Blowing Rock, NC?

[charlotte_bon_vivant]

Is anyone familiar with Blowing Rock? I have no idea where it is, but Dh wants to go to the train amusement park there. Can anyone fill me in? Thanks!

[hinsp0]

Is anyone familiar with Blowing Rock? I have no idea where it is, but Dh wants to go to the train amusement park there. Can anyone fill me in? Thanks!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A few miles south of Boone on Highway 321. Its beautiful... we're building a house down there.

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?searc...ate=NC&zipcode=

[roads-scholar]

Is anyone familiar with Blowing Rock? I have no idea where it is, but Dh wants to go to the train amusement park there. Can anyone fill me in? Thanks!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Blowing Rock is located in North Carolina's "High Country" about two hours or so north of Charlotte on US Highway 321. The university town of Boone (Pop. 21,000) is eight miles away while the ski community of Banner Elk is seventeen miles away.

When visiting Blowing Rock, be prepared for abrupt changes in the weather. Even in July the clouds might drift in and make it seem like December.

Blowing Rock is somewhat touristy but clean and pleasant nontheless. Boone, as expected, has a lively bar scene and fairly good shopping and dining.

Close by attractions are the Blue Ridge Parkway and Grandfather Mountain. Ski resorts are numerous. Of course, there is always Tweetsie Railroad. Don't laugh but's a pretty decent family friendly attraction.

[Miesian Corners]

Tweetsie!! Great memories of going there as a kid (and once as an adult). Don't waste your time seeing the "Blowing Rock", though. Here's the rundown on that: "...an indian chieftain, fearful of a white man's admiration for his daughter, journeyed far from the plains to bring her to The Blowing Rock and the care of a squaw mother. One day the maiden, daydreaming on the craggy cliff, spied a Cherokee brave wandering in the wilderness far below and playfully shot an arrow in his direction. The flirtation worked because soon he appeared before her wigwam, courted her with songs of his land and they became lovers, wandering the pathless woodlands and along crystal streams.

One day a strange reddening of the sky brought the brave and the maiden to The Blowing Rock. To him it was a sign of trouble commanding his return to his tribe in the plains. With the maiden's entreaties not to leave her, the brave, torn by conflict of duty and heart, leaped from The Rock into the wilderness far below. The grief-stricken maiden prayed daily to the Great Spirit until, one evening with a reddening sky, a gust of wind blew her lover back onto The Rock and into her arms. From that day a perpetual wind has blown up onto The Rock from the valley below. For people of other days, at least, this was explanation enough for The Blowing Rock's mysterious winds causing even the snow to fall upside down."

There. I've saved you $10.

[eddard]

Check out this link:

http://www.highcountrywebcams.com/

They have some webcams in Blowing Rock and some links to other good info.

[ironchapman]

Nice link, eddard!

An interesting place (Blowing Rock), I must say.

[appatone]

When I was at Appalachian we went to Blowing Rock fairly often. It is quaint, quite, and nice but aside from the random App student there for liquor it is mostly old Ex-NYer's/Floridians up for the summer to beat the heat. The downtown is mostly retail catering to an

[monsoon]

Girly, the amusement park must be Tweetsie Railroad. It is one of the oldest amusement parks in the country and a NC Landmark. As mentioned above Blowing Rock is part of the the NC High Country and there is a lot to do up there. The Blue Ridge Parkway passes very close to Blowing Rock and if you head south on it you can go to Linville Falls, Linville Caverns, and pass through the highest mountain range in eastern North America. Mt. Mitchell state park is the highest point east of the Mississippi and is a beautiful park. I would recommend stopping at the Craggy Gardens near there as well.

While I don't have any specific photos of Blowing Rock, I do have a few photo threads of the area around there. (winter) If you have any other questions, please ask. This area is only 90 miles from here so I visit it quite often.

Adventures in Elevation Snow

West Jefferson

Linville/Grandfather Mountain

[RaleighHeelsfan]

Blowing rock is a really nice little town south of Boone. It almost looks like a little town you would see on tv. It's also a very busy little town with the tourist and all. The weather can be down right bad though. Boone which is right down at the bottom of the mountain can be sunny while Blowing Rock is cloudy and cool(in the summer) During the Fall and Spring and can get pretty cold. During the Winter it's very cold!

I went early last November. The Thermometer in my car while in Boone read 55. As we climbed the mnt to Blowing Rock the temp dropped into the upper 30's and went from sunny to VERY foggy. It was very cool. During sunny days it can be really warm up there though. If theres any clouds though expect the fog and cold.

[Dukeis#1]

Tweetsie Railroad is a nice family theme park. It's no where near as big as Carowinds or Dollywood, but it is a great place to take little kids.

This is Tweetsie's website. It has all sorts of information on prices, operating hours, and things of that sort, plus Boone/Blowing Rock area information:

www.tweetsie.com