For my sister’s 27th birthday, we went to North Carolina with 18 other friends/family members. It was a trip of a lifetime. There was something for everyone, including all DF/GF options for my sister. Itinerary is located below the photos. Enjoy!
Where we stayed: Elk Creek Hideway and Whispers Pine Lodge
to book these cabins: contact Jackie 321-536-0141
When: last week of February
Monday: I decided to drive with one of my sister’s friends. We drove from MA to NC and made it to the cabins by 5 PM.
Most of the group had already arrived and had picked up Mellow Mushroom pizza from Downtown Boone which was delicious, especially after a full 14 hour drive day. We then had a dip in the hot tub and stream (it was freezing but felt great afterwards). I had brought ingredients to make myself a cake so I did that and we had that with drinks once she arrived that night.
Tuesday: Some of the group went to Sugar Mountain to snowboard/snowski. Four of us girls went to the Biltmore. The drive was 2 hours from the cabins and we had arrived a tad later than we wanted but we made it work. We explored the Biltmore House ($57/person) and then did some shopping in the stores attached to the house. We wanted to check out the Village aka the winery so we got over there with an hour to spare before they closed. I would suggest making reservations ahead of time for the free wine tastings as long as covid rules are in place. We had wine, cheese, and the most amazing hummus called Roots and is local to NC. If we had arrived to the village earlier, I would have like to have lunch and ice cream at the Creamery there in the village. There’s always next time! We stopped at a local grocery store and wiped them out of seltzers and wine pretty much. We went back to the cabins for a nice dinner and chilled with the rest of the group.
Wednesday: We did a workout together on the deck and went for a 2 mile walk after since it was such a beautiful day. My sister wanted to spend the day drinking in the hot tub so she did that with one of her friends while my mom and I went into Boone to shop (30 min drive from the cabins). We got some local goodies as well as candy at the Mast General Store as well as some cute clothes from stores like Lucky Penny and Common Good Co. After shopping our way down King Street, my mom and I headed back to the cabins. I joined my sister and her friend in the hot tub where we drank and danced until it got dark. We all had dinner together that night and had a big bonfire.
Thursday: I helped my sister do a Kygo inspired photoshoot with her brother in law and his gf. It was magical! We all then went snow tubing at Hawksnest (1 hr from cabin) which was such a blast($34/person). That whole area is a blast including tobogganing! A group of us went shooting on one of the family properties after tubing. We played music, had drinks, and had bojangles until the moon started to come up over the tree line. You can’t get more southern than that!
Friday: My sister’s birthday! We started the day off with mimosas and presents. We were supposed to go hiking on Grandfather Mountain and go on the swinging bridge but it was closed due to the weather. We ended up going to the Appalachian Mountain Brewery to celebrate. We brought pizza for the group from Mellow Mushroom and a flourless chocolate torte birthday cake from Sticky Boy Bakery. We surprised us with all of us wearing Mickey ears (she hates Disney) and we made her wear my princess crown from my 30th birthday this past year lol. We headed back to the house around 6:30 PM and drank and played pool at the cabin the rest of the night.
Saturday: The whole lot of us (about 8 left who didn’t leave yet) went snowskiing/snowboarding at Sugar Mountain together. We rented our gear from Extreme Rentals across the street which costs about $49 to rent boots/skis/poles. The passes for the mountain cost around $61/person. Because it had been pretty warm that week, the slopes were icy in areas but mainly just slushy. We stayed at the mountain until 5 PM to enjoy the band that was playing outside. By this point, we were starving. We returned our gear and drove to Blowing Rock for dinner. We put our name in at Tower Tavern and walked around the town until we got the text saying that our table was ready. That food is what we all needed after a tiring day at the mountain. I highly recommend checking out Blowing Rock. Boone is more of a college vibe town and Blowing Rock more grown up. There are cute lights on the buildings during the winter months, and I personally just thought it was adorable.
I’m glad that we had more than a few days to explore this part of North Carolina. The cabins we stayed at are at the base of the mountain which is beautiful but it does take time to get places. There were activities for everyone. We had three cabins on the same property which was convenient and made it feel like we had our own little town.
I had no idea how beautiful the Blue Ridge Mountains are. I had never seen anything like them before. If you have never seen them with your own eyes, put this part of NC on your list of places to see. It's the perfect getaway for a girlfriends trip, a romantic one, or a big family trip like ours.
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