Blue Ridge Parkway Journeys

As the Blue Ridge Parkway celebrates its 75th birthday, a new half-hour documentary examines its importance to North Carolina. The documentary is called “America’s Favorite Journey” and airs Tuesday, June 29th at 7pm on WRAL-TV. The program also explores the Parkway’s past and the challenges it faces in the future and looks at the many different ways people experience and enjoy the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Here is a video of the entire program:

“America’s Favorite Journey” is the latest episode in the WRAL documentary series called Focal Point. These in-depth news documentaries focus on a single topic, bringing depth and clarity to complicated issues facing North Carolina. From North Carolina’s economy and environment, to health care and race relations – Focal Point takes viewers inside the lives of the people most affected. Focal Point tackles the tough questions with leaders and policymakers who have the power to effect change.

NBC’s popular Weekend TODAY show host Jenna Wolfe and her crew visited the Blue Ridge Parkway April 26, 27, and 28 to film the Parkway experience as part of a series about America’s favorite roadways. Legendary Route 66 and the Pacific Coast Highway, or Route 1, are also included in the series.

The Blue Ridge Parkway story aired Sunday, May 16th, during which several Parkway destinations were highlighted. Below is a video recording from The Today Show’s website. I hope you enjoy it!

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Last week we got about 8 inches of snow in Boone and about 10 inches of snow at the house (just outside of Boone). It snowed last Sunday and Monday, then got bitterly cold.

The system came in from the southeast and met up with a cold front coming in from the northwest. If you live in North Carolina and the mid-atlantic region… you know this pattern are the real snow-dumpers.

Usually, it’s the kind of snow that packs real easy. Ya’ know, the kind that you can build snowforts and snowballs out of. Well, on Wednesday it was warming up a bit and the snow was packing REALLY well. It was about 50 degrees and I told my Office Goddesses (Tanna and Diana) that we should build a snowman. Read more »

Some of you may be asking “What is a Go Blue Ridge Card?” It just so happens that this special card not only fits snugly in your wallet, but it can keep your family vacations from burning a hole in your wallet, too! Read more »

The latest addition to the Blue Ridge Book Club is Waterfalls of the Blue Ridge by Nicole Blouin, Steve Bordonaro, and Marilou Wier Bordonaro. Waterfalls are magical places – places of solitude, of serenity, of subtle power. This guidebook provides all the information you need to find these moving spectacles of water and gravity. Some are a stone’s throw from the road; others hide in the backcountry. Directions, hike distance and difficulty, and a brief history of the area accompany each description. So get out of your chair and into the woods. And don’t forget your camera: you’ll want to capture the elusive beauty found inside this must-have guidebook.