The Birthday Trip

I've been trying for two days to get this post up. Blogger was mad at me yesterday and wouldn't work. Finally, this morning I was able to post.

It rained almost every minute of our trip to Blue Ridge. We got a break for a couple of hours on Thursday and we went into town to some of the neat shops. They had so many antique stores. Believe it or not, I didn't buy a thing. Well, that's not exactly true. We did get two ice cream cones that were soooooo good. At this ice cream shop, they make all of their ice cream starting with vanilla or chocolate ice cream. Then they add whatever you want in it and mix it up. Mine was apple pie. Jeff's was cookie dough. The cones were amazing. Don't you love a good, homemade waffle cone? Sometimes I scoop a big blob of the ice cream out so I can hurry and get to the cone.

Since Jeff and I are creatures of habit and routine, we had pizza Wednesday night. We found this pizza place called Blue Jeans. It seemed to me that everything in Blue Ridge was blue. It was New York-style pizza and it was delish!!!!! I must say, though, that we're used to places with more people to watch or maybe a TV. This great pizza place didn't have either. We pretty much snarfed our pizza down and went back to the cabin.

I found it hard to leave the cabin to go anywhere. It was so beautiful. We had a hot tub, an indoor fireplace and an outdoor fireplace on the porch overlooking the mountains. It was covered, so we were able to be outside even in the rain.

Thursday night I got car sick riding to the restaurant we went to for dinner. I mean, really car sick. That is one of the worst feelings. After I ate and finally got it settled, it was time to head back. That's when I got really, really, really car sick. I never threw up, but my stomach was churning and my head was spinning. When we got back I just laid on the sofa and watched college football. Other than being sick, it was absolute bliss.

Friday morning we got up and got packed. We made a stop at an apple orchard and drove home. It's only about a two-hour drive. I would love to go back.

Here are a few pictures from the trip. This is a little guest book for you to write about your stay. We were only the second people to stay in the cabin. Everything in it was brand-new. I was definitely in heaven. If you look closely at the bottom of the journal, you see three words that I love.

Everything in that cabin was wood. Nothing was painted anywhere. The walls, the ceiling, everything was wood. It was so pretty.

I would love to have the decorator who decorated this place come to my house. The attention to detail throughout really amazed me.

The master bedroom was upstairs. When you got to the top of the steps, there was a small sitting area with a futon, a flat screen TV, an Xbox and a Playstation. This was the view over the rail into the living room.

Loved this little troll looking out the bathroom window.

Cute little sign. It's a little blurry, but it says, "I love my country. It's the government that scares me." I think most of us feel that way, huh?

The master bedroom opened to a small patio. This was the view out the master bedroom. On vacation, would you rather wake up to the ocean or the mountains?

We spent a lot of time on the outdoor porch. If you look closely, in the reflection, you can see Jeff doing. . .

. . . this.

We struggled and struggled to have a good fire. The wood must not have been seasoned because it did not want to burn. After about 30 minutes of working with it, this is what we got.

Not a roaring fire by any means, but better than this.

Which is what we were able to get most of the time. The best fire he built was the night I was too car sick to go out and enjoy it. I could hardly hold my head up.

Loved the haze off the mountains.

Beach or mountains? Mountains or beach? Aren't God's creations amazing??

This is the fire I made on Thursday morning. It looks blazing, doesn't it? Don't be fooled. If you look closely in the picture, you can see the fake firewood burning underneath the real wood. As soon as the fake wood was done, so was the fire.

I'm covered up with the Snugi my mom and dad gave me for my birthday. Those commercials are so cheesy, but let me tell you, you must get one. Get a flannel one. Get a Georgia one. They're the warmest!

Earlier I mentioned that in Blue Ridge, a lot of stuff was blue. Look at this. Which came first? The truck or the house?

We had dinner here Thursday night.

As you might guess from the name of the place, it was right on the Toccoa River. It was dark, so we couldn't see it. But I had the thickest filet mignon known to mankind. Cooked to perfection, it was delicious. Jeff had shrimp. The steamed vegetables that came with our meal were almost better than the main course. Again, the ambiance was lacking. Nothing really to invite you to eat your dinner slowly and relax. So we ate and left.

We drove down the winding, curvy, hilly road back to our cabin. The way Jeff was driving around those mountains, I felt like I was on the Dahlonega Mine Train at Six Flags. Next time I will definitely take something for motion sickness.

Friday we said goodbye to our mountain hideaway, but first we had to do some housekeeping. This is what we were required to do (or else lose your deposit): 1. Clean out the wood burning fireplace and take the ashes out. (No, I'm not kidding.) 2. Take all the towels and put them in the bottom floor bathtub. 3. Take out the trash. 4. Turn the dishwasher on. Not really sure what the $60 cleaning fee was for, but I'd definitely clean the place for $60. You could easily do it in about an hour after having someone else do all that stuff.

Bye, Buckhead Hideaway.

Here is our cabin from the road going home. Tear.

And this is a picture of the cabin (or mansion) that was a little ways up the mountain from ours.

Can you even imagine how huge that must be? And how nice? It would be fun to take family or friends to a place like that for a long weekend.

I love this next picture. I'm infatuated with old homeplaces and barns. Wish I could've known the people who lived there and worked there. Maybe they were like the Waltons (my most favorite show in the whole world).

Sweet little turkeys out getting their breakfast. Hope they won't be in our local supermarket freezers in a few weeks.

Y'all, that was my trip. It was perfect. Unlike a few other times we've been to the mountains and stayed in what was advertised as a "rustic" cabin. Uh, yeah, I guess rustic means unclean. The sofa had dog hair woven into the fabric and a sock in the bed. And, no, it wasn't our sock. YUCK! Don't worry, though, we didn't stay. We got our money back and got the heck out of Dodge.

Add Blue Ridge to my list of favorites. And the Buckhead Hideaway is definitely at the top of the list!

Till tomorrow, when I'll have another picture-filled post of my birthday's grand finale. The campfire wienie roast! Cough. Cough.