John Denver is in my blood.
Friday after school, we packed up the car and drove due west from Raleigh. Joined only by our good friends Pat and Sarah O'Shea (Pat and I taught at HMS together, and Sarah and Celeste teach at Henderson Collegiate together) and their beautiful pup Eleanor, we began to see the surrounding colors turn from green to gold and to feel the air thinning as we drove into the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains. After only a few hours, we arrived at our cozy little cabin after driving up winding roads to the top of Powder Horn Mountain.
The next morning we awoke to some of the most stunning autumn vistas God has ever crafted. The rolling mountains glowed in the morning sunlight, as their reds and yellows and oranges popped from the mountainside like spring blossoms. I mean, it was BYOO-tiful. Celeste probably got sick of me saying how beautiful I thought everything was. But I couldn't help it. I was in love.
Our first order of business of the day was to visit Mast General Store in Valley Crucis, NC. This is a famous historical and cultural landmark. In fact, Barack Obama even visited it last month when he came through town. The store was first built in the late 1880's, and has stuck around ever since, attracting hillbillies and tourists alike with its local produce, glass-bottled sodas, handcrafted whatnot, and live Blue Grass music every Saturday.
After our trip to Mast General Store, we decided to ascend even higher, to one of the highest peaks in North Carolina: Grandfather Mountain. When we arrived, the temperature had dropped dramatically (32 degrees), and the peak was covered in dark, ominous clouds. But we decided to go up anyway. When we finally reached the top and the famous "Mile High Bridge" there was an inch of snow on the ground, the wind gusts were blowing over 50 mph, and the temperature with the wind chill was about 5 degrees. But that didn't stop us from slipping, sliding, and stumbling our way across it the bridge and loving our time on the mountain.
We topped off the evening in relative elegance and fine dining. Now, Celeste and I are not fancy folks, so when I say elegance, I mean we paid $25 for an entree at a restaurant - that's saying something. The restaurant was in Blowing Rock, NC, which is a mountain town comparable to Park City or Aspen, just with smaller mountains. There was, however, have a Halloween festival going on that evening in town, so it felt like child in the village was on Main Street filling their bags with candy. It was hilarious.
This morning we took a hike near our cabin, packed and cleaned, then said goodbye to the wonderful world of Appalachian Autumn, then took the scenic route home via the Blue Ridge Parkway, the only national park in the country that happens to be road.
Our bodies and minds are back at the grind, preparing for another week of school and the inevitable challenges that come with it, but we left our hearts in Appalachia.
