Over the River and Through the Woods, Part 1

Last weekend we went on our 2nd annual trip to Boone, NC to get our Christmas tree. I have always loved a real tree and have always loved to find and cut one down ourselves. My favorite type of Christmas tree, a frasier fir, does not grow in our part of NC, but fortunately we are able to drive 3-4 hours to the mountains for a fun family trip to get a tree. RRR tree farm in Boone offers package deals for one night of hotel stay and a tree, so we usually go up one day and come back the next for a whirlwind trip.

Last year we were able to go snow tubing during our trip, but this year due to rain earlier the previous week, they were not able to make enough snow to be open. Which was ironic since it was freezing cold and snowing when we arrived.

So we decided to go out to the original 125 year old Mast General Store in Valle Crucis. There are other Mast General Stores all over the NC mountains, but this is the original. It was really like going back in time when I entered the store, I loved looking at all the different items they had.

This is the front of the store.

Lots of canned foods, preserves, syrups, sauces as far as the eye could see.
Well not really. But there were alot.

The store really gave the feel like it hadn't changed much in 125 years.
One thing I found was a barrel filled with different kinds of bacon at the end of this counter.

Inside the store was the Valle Crucis post office, still in operation.

The back of the store, where the parking was. Which they needed alot of that day.

Everything was so pretty with the snow.

The back porch.

This was the Mast General Store Annex. Which had candy and clothing.
We went a little overboard buying the old fashioned candy.

Later that afternoon we went to eat at the Dan'l Boone Inn. We got there at around 4:30pm to beat the rush and had to wait 1 hour! It was worth it though.

They had lots of antiques on the wall as decoration. They serve food family style. There is no menu, just all you can eat good country cooking. The cast iron pot is full of yummy vegetable soup. In the summer they serve fresh salad.

Then they roll a cart to your table and fill it with food.

Fried chicken, smothered steak, mashed potatoes, homemade fried apples, coleslaw, green beans, corn, country ham biscuits and plain biscuits.

And then just when everyone is ready to explode they bring dessert. The choices were peach cobbler, strawberry shortcake or chocolate cake with white icing. I was half way into it before I remembered to take a picture. Oops. Sorry, chocolate cake makes me forget myself.

Come back tomorrow when I will post about the rest of our trip.