Memories of Mountains

I recently went on a mini-vacation (?) to my parents new cabin, aka Evensong, up in western North Carolina near Bryson City and the Nantahala river. Since I've now been back home for a week, I figured maybe it was time to post some pictures. We didn't really do a whole lot... mainly move in and clean and shop for stuff for the house. (You just don't realize how dirty a new house is! Every surface.. walls, floors, countertops, windows, etc... is covered in this construction dust. Yuck!) So much for R & R! I didn't get much of that! So the main highlight of the trip was getting to see some snow. Here in Mississippi, we don't get to see it very often so we get excited about it! This was how things looked last Sunday morning when I got ready to leave. It had snowed all Saturday afternoon and night, but until late Saturday afternoon, the temp was not below freezing, so that's why there was not more accumulation. So anyway, this is our house. Welcome to "Evensong," 322 Mason Road, Bryson City, NC. You know how houses at the beach have names? Well houses in the mountains do, too. It is such an awesome feeling to know that I have a place to escape to up there at just about any time I please! I even have my own key. :D I've only been back home for a week, but I am ready to go back! My vacation wasn't long enough! :(
Here is my Pathfinder all covered with snow... Sorry, I just had to throw this picture in here because I love my 'Finder! And it looks so pretty with its light blanket of snow. :) Anyway, my parents and I arrived late Wednesday night and my brother got there late Thursday night. I had to leave on Sunday (thanks to my classes that meet on Monday and Tuesday, that was all the time I could take), but my parents stayed till Tuesday. Even though we spent a lot of time cleaning and moving in, we did still do a little bit of playing. On Friday, we did a little bit of shopping, and I had an awesome time in Sylva, NC at Blackrock Outfitters. All winter things (basically the whole store) was 40% off, so I racked up on an awesome The North Face coat along with a new hat, scarf, purse, and some sweet Vasque Gore-tex hiking boots! That shopping trip made my week! :) On Saturday, it was flurrying a little bit so we decided to drive to find some snow. We tried to get on the Blue Ridge Parkway and do some driving up high, but it turned out it was closed (as they do in the winter due to frequent inclimate weather and bad driving conditions at the higher altitudes). So we kept on going and made our way to the Smoky Mountain National Park, and we definitely found snow! There is only one road that drives straight through the middle of the park from Cherokee, NC to Gatlinburg, TN. We drove to the halfway point at Newfound Gap (which sits on the TN-NC line) before we decided to turn around and go back to Bryson City to eat supper at Anthony's. So that was a fun day even though all we did was drive. This last picture here is me with my 2 girls, Mattie and Aubrey (left to right), in the snow the day that I left. They weren't very sure what to think about the whole picture-taking event. I'll be back later with more pictures.