Nice Surprise, Price Surprise
Blue Ridge Trip '24 #29
Back at the hotel in Boone, NC - Fri, 6 Sep 2024. 8pm
We enjoyed a taking-it-easy afternoon in our hotel room today, just kind of vegging on the sofa and bed after getting back from Green Mountain Falls. It's not that that hike was difficult- I mean, Green Mountain Falls wasn't even a hike, it was a drive-to spot- or that our hike this morning at Glen Burney was that tough. Glen Burney was a legit hike, it just wasn't tough. Or at least it shouldn't have been. What's really kicked our butts is the cumulative effect of all the hiking we've done the past few days.
As it started to get dark this evening we decided we should get dinner. We weren't sure we deserved a full meal after a big lunch after hiking Glen Burney and then taking it easy the rest of the afternoon. So we decided we could order light, like I'd get a small burger and share fries with Hawk, at the Come Back Shack.
While dining out the past few nights in Boone I've been struck by how cheap prices are. We don't have spendy tastes in dining to start with. We've eaten twice at a burger shack and once at a diner the past three nights. But even so we've been pleasantly surprised how the bill has come in well under what we're accustomed to from living in California.
Gas is cheap, too. We've filled up the past few days at $3.09/gal. Some places we drove past in less touristy areas 3 nights ago were as low as $2.89. Back home the cheapest gas is $3.99/gal, and that's at Costco. Conventional discount gas stations are probably $4.39 and name-brand stations likely around $4.79.
Back at the hotel in Boone, NC - Fri, 6 Sep 2024. 8pm
We enjoyed a taking-it-easy afternoon in our hotel room today, just kind of vegging on the sofa and bed after getting back from Green Mountain Falls. It's not that that hike was difficult- I mean, Green Mountain Falls wasn't even a hike, it was a drive-to spot- or that our hike this morning at Glen Burney was that tough. Glen Burney was a legit hike, it just wasn't tough. Or at least it shouldn't have been. What's really kicked our butts is the cumulative effect of all the hiking we've done the past few days.
As it started to get dark this evening we decided we should get dinner. We weren't sure we deserved a full meal after a big lunch after hiking Glen Burney and then taking it easy the rest of the afternoon. So we decided we could order light, like I'd get a small burger and share fries with Hawk, at the Come Back Shack.
While dining out the past few nights in Boone I've been struck by how cheap prices are. We don't have spendy tastes in dining to start with. We've eaten twice at a burger shack and once at a diner the past three nights. But even so we've been pleasantly surprised how the bill has come in well under what we're accustomed to from living in California.
Gas is cheap, too. We've filled up the past few days at $3.09/gal. Some places we drove past in less touristy areas 3 nights ago were as low as $2.89. Back home the cheapest gas is $3.99/gal, and that's at Costco. Conventional discount gas stations are probably $4.39 and name-brand stations likely around $4.79.