10 Suggestions for Valentine's Day at Healing Springs!

Valentine's Day is very much one of my favorite days of the year. For us, it is a reason to celebrate how long we have been together and what we feel makes our relationship special. I especially love that I get to spend this day celebrating the individual members of our families as well. Let's spread some love during the month of February! 

Here, in the mountains, Valentine's Day can be a chilly day, but we have lots of cabins with cozy fireplaces that you can cuddle up to with your loved one. For folks who want to go out and about 

Appalachian Ski Mountain offers a weekend filled with activities for the whole family! 2 for 1 ticket deals, special hours, fireworks and moonlight skating are just some of what they offer. More details can be found appskimtn.com

Drive up Mount Jefferson and enjoy a short hike via the Rhododendron Trail to Luther Rock and be rewarded with great views!  

Are you looking to try something as a couple that will challenge you both?? Try the Discovery Course at Rock Dimensions. Located at the Blowing Rock Conference Center, reservations are required. 

Enjoy a horseback ride at Moses Cone State Park with Vx3 Trail Rides. They offer small group rides that are about 2 1/2 hours long. They are open all year. 

What about renting an ATV/ UTV for a day in the Appalachian Mountains? Check out what Appalachian Outdoor Adventures offers for a couples "date". 

For a more relaxing option, what about a massage from Thrive Bodyworks, located in West Jefferson? 

If you enjoy dabbling in the arts - try one of the wonderful workshops offered by the Florence Thomas Art School - Valentine's weekend offers a Painting with Raney class, an Oregami Workshop and a chance to create your own Barn Quilt! 

Take a short drive to Abingdon's Barter Theater  and enjoy a show featuring Jill Andrews that celebrates the Appalachian influence on American Roots music.  

Enjoy the High Country Wine Trail  with wines made from grapes grown in the Appalachian High Country. 

Stop by Carolina Country Wines in West Jefferson, sample some wines and bring a bottle back to enjoy in your cabin in front of a fireplace!

The Downtown West Jefferson Merchants Association has put together a list of merchants who are offering specials for the weekend. Everything from discounts on meals to merchandise, all located in charming West Jefferson. 

Boondocks Brewing will have a special Valentine's Day menu in place for the weekend. New River Taproom and Eatery is offering a special selection of dinners for two with 3 courses. Craft Bistro will have a special menu planned as well. 

Have you seen our Tree Houses?

Having always thought that tree houses were a neat concept, we of course had to build a couple of them! Have you seen our two tree houses?  Our Tree Top Cabin was certainly the most challenging to build. With a live Poplar tree in the center, the structure is suspended around the live tree, with room left for the tree to grow and move. 

The building of the structure was accomplished with a lot of help from a number of our wonderful interns under the supervision of my partner, Tom. In hindsight, I can say that building a hexagon is challenging!! In typical construction, you think about the size of the lumber that you will have and factor that into what you are building. With a hexagon, there is a lot of wasted lumber, due to the cuts that have to be made. Not to mention the complexity of making something out of a bunch of triangles!! I can tell you that this was a challenge and involved a lot of math! 

We had a great bunch of international interns that summer and it was a lot of fun watching folks revert back to their native languages to calculate the cuts. 

 

As most projects go, it did take us a lot longer to complete it than we originally planned. But in the end, it really is a cozy, rustic getaway and many folks choose to stay in the Tree Top Cabin. 

Christmas is coming! Where are you getting your tree?

As the holidays approach, have you given any thought to where you are going to get your Christmas tree this year?? 

Nothing beats the smell and feel of a fresh cut tree. Start a new holiday tradition and come with your family to get your tree right here in Ashe County.

Did you know that Ashe County is the largest Christmas tree producing county in the United States? The County has approximately 12,000 acres of trees in production, which equals approximately 20 million Christmas trees!

Christmas tree farms provide over 700 local jobs year around and adds an additional 2,000 jobs during the tree harvest season. Christmas trees and greenery contributes more than $85 million annually to the Ashe County economy. 

Most of the trees that you see growing in the fields are Fraser firs, which are native to Ashe County. The average 8 foot tree is between 10 and 12 years old. 

There are 10 different Choose and Cut tree farms in Ashe County to choose from. Some of them open as early as November 15th, with the remainder opening around November 20th. This link will take you to the map of the different farms with their hours and information. 

Many of the farms offer refreshments and snack. Some even have live music and Santa! 

Come to Ashe County and start your holidays off with a fresh cut Christmas tree!

It's Fall Y'All!!

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year :) From stoking up a campfire to enjoy the crackling flames to relaxing and enjoying the spectacular colors of our surrounding mountains, there is something for everyone with Fall in the High Country. 

Colors start to change at the higher elevations first, so plan your leaf viewing accordingly! Late September to the beginning of October will see color changes in elevations that are 5,000 feet above sea level and higher. 

Grandfather Mountain with its' Mile High Swinging Bridge, located in Linville has breathtaking views, some great hiking, and a wonderful nature museum. 

The Blue Ridge Parkway is always a great choice for breathtaking vistas and a scenic drive through the Fall colors. It offers a variety of hiking trails and picnic spots. 

Linville Falls located at milepost 316.3 on the Blue Ridge Parkway is the perfect area for hiking, enjoying the scenic views and hiking to the stunning falls. The Falls have two different hiking trails. An easy trail leading to the upper Falls area and a more difficult trail leading to the larger lower Falls area. 

Kick off Fall in style with the Ashe County Museum of History - Autumn Leaf Festival - on Saturday, September 28th at the Museum. There will be historic demonstrations, children's activities, food, music, dancing and more! The Festival is free and open to everyone from 10 am to 2 pm. 

West Jefferson Antiques Fair this weekend!

For us the West Jefferson Antiques Fair marks the beginning of fall. This charming festival takes over downtown West Jefferson as it runs down the center of main street and into the surrounding side streets. 

With a wide variety of offerings this is an outdoor antiques fair featuring numerous vendors of antiques (old and modern), collectibles, primitives and rare hard to find relics. There is also live music and several food vendors.  

The festival is Friday the 20th from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday the 21st from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Stroll through downtown West Jefferson and enjoy!

Whats happening this weekend near West Jefferson!

After another week of wonderful weather, we have some fun and interesting activities coming up over the weekend. 

Did you know that the Mountains to Sea Trail stretches almost 1200 miles across North Carolina? The trail system is celebrating its 42 birthday over the weekend and will be offering hikes guided by NC State Park Ranger at Jeffress Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway on Saturday, September 7th at 10 am. 

Our guests really enjoy shopping in West Jefferson and exploring the variety of shops, art galleries, restaurants and breweries.  The West Jefferson Business Association is sponsoring the annual Scarecrow Contest. Scarecrows will be up by September 20th and stay up through November. Stroll around and pick your favorite!

In mentioning West Jefferson, we would be remiss if we didn't mention a new restaurant downtown - stop by Craft Bistro led by Chef Jared Yelton and and savor some of their wonderful menu items.  Their scrumptious menu is here.