Heading home from the chillier weather

October 20

We woke to rain. sigh. It was forecasted but we still hoped. a good omen - as we began to/ load the car, the rain stopped and the sun sort of glimmered behind the clouds.

We left Persimmon Creek with good memories and plans to return in a year. All was good, despite the realization that we were intimidated by the stove insert in the fireplace, a minor hiccup in the whole week.

The rain was never torrential, mostly nasty heavy drizzle Them just as we drove out of metropolitan Atlanta, BANG!!! A rock clipped Rhoda’s windshield just out of her line of sight. she decided to drive on.

One more stop in Georgia - the Cracker Barrell in Tifton. hey, we had to acknowledge Letreze’s favorite on-the-road eatery!!


We couldn’t end this mini-vacation without one final quilt shop stop at Fabric Art in Lake City. We each found stuff we just couldn’t live without.

I know when I pullled into the garage at 4606, I was tired; Rhoda must have been exhausted!!!!  I consider the trip a win in all aspects, not the least of which is she and I are proved we can travel together pretty much equitably. Looking forward to 2019!!!

Heading to chillier weather - Day 8

October 19

We are up and out the door on our way to Hiawassee, GA to visit my cousins Charles and Rebecca Camp.

Good day for driving, clear and chilly. We arrive in the town with no surprises, the the GPS takes us up Frog Pond Road. It resembles a mountain goat path in the Pyrenees! I was silent the entire drive so Rhoda could concentrate on navigating the hellish turns, uphill gradient narrow road and no guard rails. When we got to the top, we encountered a DEAD END!

I phoned Charles and we were informed we had turned one left too soon, so BACK DOWN we went. Me still quiet except for talking to Charles on the cell phone speaker.

Despite its many twists and turns, Ramey Mountain Road was not quite as harrowing as it was wide enough for a white line divider and had guard rails. Rhoda was breathing a bit easier until we came to the Camp's driveway. It's a 19 degree up gradient with two turns. We each almost cried. Rhoda is a trooper, she and her car made it to the piece of flat land at the top and we breathed for the first time in several minutes.

I had a rude awakening. For decades when the Camps spoke of "our place in Hiawassee," I envisioned this rural cabin with a loft from a small childhood memory of a trip. The reality is a beautiful home of over 3000 square feet with a great deck and a fabulous view of Chatuge Lake. See the read marker to your left for the site of their home.

After our visit, we headed back down the driveway and sped on toward Helen, over yet another mountain. This was a much less stressful trip. We arrived in Helen to find Oktoberfest in full swing. We met Rhoda's friends, lunch under the bridge at The Troll Cafe, walked a bit, shopped and bit and headed home basically pleased with our day.

As we drove over another mountain, we passed a sign noting the Appalachian Trail was up head. We turned off and walked a very, very tiny bit on the trail, just so we could say we'd done it.  We decided this was almost worth the harrowing experiences of Frog Pond Road and the Camp driveway.

We got home and fell into bed, read to head back to Florida, were friends informed us the 90's weather had finally vanished.

Heading to chillier weather - Day 7

Yesterday, I forgot to mention the fabulous railroad museum in Bryson City! My favorite diorama was this one. My Mom's father wold have spent the entire day there!!

I was immediately brought back to the Lionel train set up in our cellar on Summer Street in Danvers. I spent hours down there day-dreaming of traveling. My version of Sam Clemens and the Mississippi River daily steamboat!



October 18

We followed out plan and drove to Franklin, NC. Rhoda has fond memories of this town.

First stop was Sassy Stitches. A nice quilt shop, not extraordinary but nice. I bought two quilt-as-you-go casserole carriers on Rhoda's recommendation. Holiday gifts!

I also noted this fabulous flower from the sales lady's garden. I wish they grew in Florida as the blooms are striking.

Second stop was A Stitch in Time. Marvelous shop with excellent staffers. I bought a small US map panel that Sassy Stitches was sold out of; I plan to make a map-your-travels hanging for Caleb. I even bought little car emblems for him to designate states he's visited.

We decided to lunch at Root + Barrell on the main street. We THOUGHT it would be nice to sit down and eat. the food was fabulous but we waited 38 minutes from the time we ordered until our food arrived. Mostly my fault as I decided to try a Drunken Chicken Sandwich.

When Rhoda asked the hostess, we learned the food here is made from scratch after the order is given.

Life is full of lessons! But just look at this "sandwich"!

I was so stuffed afterward that I didn't even want to walk around the cute downtown, so we headed off to a yarn shop Rhoda had found.

Silver Threads and Golden Needles is wonderful. We spent nearly an hour there. It's small but the atmosphere is conducive to knitters' chatting! I found the small basket for my kitchen that I'd be unable to locate previously.

We headed back over the mountains intending to spend Friday packing and getting ready to travel again on Saturday.

Then, Cousin Rebecca returned my phone call from earlier in the week. We discovered she and Charles were in Hiwasee getting their place ready to sell. Rhoda offered to drive there so we could have a visit, then called her friends who live in Jasper, GA and we arranged to meet them in Helen, GA for lunch.

Then like two mad women, we sort and packed everything to be ready to leave Saturday morning…a horse we intended to take all of tomorrow working our way through, ending this vacation on a leisurely note.

Heading to chillier weather - Days 5 and 6

Yesterday while in Bryson City, we noticed ads for the Great Smokey Mountain Railroad. Back at Persimmon Creek, Rhoda investigated on-line and booked us on the Narration Car for tomorrow.

October 16

Today we relaxed and stitched as it was a kind of drizzly and Rhoda was recovering from her first (and only) Bojangles biscuit (tasted at my urging)...I never knew she had issues with butter. I thought my inability to eat nuts was bad, but no butter!! That just sucks!

We worked on our Scrabble board projects. She stuck with it, I crapped out after a bit and made two of the draw-string bags I need for holiday gifts.

In the afternoon, cabin fever struck, so we trekked into Murphy to Bless My Stitches. I walked in and realized this was a shop we visited a couple of years ago during a shop hop. The owner remembered the VW cutout I posed in back in 2014!!

We noticed a quilt made of this fabulous Alexander Henry Zombie Drive-in fabric. The shop was out so we immediately ordered some for next year! Order it yourself; I found about a dozen sites besides Amazon that sell it.




October 17

Once again we woke early and headed over the mountains to Bryson City. Arriving early, we strolled the Main Street, shopping a bit at the Loose Moose and enjoying a latte and pumpkin muffin. The weather was fabulous, just chill enough for a sweater.

The steam engine pulling our train is one of the last remaining fuel-oil powered ones in existence, according to a conductor with whom we chatted. every time she blew her whistle, I sent a "thank you" and a wink up to Mom.

 

The tour included the site of Harrison Ford's escape from the prisoner train in The Fugitive. The remnants of the real cars are still there. 

Our train car was an original 1931 Pullman. The seats were comfortable but small and close together, even less leg room than in Coach on any airplane. People were definitely much smaller back in the day.

 Our narrator was an exceedingly charming and knowledgeable gentle named Tim who runs the Smokey Mountain story-telling Center in Bryson City. If you are ever in that area, meet him.

Heading toward chillier weather - Day 4

We decided last night to explore Great Smokey Mountains National Park.

Excellent day for driving. I love North Carolina's median plantings!!

We entered the park at Cherokee and immediately toured the Mountain Farm Museum and Oconaluftee Visitor Center. Very interesting. Jean would be tickled to see the chickens roaming the grounds, true free range birds. The cabin was rude but held a hanging quilt frame which was fascinating. (Though the interior was too dark to photo well.)

 The buggy was very cool, though I am very, very glad I did not have to travel the region's roads in it!


We walked part of  the Oconaluftee River Trail. The river is beautiful and we saw a bit of leaf color.

The path was so root-bound and uneven I was not surprised to see the posted warning signs as I would have bumped into an animal because I was looking where to put my feet.


 We ate our picnic lunch at a campsite with almost no one else there, listening to the wind blowing through the trees and birds chirping.

Then Rhoda drove up a twisty mountain road to Clingmans Dome. The scenery was gorgeous, UNTIL we got to the Dome.

 We called it a day and headed back down the mountain to Persimmon Creek. Rhoda pulled off so I could get a snap of a bit of history, which is just before the turn to the cabin road.

Heading toward chillier weather - Day 3

Recuperating from 2 days on the road, we organized our stuff inside the cabin for the week, stitched, walked around the "yard," Persimmon Creek cabin sits at the base of a 3.5 acre lot that runs up hill in the Tusquitee Region of the Nantahala National Forest. Lots nature to see. Persimmon Creek itself babbled right below the deck outside my bedroom.

 Tomorrow we're off to Great Smokey Mountains National Park.

Heading toward chillier weather - Days 1-2

I’m post dating this series of entries about our stay in the mountains as I had issues with uploading from my iPad while at the cabin.

Friday, October 12

After months of anticipation, Rhoda and I are escaping Florida’s heat and humidity for the briskness of October in the Great Smokey Mountains of western North Carolina.

 We stopped at two quilts shops (I know WHAT A SHOCK!!). The first was Sew Blessed in Hahira, GA. Rhoda is a huge Ray Stevens fans so our visit was not so much about quilting as paying homage to his “Shriners’ Convention” song. We were hesitant about the reality of stopping there as Hurricane Michael had devastated so much of that area two days previously and calls to the shop elicited only busy signals. However 20 miles out, I tried again and the shop was open so off we went to tour Hahira. 

Sew Blessed is a small, neighborhood shop with friendly, courteous, interested-in-their-customers personnel. Wondering where we could lunch, we were directed “out the door to your left is The Church Café.” That recommendation was excellent. Their chicken salad is a treat I’ll have again. We sat with a couple from Valdosta who had driven over for lunch. 

Next stop Birdhouse Quilts in Byron, GA. I’ve liked this shop since Letreze and I discovered it a couple of years ago. Rhoda like it and added to her list of future stops.

Final stop for the day before we checked into the Best Western in Mcdonough,  was dinner at a Japanese Buffet. Good food, good price, clean restaurant. Even my fortune cookie was praise-worthy.

Saturday, October 13

The beds at the BW were so comfortable I overslept, jolting out of bed when Rhoda texted asking me where I was. Needless to say we missed out planned 8:30 on the road time, but all to the good. I got to try out the purple throne chair! Notice my smirk!! 

We decided to dawdle through breakfast (well, mine, anyway) the check out A Scarlet Thread. That excellent quilt shop offered some great deals and Cookie (Karen Cook) who supplied us with a town-by-town list of quilt shops to visit on our way up to Murphy. Hurray for Southern Hospitality.

I don’t have the vocabulary to adequately comment on Saturday Atlanta traffic, especially as their DOT diminished 6 lanes to 2 within fewer than 6 miles!!!

We refreshed ourselves at Strings and Stitches in Ellijay, where we met the resident poodle and lovely woman who makes hand dyed yarns. Then we wandered up to Blue Ridge intending to shop a it more, but the Fall Festival limited parking, so we opted for lunch at Blue Smoke Barbeque. Where the food was divine. And we met two guys on the tri-cycles that even I thought looked fun to ride.

We arrived at Persimmon Creek on the dot of 4. Met Adam and Isaac, the groundskeepers who gave us a list of suggested activities to explore during our stay. 

We made a quick Wal-Mart run for groceries, unpacked, and hit the sheets.