Chrysalis Cocoon: Biggie's Big Appalachian Vacation, Days #1 and #2: In And Around The Cabin in Vilas and Downtown Boone

So ... we're back! Yay! And then again ... not yay ... wish we were still there? ;)

I know, I know, everyone most wants to see most the amazing views, we'll get there :)

Mark blew out his knee a couple of weeks ago, so we had to ease into hiking, so just some views from the cabin in this post ;)

So I'm going to break this post down into sections so you can skip past anything that you don't dig. Keep in mind, these are all cell phone, so apologies for the lack of quality in some pics.

So the sections are:

1) Cabin Tour - it's a 3 BR, 2 Full Bath, FYI.
2) Amazing views from our cabin.
3) Walk Around the Neighborhood/Nearby Cabins.
4) Local Wildlife.

5) Cabin at night in the moonlight/fireworks.

6) Downtown (Old) Boone.

*Note - for non-YouTube videos (videos too short for YouTube without becoming "shorts" and thus difficult to embed) - tap twice.

Cabin Tour

Lots of people love the few pics we've shared of our cabin and want to know more about it to possible stay in as well, so here is the full tour, starting from the moment you pull up :)

So somebody remembers this place and is excited ...

Main floor/entrance ....

Aw, my loves ...

Bad, Bigfoot - BAD! No, Biggie - you may not swing from the chandelier - get down before you hurt yourself!

Sigh, pet baby bigfeet, am I right? ;)

You must excuse him, he's only lived in the wild until we adopted him a month ago - plus he's very excited about the prospect of seeing his family again here ;)

Now, that's my good little Bigfoot! Very well-behaved.

Hmm, something tells me it's a ruse and won't last ...

The painting of the three hills behind us (see pics below) over the bed was painted by the cabin owner, Kathryn :)

The way this pine is knotted it reminded me of a bunny, so I took a picture? :)

Miss Brookie in her favorite spot, the deck on the main floor. Okay, ours too ....

Video of the panoramic view from the main deck on the main floor ...

Mm-hmm, I knew it wouldn't last.

Biggie couldn't wait, he just had to see what was upstairs in the loft ....

And now on the lower level ....

Skiing is in nearby Banner Elk, Sugar Mountain and Beech Mountain, thus the old-school skis ;)

Lower level deck ...

Oh, whups ....

I was a little early, I got in the jacuzzi before 9 p.m. ;)

Amazing Views from the Cabin ....

(These are the mountains to the front of the cabin that the owner, Kathryn, painted in the painting above, over the bed :)

Walk around the neighborhood/nearby cabins ...

Wild blackberries ....

Wild black-eyed Susans ....

Local Wildlife

Luna/Moon Moth ....

Cecropia moth ....

Both species are gentle giants :)

Grapevine beetle ....

Eastern Bluebirds - at the fire pit, taken from the main deck, so forgive the distance (I tried to enlarge).

Look closely, he's on top of the triangular rock in the first two photos, in the grass in the third photo ;)

I actually tried to get a couple of videos of the couple, see if you can see the blue flashes at least lol ...

For those unaware, Eastern Bluebirds used to be plentiful but sightings are rare now, except in rural areas.

Young deer ...

There were actually three young deer together, see if you can spot them all on video (though a fair distance from the cabin) ....

Okay, look very closely at these next ones ... I managed to finally get lightning bugs/fireflies on film, I've been trying forever. The secret is, take your pics right before dark and have a light behind you ;)

The first one is a streak where it was flying, but they get better as they go. In fact, in one you can see three of them :)

The cozy cabin at nighttime ....

Slightly closer video of the Banner Elk fireworks than in the previous post, as seen from our balcony ...

Downtown (Old) Boone ...

The drive from Vilas to Boone (about 10 minutes), with Biggie in his spot for maximum viewing.

Now - first thing you need to know is that there are essentially two connected parts to Boone - downtown, the old side (with brand new Appalachian State Buildings there, as the campus is in the center of downtown, but for some reason I didn't get mny pictures of) and the new side which is very modern shopping, restaurants, etc. I was mostly interested in the older/historic, though, of course ...

My favorite little eclectic shop in Boone. People flock to Mast's General Store, but don't ... overpriced prep, basically. Even your basic T-shirt costs $55.

Boone, in Watauga County, NC, is a tiny little bright-blue dot surrounded by a sea of red. It's a little hippie college town, we love it :)

Historic Daniel Boone Inn Restaurant ...

(Just a forewarning - on every single menu in town, they have fried chicken and chicken and waffles. Don't let that stop you, most restaurants also offer farm-fresh healthy options as well).

You must try the bread from this store! Most of the restaurants in Boone - which a farm fresh and fabulous, by the way - use bread from Stick Boy Bread Company. Even the croutons on the salads are to die for.

FYI, they also have a little cafe in the newer side of town, called Stick Boy Co Kitchen - delicious breakfast, but we opted to try Melanie's, this visit, also delicious.

My sweet man ....

Biggie insisted we rep him properly, and who couldn't resist buying some bigfoot stickers?

(We find Bigfoot conspiracy hilarious - and bring Biggie along so we can tell people we saw Bigfoot ;)

And apparently, so does Boone - they named their local baseball team (non App State) after them lol ...

We started to walk along the nature preserve trail at Appalachian State, but since there is heavy vegetation, by a creek - and we left our bug spray at home - after getting bitten by about 20 a piece, we gave up this trip lol