Both guidebooks seemed to think that the small university town of Boone was worth a visit. I did not have any high expectations, but I thought that maybe I could find some decent coffee place. Boone is indeed the quintessential boring US town. To be fair, Saturday afternoon on King Street, the main drag, was quite lively, but, no, there was no coffee place. Or anything else that merited the visit. When I had dinner later the same night in Blowing Rock I ate the bar, and I chatted with the bartender, a young lady who is a student of the university in Boone. She agreed that the city nothing to write home about.