Maggie Valley Trip ~ October 2008
I love leaf peepin’ and even more, I love hiking. Unfortunately, we don’t have much of either here in Florida, so to get our fix, we travel north somewhere. This year, it was Maggie Valley, NC.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Because it is an 8.5 hour drive from here, we decided to break it up and spend the first night in Savannah, GA where we walked River Street at sunset then enjoyed a nice meal at Molly McPhearson’s Pub.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
After a stop at Ingles supermarket for provisions, we settled into the fabulous, brand new log cabin home that we had rented. I thought about linking to it here, but want to keep it a secret!
View from the side deck.
Our traveling companions, Ken & Martha got right into the swing of enjoying the deck.
As did Jamey…
Ken laid a fire while Jamey started dinner (does it sound like we girl’s had it easy the first night?!)
We decided since we’d be there for four nights and we all like to cook, that we would take turns. Jamey was on the first night and made a lovely chicken & rice with butter sauteed mushrooms (which would have benefited from the addition of water chestnuts) accompanied by roasted broccoli.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
It was a beautiful day in the neighborhood, to be sure. The temperature was pleasantly cool and the sky was an inviting blue. Time for some hiking!
Jamey & I have visited Maggie Valley many times over the last 20 years and usually stay at a family friend’s cabin. This year, they themselves (and their fiesty dauchunds, Gretchen & Tracker) were in residence. They invited us to visit and hike from their cabin base which is in a wonderful location ~ hikes in every direction.
We grabbed our hiking sticks and headed up to the top of Hemp Hill. It wasn’t long before we were peeling off layers despite the cool air! But what a great hike. Marty (seen behind me) is already picking up leaves…
“Now, we’re going way up yonder there…”
When we reached the top of Hemp Hill, we sat down in the shade to a well-earned lunch and spectacular view. It was so clear you could see forever and by the time we finished our bottle of wine, the clouds had started to roll in obscuring the views. Timing is everything!
We found this wine at the Shell station which had an unbelievable wine store within. Go figure. It was one of those places where the old men sit around outside all day BS-ing. We liked the label ~ and the price $7.99 ~ and thought we’d give it a go. It ended up being such a nice, light picnic wine that we stopped on the way back and bought a few more bottles for the rest of our hikes :-)
From here we went through the gate into the Smokey Mountain National Park and hiked the trail down through the woods.
We happened upon some wild turkeys which was very cool to see. There were a bunch of them. 
I just loved the way these trees looked all together with the clouds rolling in behind them…
Along this trail you come to a very swanky mountain retreat called The Swag. ::sigh:: if only I had enough $$$ to stay there…but at over $600± a night, not likely to happen. These shots were taken as we walked through.
This is their scarecrow in their lovely garden. His name is Roger. Now, I won’t go into details but just say there was much bantering and laughter for miles over this you-had-to-have-been-there moment. And leave it at that.
On our way back to the cabin we stopped at a produce stand to buy some veggies we’d forgotten at the store for that night’s dinner. I couldn’t resist a pic of these colorful squashes.
It was Ken’s night at the stove and he prepared a scrumptious Bobby Flay Roasted Vegetable Meatloaf with Balsamic Glaze. I’ve never had a meatloaf like it and plan to make it myself someday.
While Ken cooked, Jamey decided to see if cows like broccoli stems. They don’t and will give you the stink-eye of you imply that they do.
Bon Appetit, y’all!
Friday, October 17, 2008
This morning was a bit cooler and promising rain in the air. Perfect morning for oatmeal & bananas on the deck ~ and a reading from Ken’s new book which is now on Amazon.com. We’re looking forward to reading it!
Since it was going to rain we decided on a mostly-undercover of trees hike in Cataloochee Valley.
We saw some wild turkeys in the field as we drove in.
I dare say, Martha, you are rockin’ that frock!
After a while, we came to “Woody’s Cabin” from the 1800’s. It is open to walk through and we discovered a couple bats hibernating in an upstairs bedroom.
The porch, however seemed to be the perfect place to have our picnic out of the rain before hiking further on the trail.
This was the coolest thing of the whole trip. We happened along on this majestic beast just sitting in the woods a little off the trail. He wasn’t too concerned with us. Jamey wasn’t carrying his camera so we didn’t have the long lens and had to get what we could with my trusty little Casio. I wish there was some way to size reference - he was huge and just breathtaking.
On the way out of the park near the trail head, there is a large open field. Here we saw a herd of elk. They (and the one we saw in the woods) are part of the park’s effort to repopulate the are with elk. 
On the way back to the cabin, we stopped at what looked like a fun junk shop which turned out be just, well, junk. But I couldn’t resist pulling out my picture-takin’ machine to capture this box…
It was my night to cook and I chose Chicken Chickpea Chili and had it simmering in the crock pot all day. After a long rainy hike it hit the spot! Marty even made biscuits to go with!
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Today, our last, started decidedly colder. We packed up our lunches, put on an extra layer and headed for a ride along the Blue Ridge Parkway to take in some views and do some hikes. Our first hike was to Water Rock Knob. It didn’t take us long to warm up on this steep climb and by the time we got to the top, the clouds had socked in the clear sky of earlier. However, they quickly cleared off and offered us a great view.
I own this mountain!
This was another had-to-be-there moment, but doesn’t it look like he fell down the mountain?
We found a nice overlook with a picnic table that was thankfully in the sun as the temperature was dropping and a biting wind was whipping up.
Stopped briefly at a couple more overlooks and jumped back into the warmth of the car as quickly as possible. It was then decided that no one wanted to hike any more that day!
On the way back to the cabin we stopped in Waynesville at a craft fair. These characters were quite large and fun. The boys immediately found a pub out of the cold while Martha & I had a look around. I picked up some bar-b-que sauce for my brother and we headed for the warmth of the pub where we gobbled up what was left of the boys’ cheese fries.
Back at the cabin Marty got busy trying to save the millions of leaves she’d collected while Ken expertly prepared hot toddies. After all, it was very cold out! Jamey built a fire and we finally thawed out.
Jamey thought he’d try to bond with the cows one more time, but it turns out they’re not much interested in parsley either.
It was Marty’s night in the kitchen and she put her heart & soul into the best vegetable Lasagna I think I’ve ever had..
Sunday morning was 38° at 10:00 am when we bid farewell to our home-away-from-home and headed back to Florida ~ thankfully the 8.5 hour drive was uneventful. Marty and I passed the entire thing in the backseat reading hand-me-down Star magazines, art magazines, Matha Stewart, etc.
I think it can be said of the entire journey that a great time was had by all!
*Please note that while the majority of photos were taken by myself and bear my copyright notice here, some were taken by my traveling companions.