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My favorite place to visit is the Appalachian mountains and I was blessed to be able to visit part of them, the Smokies, last week!
The mountains are my battery recharger, my haven, my church! They are where the chaos in my mind is pushed back and serenity fills the void. They are where I feel closest to the Creator Who created them and all else, including me. They fill me with awe and gratitude for the wondrous gift of being able to visit them. They steal my breath as they fill my eyes with tears of joy.
We left for the Smokies on Saturday, October fifth. My husband drove separately and went with us, staying until Tuesday morning before having to return home.
I drove with Mom and Dad. Roxanna, Jeremy, Jooniebug, and Cyrus came. Alexandria, with her pooch Portie, and Cameron could all be there. We were all there except for my niece Sydney and her husband Casey.
Sydney is due to give birth next month and did not want to stray that far from home. We surely missed them and they were thought of often. But, there will be a next time, and with a baby Haywood!
Mom, Dad, and I arrived at the cabin last. The cabin was inconvenient to stores and such, but the drive to get there was truly breathtaking. We drove through the beautiful Wears Valley with its lovely stretches of flat farmland and the ever present and beautiful mountains in the near distance.
We took curving switchback after curving switchback through old forests catching sights of the majestic mountains through breaks in those trees.
The cabin was snuggled by trees all around. Those trees grew tall, competing with their neighbors for the sunshine above the canopy. We didn’t see Mountain views from the cabin, but the sights seen on the drive to reach it were truly glorious, and we nestled peacefully in our cabin within the embrace of those trees!
By the time Mom, Dad, and I got to our cabin, a bear sighting had already occurred! Mohammad was sitting outside when a bear was seen about five feet away from him. The kids saw it before he did and called him inside.
Alex, Mom, and I saw Momma bear and her two adolescents coming down the bank beside the road as we were driving home from the Christmas Village. Roxanna, Jeremy, and Jooniebug saw another bear, once again, outside the cabin. Alex aborted a Portie poop stroll because she heard heavy footfalls in the leaves nearby. Roxanna did the same after seeing a bear during a Portie poop walk. I tell you what, while bears surely $#i+ in the woods, Portie surely had trouble doing the same!
We saw more bears this trip than during any of our prior mountain trips, maybe even more than all of them combined! We saw a few turkeys, squirrels, and ground squirrels too.
On Sunday, we pretty much relaxed at the cabin most of the day. In the afternoon, we did venture out to visit the Mountain Brothers General Store in Wears Valley. It had a little bit of everything even an old wringer washer used to hold an assortment of rubber duckies for purchase in its tub. There was a huge coffee grinder, and I mean huge! An old wagon was used as a display for a bit of this and that decor.
Relaxing a bit.
Donald Smith, Loretta Nolen Smith
Cyrus snuck a bite of Mommy’s ice cream!
The myriad assortment of items to purchase and the creaking of the old wooden floors reminded me of going, as a child, to the general store with Dad and Grandpa during visits to Grandpa and Grandma’s on Anglin Branch.
We saw some lovely pottery at a separate part of the store. There were some lovely pieces and several beautiful cups were purchased.
On Monday, we ventured out to the Moon Pie General Store. They have several things but we go for the books and the moon pies. I bought a poke full of my favorite candy, Bit-o-honey. They display the loose candy in big barrels on the floor and it is sold by the pound. Of course, we left the store with more than a few books and moon pies too!
I think the Old Mill has become our favorite place to eat while in the Smokies. The food is good and the portions are large. Some of us had enough leftover to take home for another meal.
With our cornmeal in the trunk and full tummies, we divided and conquered. Dad, Mohammad and Cam went to Workshop Tools at the Island. The rest of us went to Christmas Village across the strip. Christmas Village always has such pretty displays and tempting items to buy. Of course, we could not completely resist those temptations and purchases were made.
The Christmas Village
After we had divided and conquered, we met back up in the cabin. We chilled awhile, ate supper and then nestled in our beds in our cabin in the woods.
Cyrus petted Cammy like he pets Portie Pooch.
Mohammad left for home on Tuesday. He had a couple of jobs that he needed to check on. The rest of us enjoyed a slow day in the cabin. Roxanna, Jeremy and the kids went on an adventure and hiked to Laurel Falls. They also played putt putt.
Chilling in cabin prior to adventures.
Cameron Hajjafar and Roxanna Hajjafar McCommon holding Cyrus McCommon
Jooniebug McCommon playing putt putt.
We also had another ancestor meal of white beans, fried taters, salmon patties, slaw and cornbread while in the mountains. It was delicious too.
After “breakfast”, Roxanna, Jeremy and Jooniebug went to Anakeesta. The rest of us stayed home and relaxed. Of course, we were keeping an eye on Cyrus for the day, so relaxing might not be the best description of what we did. Regardless, both the Anakeesta adventurers and those who stayed at the cabin had a great day.
Adventures with Cyrus.
Thursday, the day before we left for home, was truly amazing. We scrambled up a quick breakfast before leaving. Mom and Dad put leftover biscuits in their coffee and enjoyed a coffee/biscuit soakee. Mom and Dad stayed at the cabin to rest before returning home and to enjoy some peace and quiet.We are a noisy bunch, and I am sure that quiet descends when we leave a place!
The rest of us loaded up to go to my favorite place to visit, the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail. Roxanna and her family went in their van, and Alex drove her car with Cam and I as passengers.
I am a “sigher” and I must have been sighing a lot during our drive through the Roaring Fork. Alex asked me what was wrong and I said, “Nothing, why?”
She said, “you are really sighing a lot” and I told her it was because I was just awed at the beauty all around. She thought that people only sighed when something was wrong. I guess that she hasn’t heard of a sigh of contentment and didn’t know that “breath-taking” can be a very literal word!
So, I got to visit my Roaring Fork again. The kids can’t understand why I love the Roaring Fork so much and say that I have already seen it before. They don’t seem to understand that it is never the same. Even if it was exactly the same, I have aged and I have changed so I might experience the same sights in a different way!
Besides, when I return to the Roaring Fork, it is reassuring to know that we are both still here. The serenity of the Roaring Fork has not been swallowed up by the chaos of Gatlinburg. I have not yet been swallowed up by six feet of earth. We are both still here!
I especially like to visit the Noah “Bud” Ogle homeplace at the very beginning before the one way loop starts. I just love that place. It always makes me think of my own past family members living in similar surroundings.
A huge tree had fallen over very near the parking area. It was leaning on another tree, causing it to lean under the pressure.
Seeing that cabin in those surroundings always fills me with nothing short of gob-smacking awe. The cabin is surrounded by HUGE rocks all around. I know that the Ogle family probably had several acres, and surely some of them were arable, but looking around the home and outbuildings made me wonder how they could have survived on such rocky land.
Of course, mountain folks are both tenacious and ingenious! The Ogle family cleared a spot for their cabin near the creek. They used the trees cleared to build that cabin, to build outbuildings, to make shingles, to make furniture, wagons, troughs, chutes to carry water...
They used those rocks to support the cabin’s foundation, to form steps to the front and rear porches, to make the fireplace and chimney, as a weight for a drag, and who knows what other ingenious uses they devised for those rocks.
They used a nearby spring up under a bank to supply drinking water. In the past, they had even rigged up a chute system to send water from the spring, downhill through the chute into a wooden trough on the back porch.
The nearby creek also provided water for the livestock, water for washing clothes, water for the garden…
I imagine when the Ogles first laid eyes on their homesite, they saw opportunities rather than obstacles that I notice. Because of their vision, today I can visit one of my favorite places.
The cabin did seem to have sustained some damage recently. A tarp covered one end of the porch, and one of the two rooms joined by the dogtrot was closed off with caution tape. I imagine that the recent storms had caused the damage.
A huge tree near the parking area had blown over from the roots and was leaning on another tree. That tree was bending under its pressure. We moved our cars to different parking spots after a gentleman pointed it out. We could have remained there unscathed, but moved just in case.
I am sure that the Park Service will have the Ogle cabin up to speed soon. I just pray that all of the folks devastated by the recent storm will recover as best as possible. So many lives will forever be changed by the storm. May God fill them with love and peace.
We stopped by the Roaring Fork stream at a pullover and Jooniebug had a great time crossing forth and back over the water. She climbed from rock to rock and seemed to be part mountain goat. She thoroughly enjoyed her rock climbing and was loath to leave.
We stopped by the little Ely’s Mill Store before leaving the Roaring Fork. It is a little store but it is an interesting place to visit with lots of intriguing things to see.
Outside the store, there are several bee hives. There is a beautiful wooden gate adorned with an old oil can, horseshoes, tools, and myriad other items.
After we left the serenity of the Roaring Fork, Roxanna and her family went back to the cabin. Alex, Cam, and I continued on to the chaos of Gatlinburg. We visited a few shops. Alex and I went window-shopping at the Ol’ Smoky Moonshine place and then met Cam at the Rhythm Section. Alex and Cam went into Aunt Mahalia’s Candies and bought some sweets for Grandma and Papaw.
Seen on the strip in Gatlinburg.
On the walk back to the car, I had a huge cherry snow cone. I had really been wanting a snow cone. That cone was HUGE but I finished it and might near foundered on it!
After Gatlinburg, Roxanna drove Mom and Dad, Jeremy drove the kids, and we all met at the Apple Barn for apples and dinner. Alex always gets a frozen apple cider there. She also bought some fried apple pies for folks to share. Dad and I bought a couple bushels of apples; one bushel of Crimson Crisps and one bushel of Cameos. We will be working apples to freeze this week!
Just a few minutes after getting into bed, Jooniebug comes running into the bedroom exclaiming that the Northern Lights were out. She showed me her daddy’s phone and sure enough, you could see the starry night sky painted by the Lights.
I jumped up, grabbed my phone and went outside as I have always wanted to see the Northern Lights! Unfortunately, I could not see them with the naked eye, but the phone recorded them on the camera. Their beauty was captured in photos!
I guess our Northern Lights that night were sort of akin to God. Even if He cannot be seen by our naked eyes, He is there but can be seen through all of His wondrous creations.
So our last day in the mountains was truly awesome. It started with the Roaring Fork Motor Nature Trail, and it ended with seeing the Aurora Borealis, at least in pictures!
We checked out of the cabin the next morning. Cam left early and took Portie home with him. Alex was meeting friends in the mountains for an annual Halloween scary movie marathon and was staying a couple more nights.
We all, except for Cam, stopped at the Hillbilly Restaurant for breakfast. It was an interesting place. An old truck was in the center of the restaurant. It had an old moonshine still in the bed but you couldn’t see much of it. Dollar bills were clipped to the body of the truck with the places where visitors had come from written on them. The food was good and our waitress was the best I have ever had!
After our meal, Roxanna, Jeremy, Jooniebug, and Cyrus headed home. Alex, Dad, Mom, and I met at the Smoky Mountain Knife Works. We always like to stop by there. It has so many different things to see.
A few years back, I even met Johann Yeti at the SMKW while he was in town visiting his cousin Squatch . He and I had a Smoky Mountain Knife Works Adventure. This year, I met his cousin Squatch, but we were getting ready to leave and we couldn’t have an adventure. I did meet some of his young’uns and took a few photos with him.
After the SMKW, we crossed the road so Dad could check out the Workshop Tools shop there for a reacher. He couldn’t find what he wanted so we all left. Mom, Dad, and I headed for home. Alex headed to the other cabin for the movie marathon.
Mom, Dad, and I did run into several traffic jams which added about an hour and a half to our drive home. It was a very tiring drive but it could not diminish the wonderful vacation we were returning from. We had glorious weather the entire time and we checked off all items on our “To Do” list.
We have all arrived home safely except for Alex who will travel home either tonight or in the morning.
Thanks God for the opportunity to visit my mountains and thanks God for a wonderful vacation!
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