For North Carolina Mountain Dreams – The Blog
Love At First Sight
My North Carolina Mountain Dream began in the spring of 2000 while on a two week business trip to Charlotte, NC. In the middle of the trip I had a couple free days and a rental car. On the first day I drove into the mountains only to arrive on the Blue Ridge Parkway with the fog. I took a direct route from Charlotte to Blowing Rock…I arrived to discover most of the town closed up for winter. After driving for an hour or so and not see anything further away than a couple of dozen yards, I headed back to Charlotte and wrote off seeing the mountains.
When I awoke the next day, the sun was shining and the weather was beautiful but brisk after a front had pushed through. After musing about another try over breakfast and coffee I decided to hit the road again.
The skies stayed clear and blue…That beautiful blue you only get in winter after a cold front has blown all of the trash out of the air. I no longer remember the route I took, but the drive up onto the Blue Ridge itself will always be in my memory.
Little Switzerland
My approach this trip was totally different. I remember the drive up Route 226 along a nice little mountain stream. Looking at a topo map of the area it looks as if the creek is Coxes Creek. The drive up the valley and the climb up the mountain took about 45 minutes and when I got to the top after many, many switchbacks I stopped and got out to take in the view. For the first time in my life I could see my back trail for over an hour. All the way back to Highway 221 where I had turned into the valley. The view was awesome.
I followed the Blue Ridge Parkway south into Little Switzerland. Past the alpine looking hotel, the general store, the post office and the few houses I headed on south along the Parkway. I stopped at every overlook. I would stand in the sun with the wind blowing little ice crystals against my skin and absorb the view…And what views they were.
Sharing The Dream
Three years would pass before I managed to introduce my family to these mountains. I spent those three years exploring the area I had discovered on the internet. Something kept me coming back to the same area over and over…The area from Boone to Linville centered around the community of Valle Crucis kept calling me back. Time and time again. The Mast Store, Grandfather Mountain, The Orchard at Altapass…They all had stories that spoke to something inside me that had never been happy with the flat coastal plains where I was born and raised.
As we started finalizing our plans as far as dates went, I started looking for a place to house the six of us for a week in the mountains. One of the sites on the internet I had stumbled upon was Valle Crucis Log Cabin Rentals. After letting Sherry spend a week or so looking at their offerings we settled on a nice cabin that I still like better than any others we have stayed in in the years since…
To be continued…