We Gotta Get Out of This Place....

"If it's the last thing we ever do...." The Animals.....

It's been a long, hot summer....hotter than normal they said...Sparky decided after hearing all about the Georgia Mountains and the lovely summer temperatures from Karen and Al, that we needed to take a trip. For some reason, she wanted to go to North Carolina really badly after having brief exposure to this beautiful state last spring. It wasn't too far of a drive, according to Eldo--about 10 hours, so we decided to look for a rental cabin in the mountains.

So Eldy started researching and researching. This actually started months ago. Sparky and Eldo wanted to be in a cabin in the mountains, in the Great Smokies or the Blue Ridge Mountains. Know how many cabin rentals there are out there to peruse? A bazillion! Ok, not a bazillion, but there were an awful lot of conditions, requirements, deposit information, fees, photos and other "stuff" to wade through and that's where Eldy excels. Sparky would look at one set of photos, and say, "Oh, yeah...let's get that one!" (She would settle for the unknown and probably end up hating it if she settled for the first one, explains E.) Eldy would say, wait a minute, it's too far from the park, or the photos aren't clear enough, or babe, it costs too much....Ok.....We kept looking....or rather, Eldo kept looking and looking....We looked at a TON of cabins, and finally started narrowing it down to the Cherokee/Bryson City/Asheville area, and the northwest corner of the state. We worked with Yellow Rose Realty Company, a smaller rental outfit than most in North Carolina out of Bryson City, NC,  but the level of service and accommodations were outstanding and we would prefer to work with them again!

We found a cabin called "Nelson's View". Eldy said he wanted to be in the mountains with a view, and boy, were we! We were four to five thousand feet up and the drive was up a narrow winding gravel road that was one lane wide. It took 20 minutes to get up to the cabin from the main road. Another 20-25 minutes to get to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Reviews said you needed to have four wheel drive, and since our CR-V has all wheel drive, we had no problems. We used first and second gear a LOT this week! Here's the thing...if you want to rent a cabin in the woods, you just can't see it all on the website...There are pictures, but there is so much more involved with whether you are going to be happy with your choice! You need to know what kind of roads lead to the cabin, gravel or paved, whether they are steep roads or gentle inclines, how far the nearest grocery store is (not an essential in the Sparky/Eldo realm of travel, haha) and you have to try and get a feel of the layout of the cabin just by a few photos on the internet. How far are you going to be willing to drive to the destinations in the area? All these things need to be considered. We thought while we were in the area, we would go investigate some more cabins and were glad we did...More about that later....

The view from our cabin was probably one of the best in the area. This was the view every night off of the upper deck.

The cabin was so "up north", Sparky loved it. It was decorated heavily with "stuff"...vintage cookie jars up high on shelves in the kitchen, native American artifacts, the shelves and bookcases were decorated to the max---very rustic. Exactly as we pictured it might be....

The furniture was overstuffed lounge chairs and couches and had the definite cabin look. Knotty pine

paneling was the standard everywhere. (Sparky LOVES knotty pine paneling.) Unfortunately, the furniture, lighting and furnishings were a little outdated...one analog TV, for example, but hey, we didn't come to watch TV, right, Eldy? (Right!)

It was comfortable and livable. There was also a wonderful wood burning fireplace, and the excellent seasoned firewood came with the rental. The cabin had a little woodshed out back with plenty of firewood. We had a fire almost every night. Temperatures were in the fifties and forties some nights. Day time temps were in the sixties and very low seventies. Sparky was in 7th heaven!

All bedding was furnished along with towels....Here's the master bedroom with a queen size bed...

There was another bedroom with twin beds on the same upper floor and a third bedroom and bath downstairs. It had a very complete kitchen with everything you could possibly want to cook with...
HahahahahahahahahHHAHAHAHAHA...What's so funny about that, you ask? as Eldy is rolling on the floor laughing so hard... Anybody reading this blog knows Sparky HATES to cook. Sparky was forced to cook a few meals as it was quite the trek down the mountain road to get to the grocery store.

The cabin was clean and neat, we were very happy with it. And that view.....sigh......

Time to plan some activities for this week! We will spread out the blog a little bit and tell you the highlights in the next few times.....