NC Happenings (Formerly This Weekend in North Carolina)

Oh my goodness have we missed these posts or what?  Well some of you have!  I heard you loud and clear and BOOM I pulled together my resources and here it is fresh and ready for 2016.  Just a little change to the posts - instead of every week I will post them biweekly.  So if you have an event to add to my list (which I really loved last year) then get it to me at least two weeks ahead of the actual date of the event.  Also, I need to know the location, cost, and time!  Last year I received info on events but it would leave out critical info like the exact location!

So, guys, here is what is happening in North Carolina!

Asheville Fringe Arts Festival 

January 21-24

Come see the arts in a new way - on the fringe.  This is a creative and spectacular way to see fine arts in a new and more creative light.  Each day the festival will offer new and exciting takes on various art forms from dance to mixed media.  A perfect weekend for "culturally adventurous" audiences.

Here's the link to the Asheville Fringe Arts Festival.

9th Annual Winter Warmer Beer Festival (Asheville)

January 23rd

This event starts at 3pm and will run until 7pm.  Get your brews on in Asheville this weekend.  This festival is held at the US Cellular Center and tickets generally go fast so order online as quick as you can.  Link below.  What to expect at this brews cruise event?  Lots of local beer (over 20 breweries!) and the highlight is a local brewery to Hershey, Pennsylvania:  The Troegs Brewing Company.  This event helps support the sustainability of the mountain region - saving the forests and beauty.  Come drink for a good cause - but do it responsibly.  Here's your link.

The High Point Theater presents:  Live From Nashville

January 23rd

8p-10p

I have said it before and I will say it again - I love the High Point Theater.  This weekend they are offering up a show that country/Americana music lovers will really want to venture out to.  A group of twelve peformers (dancers, musicians, and singers) will take you through country music and entertainment starting in the early days of Hank Sr and going on up to Taylor Swift (prior to the official crossover.)  This event is family friendly and will have you dancing and singing in your seat.  Get tickets here!

Blowing Rock Winterfest

January 28th - January 31st

All Day Events

WinterFest in Blowing Rock has always been about giving visitors reasons to celebrate rather than hibernate a month after the holidays end. And its always been about fire and ice, in their many forms: bonfires, chili cook-offs, s’mores and warm hospitality, contrasted by the icy Polar Plunge into Lake Chetola, ice carving demonstrations, skiing and the crisp, January cold of the High Country winter. WinterFest 2016, which has been named a AAA “Top Pick” and a Top 20 Event by Southeastern Tourism Society, runs between Thursday, January 28 and Sunday, January 31. And the 18th annual celebration is adding new fire- and ice-themed events, including a firewalk demonstration on Saturday and expanded ice carving displays Friday and Saturday. On Friday, ice carvings will be placed throughout the downtown for an Ice Walk, and on Saturday there will be an ice carving competition among several culinary schools. For details, visit blowingrockwinterfest.com/events. In addition to the new events, activities include the Chilly Chili Cook-off, Polar Plunge, WinterFeast, events at BRAHM, Snowflake Parade, hayrides, bonfires, Shop ‘Til You Drop, WinterPaws dog show, Little Miss WinterFest, WinterFest Tasting & Charity Auction and WinterFashion show.  The fashion show will feature tips and conversation in an interactive, friendly and casual environment. For more information or ticket purchases, visit blowingrockwinterfest.com or call 877.295.7801. Blowing Rock WinterFest is organized by the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce and presented by Hendrick Northlake Luxury Auto Mall.

7th Annual Yadkin Winter Reds

January 30th - January 31st

Yadkinville

The Seventh Annual “Yadkin Winter Reds” wine event will be held January 30 - 31, 2016 and February 27 - February 28, 2016.  Enjoy two weekends of wonderful wine and food in Yadkin County.   Looking for a day trip or a weekend getaway, then come visit Yadkin County and enjoy the annual Yadkin Winter Reds Event sponsored by the Town of Yadkinville and Yadkin County Tourism Development Authorities. All Yadkin County wineries will feature their "Winter Red" (2 oz. pour) paired with a 4 oz. serving of a tasty food item. The hours will be Saturday Noon to 5 pm and Sunday 1 pm to 5 pm. Ticket price to attend will be $20.00 per person per weekend.  Each ticket-holder will be assigned to a starting winery where they will receive their souvenir glass and a map. Ticket is good for both days on the selected weekend you choose - one visit per winery. Limited ticket event for both weekends.   Tickets: click here!

Getting Into The Great Outdoors: Our 1st Adventure Continued

Post 3 on our camping excursion.

I Got A Car.

Saturday greeted us with rain.

I believe it greeted me first by saying: go piss before your sheets are done for.

I threw on my jeans and grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste.  I may be alone here but brushing my teeth makes me feel like a new person.

Happy news alert!  As I walked up the hill to the bathroom I noted that the rain had stopped!  What was hitting the camper was dripping from the trees around us and not from the actual sky.  Perhaps this 30% deal my husband had mentioned was on point...perhaps.

After breakfast (muffins of course) we took off for a daytime stroll of the park.  We were hoping to get on a trail and do a little hiking.  Sadly, the gate attendant said there were no trails to use on that piece of the campground.  He said that they had not been properly maintained and he couldn't advise us to use them.

Because of all the rain the playgrounds were mush.

I started getting aggravated.  We'll call it part mama bear part PMS-ing broad.

Once back to the camper we loaded up in the car and went to the main area of the campground.  The welcome center had some good things to offer the kids (and us).  We spent time in the museum and learned that when you retire in Florida you move to North Wilkesboro to work as a volunteer at dam & reservoir.  You also learn that Wilkesboro flooded back in the day and that is why the army moved in to build a dam.

The hubby had found a few trails to hike while in the welcome center. Our next adventure consisted of going to the trail head and taking off.  Once we got there (and out of the car) the rains started again.

Back in the car and down the road.  Or should I say....

Up the road we go!

My lovely husband drove past our entrance to the campground we were staying at.  If it was going to rain we were going to go on an adventure....somewhere.

I must say I'm pretty good at navigating and finding my way.  Its just a talent I am blessed with.  Until I met my husband I thought all people had this inborn ability to navigate with common sense.  I was wrong.  It is a blessing the man can get to and from work without a wrong turn.  Ha!  Just kidding love ya.

Up, up and away we went.  Leaving Wilkes County and entering Caldwell County.  Caldwell County was a narrow road that was winding like a black snake.  The homes were out of a bad movie based in West Virginia and we felt as if we were on the road to nowhere.

Eventually we stumbled on a place called Fort Defiance.  Now, I'm not a military buff or into the Revolutionary War, 1812 War, Civil War, or anything like that. My husband is equipped with testosterone so his interest was a bit peaked.  He pulled in and I was just hoping they sold snacks.  {This sudden road trip was done with zero diapers and zero snacks.  You can imagine how hungry we were having only eaten a few blueberry muffins four hours earlier.}

We pull up to this Ft. Defiance place and there is an old home and a primitive building beside it.  The hubs and daughter get out.  Since the baby was asleep I hung out in the car begging my cell phone to find some miraculous service.

Guess what I learned when they returned to the car?

There is no fort at Fort Defiance.

What?

No Fort.

It is just some old dead white man's house who was all about killing some British Loyalists during the Revolution.  He named his damned house Fort Defiance.

I bet his neighbors made the crazy sign when his name was mentioned back in the day.  I bet it was complete with rolling eyes and coo coo being mouthed silently.

Next we stumbled upon a place called The Patterson School.  I had never heard of this place before and lets be honest I only live like three counties away.  Of course good ole Wikipedia was down so I couldn't quite figure out this place.  We didn't stop either but now I was wondering just what this school was.  It looked very old and very shut down.

It turns out this school was founded in 1909 as an agriculture school for mountain boys.  I kid you not.  It started with roughly 19 boys enrolled and grew to having 200 boys enrolled.  It is no longer a school but more of a learning center for students in Caldwell and neighboring counties.  Check out their website for more information....its kinda nifty ya'll. The Patterson School Foundation

Also, from what I read about this school it turned into a development center for basketball players. Then shut down.

Our mission was now to go eat.  Screw sandwiches back at the campsite.  It was raining, it was cold, and we were going to eat something good.

You just read "it was cold" - yes it was.  On July 19th it was 60 degrees at 1:00 PM.  I was wearing jeans, a tee shirt, and a fleece jacket.  I'm built for 88 degree summers not 60-degree-no-sun-in-site summers.  I am from North Carolina not North Dakota.

Our vehicle is not the best on gas.  The next adventure would be getting gas for said vehicle.  I noticed our elevation was quite high at this point and figured we were headed to Boone.  I knew where the highway we were on would lead us to - south was Hickory and north was Blowing Rock/Boone.  Since we were going north I wasn't in shock that the high country was slowly greeting us.  We'd need gas for the trek.

What took us by surprise was that this one station we found {or came to first} had gas cheaper than anywhere else we had been.  Since petro is extremely expensive these days you know how excited you get when you see it for a cheaper than average price, right?!?!

We pulled in.  The place advertised breakfast biscuits, lunch sandwiches, and dinner pizzas.  The gas pumps were your typical 1980 somethings.  In the land of 2014 were weren't sure if we could even pay for gas with a debit card at this place.  I sat in the car with the kids while the hubby went in.

This is crazy.

Those retro pumps were ran off of an iPad.

How the hell can you make the old school, basic gas pump run off a damn iPad?  The whole store practically ran off an iPad!  My husband prepaid inside, the girl accepted his payment via iPad {nothing new} and then set up the pump via the iPad.  Are you kidding me?

We were seven miles from Blowing Rock.  When he asked the attendant where we were she couldn't answer him...just said we were 7 miles from Blowing Rock.  Cool.

The rain gently fell and the fog was out of this world....that's how you know you're in the Northern Mountains of North Carolina.  When it rains its foggy and gross.  When it does it in summer its extra gross.  Like always, the roads of the mountains are always getting expanded and repaired.  We crept along the narrow byway to get into Blowing Rock.  Finally there we decided against any local fare and to just settle for some good ole Outback.

A Blooming Onion has never tasted so wonderful.

I began making mental notes of a weekend trip, no kids, for the hubby and I.  In my mind we are staying at Green Mountain Inn and shopping at the Tanger Outlets and finding some water to canoe.  At night we're downing good drinks at an adult establishment that does not offer a kid's menu.

After a yummy lunch we headed to Boone and then to 421 for a quicker trip back to the camper.

----

When we arrived back it was still nasty and wet and more rain on the way.

Screw it all.  We packed everything up and our daughter cried the entire time.

Our neighbors did the same.

See, after our arrival back to the camper from our adventure our bedding was wet.

Un-freakin'-cool.

So yes....we unpopped the pop up and hitched her up and came home.