Jonathon Engels 
[Updated November 7, 2025] Quite a few of this year’s NC Christmas events kick off on Thanksgiving weekend, with everything from Turkey Trot 5K runs to Christmas tree lighting ceremonies and holiday markets. Honestly, it’s a great time to go to Western North Carolina, have a beautiful weekend in the Blue Ridge Mountains, and get … Read more
In my 7 years of living in Western North Carolina, I’ve survived two 100-year storms (see: 10 inches of rain in less than a day), a 5.1-magnitude earthquake, and a 20-inch snow blizzard. With each new dramatic weather phenomenon, I’m brought back to what a local excavator operator said as he stared at our new, … Read more
Shenandoah National Park attracts nearly 2 million visitors a year, encompasses nearly 200,000 acres of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, and is home to the impressively scenic, 105-mile Skyline Drive. It’s a marvelous place with amazing overlooks of the surrounding wilderness. Some of the exposed rocks in Shenandoah National Park date back a billion years. Looming … Read more
Boone NC is one of our favorite mountain towns. And since my wife Emma and I live about an hour north (right off the Blue Ridge Parkway), we usually visit Boone every month or so. Downtown Boone has a great vibe, with good restaurants, cool shops, and fantastic walking routes. We also love the fact … Read more
Much like pumpkin patches and apple picking, visiting corn mazes in NC makes us feel like the glorious days of Autumn have officially arrived. The state of North Carolina has more than its fair share of vast corn fields. So it’s an ideal place to seek out kid-friendly corn mazes, as well as massive adult-sized challenges … Read more
After moving to Western NC, I fell in love with the vast array of small Blue Ridge Mountain Towns to explore. My wife Emma and I eventually built our little cabin and homestead near the towns of Wilkesboro, Elkin, Sparta, and West Jefferson. Each of them is close enough to call our own. In the … Read more
Great Smoky Mountains National Park is one of the most visited parks in the USA. It straddles the boundary of North Carolina and Tennessee, with the park headquarters located in Gatlinburg TN. The natural beauty of the Great Smoky Mountains is certainly enough of a draw on its own to bring visitors to the Tennessee … Read more
[Updated on 8/12/2025] Fall in North Carolina is a wonderful time, particularly in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where the leaves put on amazing shows and the cooler weather seems to summon us all outside. For those of us who love festivals and fairs in North Carolina, no season is more alluring than autumn! North Carolina … Read more
(Updated August 11, 2025) Without a doubt, Fall in the Blue Ridge Mountains is my favorite season. The colors start to change, the heat starts to subside, and the farm markets, apple orchards, and pumpkin patches are putting out awesome produce. Simply put, it’s the right time to be out and about, enjoying the natural … Read more
It’s insane to realize that there are two different Crabtree Falls that are commonly associated with the 469-mile Blue Ridge Parkway, but that is the world we’re living in. These two popular waterfalls get confused all the time– so much so that the Crabtree Falls page on Virginia.org (the state’s official tourism website) actually links to the … Read more
