Weekend Foodie Warriors – Blue Ridge Mountain Trip
Hello hello, again, Foodie Friends 🙂 Hope you’ve had a great weekend! For this travel edition of Foodie Adventures, we’re taking you on our weekend trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains – Boone, Blowing Rock, & more in NC – for fun, food, and sights along the way. Check out the last section for a bonus entry from lunch and a beer from Asheville, NC too!
Breakfast & Farmers Market Finds
Boone, NC
One thing my friend Madison and I love to do (among other things) is travel together. Between her and I, we’ve both taken each other to new places and it’s such a fun thing to be able to share those memories of new adventures with someone you love hanging out with.
First thing was a walk around downtown Boone to search for breakfast! I love walking down main streets and seeing the charm of the unique buildings.
Walking through downtown Boone, NC. 
Walking through downtown Boone, NC. 
Walking through downtown Boone, NC. 
Walking through downtown Boone, NC. 
Great little antiques shop we spent at least an hour in after breakfast. 
Loved this old theatre downtown in Boone, SC. 
Loved this old theatre downtown in Boone, SC. 
A new sculpture they had just unveiled recently.
We ended up picking a little place with great outdoor seating. We wanted something that could carry us through a morning of exploring, so we stood in line and grabbed a table on their patio outside.
I was excited to see their coffees and menu specials, and was looking forward to trying their seasonal salted caramel latte with oat milk! Always super happy to see when places have non-dairy milk options for my coffee or tea.
Our breakfast included my bagel (egg and bacon sandwich on a sun-dried tomato bagel) and Jamie’s Bagelicious sandwich (asiago bagel with eggs, Muenster cheese, ham, and bacon), along with my salted caramel latte and his Red Eye coffee.
Madison opted for the Bagelry Special – with Two Eggs (over easy), Home Fries, Grits, and a bagel. She ended up with leftovers (my favorite thing), so we dropped those off at the car before continuing onto our next exploring adventure, the local farmers market!
You know we’re a big fan of farmer’s markets here at Pimento & Prose. Small, medium, large, indoors or outside, we’ll visit them all!
This was different as it was co-located next to a historic site called the Hickory Ridge History Museum. We had some fun playing with the stocks and pillorys too! Both Madison and I did that, but only I was caught on camera. My offense: Guilty of taking too many food pictures. Loved getting pictures of Jamie and Eric together too. They’ve been best friends forever and it’s always awesome to get candid shots of people hanging out.
Madison and I stopped by Black Birch Apothecary to get some great new tea types to add to her collection. She got one called Moon Cycle, an herbal tea which we were really excited to try.
Check out below for more pictures of us exploring the farmers market!
Absolutely cute oven mitts, loved these! 
Absolutely cute oven mitts, loved these! 
I was about two seconds away from buying my mom one of these gnomes for Christmas! 
Loved these little birdhouses too, such a cool way to reclaim wood. 
This was actually the only food picture I took from the farmers market! 
Jamie loved the leather goods and hats at this vendor, even bought a knit hat from him!
Brunch Time!
Linville, NC
For this weekend, Linville was definitely on our list to check out! This small town boasted a well-reviewed breakfast joint to help fuel our day. Kaye’s Kitchen‘s coffee list had multiple non-dairy options, which always excites me.
I started out with an Almondmilk latte with pumpkin syrup, which was delish! Jamie got a cappuccino and Madison got a Cuban coffee, with Eric sticking to black coffee. All were really good!
I opted to go with blueberry pancakes for breakfast, with hash browns, bacon, and eggs. Jamie got an egg skillet, and Madison also got pancakes with sausage, eggs, and hash browns along with me. They had multiple fun hot sauces to adorn your eggs or food with, next to the coffee machines. I would definitely go back again, such a sweet little spot to sit down and eat!
Saturday Afternoon
Blowing Rock, NC
We decided to head to Blowing Rock for the remainder of exploring for the afternoon. Loved this cool billboard we found hidden on the back side of a building next to a little park in the center of town. Blowing Rock was a really cute area, with local restaurants, makers, and foodie shops to pop our heads into.
Madison loved visiting mid-week (she knew it wouldn’t be as busy), and wanted to show off some of the great places she used to go in town.
The first place we checked out was Sunset Tee’s and Hattery on our window shopping stroll through downtown. Madison pointed out this store as somewhere she used to go for great hot sauces. On the basement level, hidden away out of eye shot from the street, were rows and rows of hot sauces!
Somebody was super smart to include an ice cream shop in the back, to cool the fires of the many sauces you could try. One of the owners, Jack Hall, took us on a hot sauce tasting journey, from mild to tongue torching. We ended up leaving with at least three or four more hot sauces for our collection!
He was such a great storyteller and told us the history and origins of the peppers and sauces as we went along. This is definitely somewhere I would go again, as tasting all the hot sauces back-to-back was a lot of fun, and Jack made it a really great experience.
The next place we stopped into was this adorable pottery store nearby. You might not know this but I have a pretty extensive mug collection! I absolutely love handmade pottery, and the colors in the window, the wall framed by gorgeous midnight blue and red pieces, caught my eye.
I also loved the sea glass art right as you walk in the door, which reminded me of some my cousin had made for us many years ago. I myself have a sea glass necklace and pair of earrings, using sea glass that we collected from the beaches that I used to grow up on as a kid. We went up to Blowing Rock almost around my birthday last year, so I told myself a trip through this store was an early birthday present.
I, of course, left with a new mug of my own, this one super fall-themed – pumpkin orange w/brown speckles and a twisted brown stem handle.
I could have given it away for Christmas if it hadn’t grown on me so much. Needless to say it’s still well loved and in my cupboard!
The last of our three great finds in Blowing Rock included High Country Woodworks. This was a cute little shop, filled with everything from charcuterie boards to wooden tables, signs, and great shelving.
I ended up buying a really pretty Christmas sign for my mom. You can see that picture and read more about it here from our Christmas gift review blog.
It wouldn’t be a trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains without driving down the parkway! We stopped by this gorgeous little lake as the sun was setting. Stop a minute and watch us exploring the rocks and relaxing by the water on this slideshow!
Gorgeous sunset off the Blue Ridge Parkway. 
Such a pretty lake view. 
Such a pretty lake view. 
Madison, thinking about the weekend, watching the sunset. 
Madison, thinking about the weekend, watching the sunset. 
Jamie was rocking this picture. 
Love taking candid shots of these two! 
Probably one of my favorite pictures of us. 
Loved the colors on this picture and the group shot to commemorate the weekend! 
Loved this picture to commemorate the weekend!
We were chasing down the sunset to get the rest of the pictures you see below, as the Blue Ridge Mountains became more blue the longer we looked. They were absolutely gorgeous and it was such a serene drive.
Blue Ridge Parkway overlook at dusk. 
Blue Ridge Parkway at dusk. 
Blue Ridge Parkway at dusk. 
Jamie’s car felt right at home up in the mountains. 
Gorgeous sunset off the Blue Ridge Parkway. 
Gorgeous sunset off the Blue Ridge Parkway. 
Loved the clouds hanging low over the mountain. 
Loved the clouds hanging low over the mountain. 
Blue Ridge Parkway at dusk.
*Bonus* Sunday Lunch & Beer
Asheville, NC
On Sunday, we took a trip to visit my sister and spent the afternoon in Asheville, NC. on our way back down to Greenville in the morning.
We started out with a trip to Highland Brewing Company for a fun activity. See our full blog here for the review of the Winter Beer Release event we attended that day. 🍻
Afterwards, we headed downtown for lunch, stopping at an underground brewery for another beer at One World Brewing!
Labeled as “Asheville’s only basement brewery”, it had a cool funky underground vibe. Jamie decided on the “Queen of the Forest” IPA and Madison rolled a little darker with the Dark Chocolate Raspberry Oatmeal Stout, which was delicious! I helped her drink part of that one.
At this point, we’d had a ton of beer and no food, so we hit up Farm Burger for some great grub!
I loved the decor in the burger shop, had that fantastic brick and exposed metal look we see a lot lately. Loved all the colorful chalkboard menus for the beers on tap, great photography on the walls, and the color scheme of the menus.
We of course started out with appetizers. These unique Sweet potato hush puppies with apple butter were such a cool way to begin our meal. I definitely love the sweet potato ones better than original hush puppies!
Now for the main attraction – the burgers of course! The first two pictures above start with a close up of my custom burger – complete with mushrooms, fried egg, goat cheese, caramelized onions, FB sauce, and pickles.
Next was Madison’s house-made vegan burger, made with quinoa, black eyed peas, lacinato kale, roasted mushrooms, complete with a sweet potato patty. Topped with arugula, tomato chow chow, and vegan mayo (chickpea + sunflower oil).
Jamie got the chicken sandwich – ground chicken burger, smoked gouda, kale coleslaw, crispy onions, sherry-date bbq. Finally, Eric got the classic Farmburger with aged white cheddar, caramelized onions, and fb sauce.
Everything was delish there and we would definitely go back! Afterwards, the only thing left was dessert. Check out our “Asheville Takeout Trip” Blog for the throwback to our trip to French Broad Chocolate Shop here.
So how was your weekend, Foodie Friends? What’s the next city we need to review? Sound out in the comments below to let us know your suggestions of what dishes to make or places we should visit next. As always, feel free to like, comment, & share 🤗
