Travel to the Blue Ridge Parkway (Durham, Asheville: home, moving to, yard)

[Nelle152]

We are going to be visiting friends in Durham in the
spring and would like to drive home to Central Illinois by way of the Blue Ridge Parkway. How do we get there from Durham? Can you suggest places to stay going that way home to Illinois, places to dine? Looking forward to responses!

[zthatzmanz28]

BRP does not get you to Illinois. It runs from Cherokee NC northeast into Virginia along the Appalachian Mountains.

Going to Illinois would require a more westerly route.

You can go out I40 to Asheville or Waynesville or Cherokee and take the BRP north to I-77 there in Hillsville VA.

There are some really nice places along the way like Little Switzerland, Linville and others. You might get more idesa on the Western Carolina board?

[Dire Wolf]

The BRP covers a lot of distance. So it really just depends on the route you intend to take back to Illinois.

IMO the best parts are southeast of Asheville around Mt. Pisgah/Shining Rock Wilderness (check out Graveyard Fields, Devils Courthouse, views of Cold Mountain and Looking Glass Rock. Explore Highway 276 down to Brevard, etc), with my next favorite section northeast of Asheville to Blowing Rock (this gives you Linville Falls and Gorge, Mt. Mitchell, the Viaduct and more. I might actually skip the section closest to Asheville here, instead accessing I-40 near Marion). Combining Asheville or Blowing Rock into the trip can be a lot of fun, too.

But the NC sections may be way out of the way for you. In that case, there are some interesting sections in Virginia to visit, too (just not as dramatic as the NC mountains). You could head from Durham up towards Danville and hit 29, then cut over to hit the BRP however far North on it you wish to hit it. (You might also hit some interesting sites nearby like Monticello and Appomattox). Then head South on the BRP and see stuff like Peaks of Otter, Rocky Knob and Mabry Mill. If you get tired of it, you could then cut over to I-81 and take it till you get to I-77, which would probably get you moving towards home.

Best to get a map and try to narrow things down a bit.