as i've probably mentioned before, i went to appalachian state for undergrad. loved it 112%. best place in the world. i miss it like crazy, so when i had a week between my MST adventure and my WWOOF adventure, i texted college friend and current boone resident danielle (yay danielle!) and made plans to visit.
what to do in boone/what i did in boone with less than 48 hours in the summer:
arrive in time for lunch. hit up our daily bread, or odb, as the cool kids call it. the apple walnut salad is amazing, and i've heard good things about the chipotle turkey press, but i always order a diy sandwich with cheddar cheese, tempeh, sliced apples, and basil aioli that's basically something they had on their old menu called the tempeh press. IT'S SO GOOD. everybody loves odb.
walk around king street. boone has such a sweet little downtown that's mostly made up of tshirt stores, hippie shops, boutiques, and restaurants. we only went into lucky penny (cutest clothes, good grief) and a natural pet store, but definitely check out 641 rpm, strand beads, and something called lililu, cause that one looked really cute.
drive to the blue ridge parkway. it's maybe 15 minutes from downtown, and it's a gorgeous drive with lots of places to stop for overlooks or hikes. we went to price lake and walked the 2.3 miles around it (they rent out kayaks and canoes too) and then drove up some more, past the viaduct, to beacon heights. it's the shortest hike you can take for the best view. it also joins up with the mountains to sea trail for a hot second, and i was having flashbacks to the hours i spent hoping for a blaze. in the hundred feet that we were with the mst, there were of course about eight blazes. NOT ALWAYS THE CASE, TRAIL. i see you luring people in.
grab some takeout from hokkaido. i was devastated to find out after college that it's not actually that common for japanese restaurants to make sweet carrots, which is stupid, because they are little nuggets of decadent orange magic. and hokkaido's are on point.
if you're looking for places to grab a drink, i recommend galileo's (especially on friday for karaoke night) or town tavern. they're both very relaxed, and galileo's has the added bonus of really good food. or, if you're like us, you can also go home and watch celeste and jesse forever and eat popcorn and fruit snacks.
crucial next step: go to melanie's for breakfast. sit outdoors if you can. get the granola. get the homemade toast. get the apple juice. go wild. it's good stuff.
drive up up up the mountain to howard's knob for the best view you can get to in under 10 minutes. you can see app's campus, you can see the public schools, you can almost see the house where we used to live. climb the fence if you're ballsy and good at climbing fences for an even better view and a great picture opportunity.
at this point, it's probably going to rain, so head to the boone cineplex (haha, not) for a movie. preferably trainwreck. sneak in fruit snacks. get a zap pack. eat a million fruit snacks because the zap pack also comes with them. laugh obnoxiously loud at the movie and then feel awkward because the only other people in the theater are senior citizens and they know what jokes you're laughing at. worth it.
because it's boone, you're going to get absolutely drenched leaving the movie theater and then it's immediately going to clear up and get gorgeous again. take this opportunity to drive to blowing rock, cutest little expensive town in western nc, and get kilwin's ice cream. for lunch, because you're an adult. danielle showed me this really lovely little park with a gazebo behind the parking deck that also apparently exists. we petted a dog. check out all the little stores, because they sell cute things and good gifts, expecially the grocery, which is new and has lots of locally made foods.
while you're in blowing rock, you may as well check out the outlets, aka the only place to actually shop anywhere near boone besides old navy. they have a pretty solid j crew, and banana republic can have nice stuff, and gap is always good for the basics. (i bought a pair of jeggings that i'm preeeetty excited about.)
for dinner: COYOTE KITCHEN. this is what we've all been waiting for. absolutely order sweet potato fries and sweet plantains. they have these things called boats, which are basically bowls of deliciousness, and you can also order canoes, which are half sizes. the restaurant is tiny but i really like the ambiance. you will leave so, so satisfied. i promise.
again with the going out for a drink and the anna/danielle alternative, but this time it was girl most likely and cantaloupe. the movie was really, really good. it's on netflix, which i tend to be hesitant about, but i thoroughly loved it. great characters, great story, great great. especially the brother. and darren criss.
alright puppies, your 48 hours are about up and it's almost time to leave. but first! swing by boone bagelry. you can get my favorite, which is a blueberry bagel toasted with butter, or you can do something a little more... interesting. and and and! don't leave town before stopping at stickboy for the number one best baked goods. i recommend the oatmeal chocolate chip and molasses cookies, but really, you can't go wrong here.
so that's it! two days in boone, north carolina. what did i miss?
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