Mountains.

My parents live in a gorgeous area not too far from The Biltmore House, Grove Park Inn, and Maggie Valley.  I've learned that most anyone who lives on the east coast has heard of one of those three.  If not, then I just say, "not too far from Cherokee."

To that, I get an "Oh!" because that's where the casino is.

I digress.

It's beautiful up there, and hope to move back there one day, build a ginormous (can you believe that word isn't in the dictionary yet?) house on family land, and call it a life.

I'm pretty proud of my hubby.  He was a city guy, born and bred.  When I say city, I mean Asheville, NC.  Population: 78,000.  That's considered a large city where I'm from.

But when we met, he embraced the more country side of things.

He learned to play acoustic guitar.

And jams with my dad on banjo.


And by jam, I mean 'pickin'

And with my Uncle, too.

But in this case, I am my mom's daughter.  So we took a walk.


But not before I snapped a few pictures of my Uncle's dog, Pedro.

But you can call him The Great Ordep.

Get it?  It's Pedro spelled backwards.  Ordep.

Or, when he's feeling especially sprite, it's The Great Ordepio

I think he's feeling sprite today.

I also think he looks a little bit like a Sesame Street character with that hair!

About that walk.  It was up a mountain, so we walked slowly.

Wouldn't want to work out on accident or anything.

I love to look at the land and imagine how it was 100 years ago when there weren't as many houses or campgrounds or pools or tennis courts.

And I wonder when barns like this were built.  Are they as old as I think?  Or are they just beaten up from being untreated wood and exposed to the elements all the time?

Hey, look!  I'm the Pioneer Woman!  Or would that make me the Mountain Woman? 

Probably neither... these cows were scared of me.  And I was scared of them.  There was an electric fence between us, so we both felt a little more safe.

I saw a sign for a campground and went exploring.  It said 'No Vacancy' so I was intrigued.  Who knew there was a campground here in the middle of a neighborhood?

It was a pretty peaceful campground, and right on this stream.  Too bad the waterwheel wasn't working.  Can you imagine how cool it would be to be 10 years old and your parents bring you on vacation here for the summer?  Woods, old houses... practically a jungle gym!


Or was that just my upbringing?


You see... if it were my family vacationing here, my brothers would have taunted me about that building and how it is clearly haunted, but I must go inside because that's where they hid my (insert favorite, life altering toy here... probably a My Little Mermaid) and to get it back I have to go find it.


They were mean to me like that.


My parents always thought we were playing.  Not the case.  They were taunting me and laughing when I was too scared to move for hours on end.


I'm sorry, what was I saying?

Oh yes... serenity.  Finding calm in the mountains.

We were walking back when we found this.  My adventurous side came out again.


I don't really have an adventurous side when it comes to nature, so I'm not sure where it came from.

But this was on the other side.  Someone's garden! Well... didn't look like they had anything growing in it, but it could definitely make a cool garden.  Hidden by the trees, but with a great view.  This must have been what it was like 100 years ago.