Living in Alaska - Life in the Last Frontier

(Part One is here)

Monday morning, we scheduled a 6am wake up call, as we had a very long day of driving ahead of us. Our route would take us from Statesville, NC to Blowing Rock, and then we had hopes of getting on the Blue Ridge Parkway for some scenic driving to Asheville. From Asheville, we planned to drive through the Cashiers area, and then continue on to Acworth via Blairsville and Ellijay, GA.  The drive would be almost 400 miles, on two-lane roads that meander through the mountains of western NC.  We knew there’d be no 65mph highway traveling, and expected to be on the road a good 10+ hours.

Well, we didn’t quite get to do what we originally planned. With all the snowfall the east coast has had, the Blue Ridge Parkway was closed in the Blowing Rock and Grandfather Mountain areas. We were able to get up on the road via ramp and drive about 1000 yards at one point, before having to get back off, and the views of the snowy landscape were beautiful. The road was a mess though, so there’s no way we could have driven it, even if the road was open.

In the end, our trip took us from Statesville to Blowing Rock via Rt 321, and then to Linville via Rt 221. We followed 221 to I-40 into Asheville, got on I-26 to Rt 64 outside of Hendersonville, and then followed that switchback two-lane road to Cashiers, Highlands, Oakhill and Hayesville, where we picked up 515 into Blairsville and Ellijay, GA. From that point, we had highway driving to Acworth.  And believe me… we were happy about that. Rt 64 is so switchback and twisty, that I was feeling a little carsick. Blech.  However, the views were very pretty and we stopped a few times along the way so I could take some photos.

Some of the more interesting things we saw along the way were barns painted with quilt square blocks. I wish we would have had time to really appreciate these beautiful barns, and the colorful paintings on them. I did a little online research and found this great link about the NC Quilt Trail. Here’s an abridged version of the information I found on that website:

What started with one woman in Ohio honoring her mother by hanging an art block on her barn has now spread to a nationwide cultural art expression found in 33 states. Western North Carolina is second only to Kentucky for having the most painted quilt blocks as a public art expression. The quilt blocks are featured in the Western North Carolina Counties of Mitchell, Yancey, Ashe, Avery, Watauga and Madison.

The beautiful Blue Ridge Mountain area:

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Our plans on this trip included meeting up with my friend Cyndi and her husband Scott, in Acworth GA. I met Cyndi online in a blogging community more than six years ago. Over the years, our friendship has grown. The internet is an amazing tool for enabling people - who may never have had a chance to meet - to not only get to know each other online, but to even meet in person when possible.

We arrived at Cyndi and Scott’s house around 5pm. Their home is gorgeous, with a wonderful front porch that I imagine is a great place to enjoy a morning cup of coffee or an evening glass of wine.

The three of us (Cyndi, Steve and I) sat and chatted for a little while before Cyndi’s husband Scott came home from work. A little while later, her daughter and son-in-law came over, with their three children.  I’ve pretty much ‘watched’ Cyndi’s grandchildren grow up via her journal. I remember when she wrote about the births of her two youngest grandchildren, so I feel like I know them too.  It was great to finally meet the kids; their personalities are exactly as Cyndi has described them in her writing.

After the kids and grandkids left, Cyndi and Scott took us to La Parrilla for Mexican food. Oh my goodness, but the food was so delicious! We also had a pitcher of Margaritas, which hit the spot quite nicely.  The restaurant was crowded, and clearly it’s a real hot spot for dining. In fact, it gets so busy that there is typically an hour or more wait on the weekends, when mariachis perform. What fun!

As a surprise, after our fabulous waitress found out that we were visiting from Alaska, a complimentary dessert of Sopapillas was brought to our table.  Sopapillas are crunchy flour tortillas topped with vanilla ice cream, kahlua, and whipped cream. Can you say YUM!? We would love it if La Parrilla opened a restaurant in Alaska. The meal was excellent! (Thank you again, Cyndi and Scott! We had such a great time!)

We spent the night at Cyndi and Scott’s, and their guestroom is beautiful! The bed was made up with beautiful hand-sewn quilts, and the room even came with a couple of cats. *grin* Cyndi has three cats: Boo (the matriarch of the family), and Juice & Kody (short for Kodama) - two rambunctious kitty boys that Cyndi rescued and has cared for since they were only a week or two old.  All three were in our room at one point, and we thought we got them all out, until Boo woke Steve in the middle of the night, pawing at the door. There we were at 2am, opening the door so Boo could escape, while trying to prevent the boys from getting in the room. I was giggling, but Steve was too tired to find the humor in it all. I think kitties should always come with a guest room.

The next morning, Cyndi prepared a delicious breakfast of sausage gravy and biscuits, with scrambled eggs. What a great way to start the day. Between Kayla’s cream chipped beef and Cyndi’s sausage gravy and biscuits, we are thoroughly convinced that if we still lived in the south - and cooked like that - we’d weigh 400lbs.

We left for the airport soon after, and had no problems with the commute, despite the snow that fell in GA that morning. What weird weather the southeast has had.

Me and Cyndi:

Juice and Kody:

Next: Part Three - Long Layover in Seattle