Sunny Day in Tennessee

Today started out foggy and rainy, but soon became warm and sunny. The temperature "soared" up into the high 50s/low 60s so we decided to take a little road trip "up north." We have been wanting to pick up a geocache in Tennessee so we could add that state to our repertoire and decided that today was the perfect day to do it!! Tennesse is only about 20 miles north of here.

We took the dogs along even though Shelby usually gets a little carsick when we're on the curvy back roads. She didn't get sick this time, but spent most of the trip with her face next to ours, licking her lips and swallowing non-stop!! Ah, the sweet smell of dog breath! Twiggy, as usual, fell asleep.

I took my camera along, but the sun goes down behind the mountains so early this time of year that the lighting was never really good enough to warrant a picture so I never even got it out of the case. You'll just have to take my word for it, the scenery was beautiful! Even with the leaves off of the trees, the mountains are still majestic. The silvery trunks of the trees stand out in contrast to the darker branches and every so often patches of towering pines added a hint of green to the gray, reddish-browns of the hillsides. Most of the roads we chose traveled right along beside wide, rocky creek beds with cascading waterfalls and always on the banks were the deep green leaves and twisting trunks of the native azaleas. I am looking forward to traveling these roads in the spring when the flowers come into full bloom. Then I will definitely take pictures!!

We had a great New Year's Eve and Day down here. We spent the evening in one of the cabins with new friends: our boss, Ande, the maintenance man, Matt, and a couple who camp here frequently, Bob and Karen. We had take-out chinese food, which was delicious!

Then, on New Year's Day, we spent the afternoon at a piece of property in Weaverville, north of here, that Bob and Karen own and are planning to build a house on someday soon. It's a lovely hillside property with a beautiful creek running through it. I did take my camera along and took some pictures of our visit.

We also visited with their neighbor, who they had bought the property from. He happens to be the half brother of the man who owns our campgrounds!! He and his wife had us in their home and were extremely gracious hosts! We enjoyed seeing Janice's Christmas decorations, and the guys certainly enjoyed taking a peek at Dave's replica Shelby Cobra kit car. It was a little 2-seater convertable stick shift and looked like it would be a blast to drive on the wind-y roads down here!!!

When we got back to the camper, I fixed pork chops, sauerkraut and smashed potatoes for Steve and I. It was very tasty!

Here's a picture I took of our little party keeping warm beside the campfire on Bob & Karen's property. Ande's on the left, then Karen, Bob and Steve.

Next is a shot of their creek with the little shed they've built up on the hill. They put a covered porch and a swing overlooking the creek. It's very relaxing to hear the sound of the creek babbling over the rocks!

This is a picture of the neighboring farmer's barn that I thought looked old and interesting....

Yesterday was my birthday and after doing a little cleaning in the morning, we took the dogs for a hike at the Arboretum. I think everyone in Asheville who owns a dog or a bike had the same idea!! People around here LOVE the outdoors and never miss an opportunity to enjoy it! The weather started out fairly nice, but we did walk through a little sprinkle the last 2 miles back to the parking lot. We were thankful that it never rained hard because we weren't prepared for it!

For my birthday dinner we went to an old historic place downtown called the Charlotte Street Grill and Pub. I thought it sounded rather interesting and it was. We had good food and good service!! It was a great place for a birthday dinner and we'll probably go back before we leave this area.

So far, 2009 has started out to be a pretty good year! Steve's fortune cookie on New Year's Eve said, "Any day above ground is a good day!" I'd have to agree!