we could not tour the winery because of a wedding being held there.
We literally stuffed ourselves with gourmet food! We started off with an appetizer of Firecracker Shrimp- five hot and spicy shrimp on a bed of pineapples and green peppers. I ate Shrimp and Grits, a dish the waitress said people travel 200 miles for. The grits were deliciously accented with a creamy roux, and the shrimp were seasoned just right. Mr. Price chose the Trout, which was crusted with cashews and served over couscous and collard greens. But they weren’t just your limp, soggy, chopped greens. These were fried, then steamed and seasoned with sausage. If you don’t eat collard greens, you would probably eat these.
And although we were already stuffed, we decided to get a Molten Lava Cake served with homemade Espresso ice cream! I think that speaks for itself. We didn’t think we were going to be able to make it back to the B&B we were so full. But we did and again I was fast asleep by 9:30 pm
We headed back home this morning after another great breakfast, and were home before 10:00 am just in time for a lazy Sunday afternoon. I called dibs on the couch and caught up on my blogs, and Mr. Price enjoyed being lazy in the recliner watching the documentary It Might Get Loud featuring Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White.
It was a great weekend, one we will be reminiscing about for years to come.
You can read about the places we visited by checking out the links below.
Stonewall Bed and Breakfast
Mabry Mill
Floyd, Virginia
The Crooked Road Tour
The Chateau Morrisette
Peter Frank Edwards
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