Skip to main content

An Appalachian Hipcamp Road Trip: BBQ and Camping Next to a Tipi

They always said that Viriginia was for lovers, so it was fitting that we'd camp here someday.

We were now entering BBQ country.

The first bbq was at Due South BBQ. Brooke claimed she didn't want any pulled pork, but then helped me scarf it down. 

I wasn't quite ready for lunch yet.


We arrived at Chantilly Festival Farm a bit late, but owner David showed me the sites right away. 

While Scott got the tour, I taught Meadow how to play frisbee golf.

After seeing all of the options, we decided to pitch the tent next to the tipi frame.


After staying in rustic places for so long it was weird to be in a "real" campground with flush toilets and showers.

It would also be a completely different atmosphere if it was a summer weekend during one of the festivals.


Meadow and I kept ourselves busy while Brooke tried the showers out.

Too bad the tipi wasn't covered.


Then we decided to go into the town of Floyd for dinner. The local ice cream place was closing so we had to get some before they closed.


Apparently this is a bluegrass town and on Friday nights people can be seen dancing in the streets.

That was not the case the night we were in Floyd.

We can't say no to Mexican food.

Especially when it has a mechanical horse.

It was too nice for my taste, but we didn't have many options.

I figured I'd take advantage of the big, cloudless skies and shoot some night shots while Brooke and Meadow slept.



We also woke up with the sun to catch this beautiful sunrise.


We had to pack up early as we had to get to North Carolina.



Before heading out, we let Meadow try out the tot lot.

She got a chance to ride in front as we drove over by the woods.

We took a quick walk to see the fairy houses in the woods.





As we were about to leave Scott got a message asking if he could take photos of the campsites in the woods. I didn't realize these were back here. I still liked sleeping on top of the hill.

Apparently this is where most Hipcampers stay.


Meadow waited patiently in the car for us.

Since we skipped breakfast we were hungry right away. In town was a Hardee's. Scott was really excited to get their cinnamon raisin bisquits. I haven't had these in like 20 years.

They were as good as I'd remembered.

We got up early so we could take the scenic drive to our next location via the Blue Ridge Parkway.


We stopped at the first overlook to catch this foggy view of the mountains.

After awhile we actually got bored. I enjoyed the view from down below better than up above.

When in the South you have to stop for BBQ.

At round two of our BBQ tour we decided on the platter for two at the Peddlin' Pig. This was easily enough for four adults or a really hungry family. We filled our bellies and drove on to our lone stop in North Carolina.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Japan Family Trip - Part III: Exploring Asakusa, Akihabara, Ginza, Yanaka and Tsukiji in Tokyo

After being away even for one night it felt strange to be back in the busy city. We arrived at  the end of the line for the Tobu Nikko line,  Asakusa Station .  Then we had to walk over to the Asakusa Line which took us most of the way to our aparthotel in Asakusabashi. It may sound confusing, but Google Maps never lead us astray. We made it onto the A line train for a short ride to  Asakusabashi. The kids look pooped. Eventually we followed the road next to the Chuo Sobu Line. Restaurants and cafes are tucked into many of the railways. A clever way to bring some life to what would otherwise be a desolate space. Our last stay was at the MONday Apart. The Asakusabashi Akihabara location. We were starting to get used to slipper life. In Japan you separate your trash into burnable trash and plastic garbage. We decided to get dinner nearby at Pizzeria Buono Buono, but when we arrived there was a note on the door that they were out of pizza dough for the night. ...

Yardwork, Ikea and Pumpkins

My new parents-in-law got us a dehydrator for the wedding. Knowing we were going to be cleaning up the garden and going to farmer's market, we took a gander at our millionth kitchen device during breakfast.   Scott added granola to his oatmeal.  The oatmeal was rather bland, just the way Brooke likes it.   Scott was actually cleaning up so I had to take a quick photo of him as proof.  Scott told me he was, "putting a blanket down for Peanut," while singing. During the winter months peanut needs a warm place to peer through the window. Seeing as it was nearly November, I setup his blanket for him. Seeing as the farmers market season is dwindling down, we headed to the market...once again. The close proximity to the cities central farmer's market has to be one of the best assets of living in NoMi. We were both amazed by the bounty of produce still on sale. We quickly filled up our first bag and took it back to the car....

Japan Family Trip - Part II: Exploring the Shrines and Wilds of Nikko

We had originally planned on taking the bullet train down from Tokyo to Kyoto for a day or two. While being epically fast, it was a bit spendy for the four of us.  After talking to Brooke's coworker we settled on a two day trip to Nikko and its World Heritage Sites to break up our week in Tokyo. This turned out to be an amazing decision. The town is teaming with beauty from ancient shrines to epic waterfalls and some of the best meals we had on our trip. Kyoto didn't seem all that appealing to me when I started researching which location to go to. I too am glad we chose to head north to Nikko.  When we booked our Tobu Nikko Spacia X tickets I upgraded to the premium seats thinking that we'd be sitting facing one another. Instead we ended up with 4 individual seats, two in the first two rows and two in the last two rows. It turned out just fine with the kids sitting in front of us in two groups. Meadow and I were seated at the front of the car. Once in awhile we'd pas...