Coffee Road Trip: From the Mountains to the Sea

CoffeeCat has been enjoying North Carolina's natural beauty this fall with a fellow coffee-shop lover! Luckily, this friend loves the outdoors as much as coffee shops (if that is possible!). After a sunny fall day spent on the Blue Ridge Parkway, we drove into Boone and used our handy GPS to find a delightful coffee shop, Higher Grounds. Not only was the espresso delicious, we bought
some interesting blends of coffee to take home, and the baked treats were worth the stop, too.

Now, we are enjoying a sunny, warm(ish) weekend at Holden Beach. The trip would not be complete without a stop at Cappuccino by the Sea, a tiny coffee & gift shop on the Causeway. Hours are limited in the off-season, but we were lucky to find it open on a cold, rainy afternoon when we desperately needed a hot shot of caffeine! We were surprised to find fresh-baked treats such as pink coconut shortbread, pumpkin shortbread, and coconut-pineapple-something else yummy-covered with cream cheese Madelaine's. There's one family-style dining table in this tiny shop, so we enjoyed sitting for a spell and chatting about local goings-on with some local folks. Had it been warm and dry, we would have sat on the patio and sniffed the fresh sea air.

CoffeeCat fell in love with the coffee shop thanks to the Triad. I'm spoiled to good coffee, locally owned shops, knowledgeable owners who care about their customers, and local residents who support their neighborhood shops. So, when I travel, the first thing I have to find is a coffee shop!

Isn't life great in the coffee lane??