our annual Blowing Rock trip....

We headed up to Blowing Rock a couple weeks ago, just as we've done every October for the past almost 10 years!! This year we tried to nail the "peak" in the leaves as best we could and after checking the forecast, decided to go a bit earlier than normal, on October 14th. We were way surprised when we got up there and found that although we were a week or so early for when normal peak is, we had actually already MISSED it! Apparently, peak was really the weekend before and then there were some storms and wind that came through during the week, leaving about half of the trees completely empty! But, it was still beautiful and we still had an awesome time being there. We got up there right at noon and headed straight to Bass Lake where do our picnic lunch. When we got to the lake, the winds were so strong, that we literally decided to sit in the car and have our picnic!! First time for everything! After we ate, we got out and did our usual walk around the lake, exploring the fallen leaves, enjoying the COOL mountain air, and trying not to be blown away! The kids were so cute as they ran around the path having the best time stomping leaves and finding new treasures. It was a gorgeous sunny day even though the winds were about 25-30 mph! After we spent some time at the lake, we packed back into the car and took a short drive along the Parkway to try to see more leaves. Then we headed back to Main street, stopped in a convenient store for some fabulous hot chocolate, and strolled around to the playground. The kids played for a while and then we ventured into some of our favorite stores. After we were done visiting our usual places, we packed back in the car and headed for a carb-filled, comfort food dinner at Cracker Barrell!! YUM. It was a great day and we love sharing our favorite place with the kids!

last year when we were there the trees on the left of this path were covered in gold leaves....it was so sad to see them all bare already!