Blowing Rock, NC hosts a wonderful festival known as WInterfest. This year the 14th annual festival took place from January 26-January 29 and my family and I had the opportunity to take part in this special experience.
The festival kicked off on Thursday with a special dinner known as WinterFeast. The dinner featured food prepared by Blowing Rock’s best chefs and was held at Chetola Resort. Following the dinner, there was a beer tasting event at the local eatery Foggy Rock Restaurant.
Friday’s Winterfest activities were scheduled for the afternoon, so my family and I decided to check out the winter sporting activities available at Sugar Mountain (about a 30 minute drive from Blowing Rock). The weather was quite uncooperative. It was cold, but not freezing, and there was a gentle rain falling so we were not hopeful about our participation in sporting activities. Upon arrival, we went to the tubing area so that our 3 year old daughter could experience sliding down a hill in the snow. The area was wide enough for 5 tubing lanes, but only 3 were open due to the unseasonably warm weather. We spent about an hour sliding down the hills on the tubes and had a great time despite the weather. The smile on my daughter’s face was well worth being out in the cold rain!
Skiing was next on the agenda. The slopes were quite slushy but my husband and father-in-law were up for the challenge of skiing on this less than ideal surface. After almost two hours on the slopes, they returned to the lodge and said they had a great time. So, you don’t need perfect conditions to be perfectly content participating in winter sports!
After a quick stop into the Mast General Store and Candy Barrel in Valle Crucis, we headed back to Blowing Rock. We made it back in time to enjoy free hot chocolate that was available downtown as part of the Winterfest amenities. That evening Blowing Rock School’s PTO hosted a spaghetti dinner and bingo event. We opted out of this one to sample the cuisine at the Foggy Rock Restaurant which had been highly recommended by locals. Foggy Rock proved to be a superb choice for dinner with its wide array of exceptional cuisine.
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