February 17, 2016- Georgia-North Carolina

    In this installment of See the Nation By Graduation (SNBG), we take on the great state of North Carolina. Everyone had been to NC but Thomas, so we are re-visiting as a family so we can check it off the list. We are sticking to the mountainous region for some winter break skiing and such.  Our friends the Surbers and I took the children up early to get settled, our friends the Holles and John came up later after work.

Mile 128- Cracker Barrel.  aka-checkers, dumplings, hash brown casserole, breaking stuff in the gift shop, repeat. I mean everything in that Mercantile is just so touchable! And the adults were grossly outnumbered. We broke it. We bought it.  So there!

Mile 280- Antartica- Well, I was tooling along listening to WHATEVER THE HECK I WANTED for 4.5 hours! Not a minute of Jam On(thankyouverymuchMr.Bullington), but instead three melodic hours of 80’s,  Coffee House, On Broadway, and a little Hair Nation thrown in for good measure.  Satellite radio is the best thing since indoor plumbing.

This vacation was off to a magnificent start! Don’t get too comfy, it’s about to get real.

Mile  284- Beech Mountain (Highest Ski Resort East of the Mississippi!) "Where is all the snow, gosh dangit!" I said to myself as I neared the mountain cabin we would be calling home for the next few days.  We just rented it off VRBO and we DID KNOW lots of things about it like it had a hot tub, a pool table, and air hockey! Kids will be entertained while we drink wine and play Cards Against Humanity, 70’s style parenting is in full affect.   We DID NOT KNOW that it was perched ON TOP of a mountain and was decorated in the style of Navajo meets Inspirational Wall Sayings.  But, back to the snow… I rounded a corner and I’ll be dipped if everything didn’t just turn white. There was snow on the trees and covering the roadsides. As we continued ascending the mountain the fog thickened. You know what else turned white? The road (and my knuckles)!  How charming! I even snapped a picture of my pocket-friend Melissa in her fancy all-wheel drive making her way through the snow in front of me.

 

Surely, my mega-ton land yacht with 2-wheel drive will perform like the Yukons in all the commercials. I’m here to tell you dear reader, Mammoth SUVs without 4-wheel drive are good for two things;  1.) hauling all your young’uns and their accouterment to all the places in snowless Cobb County and 2.) chugging gas like a frat boy on game day. Visibility decreased so much that I could just barely see the thousand foot drop off to my left. Just barely. The precious little boys started to panic and question their position in the afterlife…”Hush your mouths or I’ll give you something to cry about! I AM TRYING TO CONCENTRATE!!”  (70’s style parenting!) 

Every part of me was either clinched, tensed, or gritted. I reckon I had to draw breath to be writing this, but I think I held it most of the way.  I slipped, slid, and spun into the driveway of the cabin. Miracle of all miracles!  Then both cars promptly got stuck.  I mustered some long-suppressed  mountain girl gumption and started digging us out.  Finally, we got both cars facing the right direction and up to the road.  

The plan was for us to go the store and rent the ski equipment since we were there early. But, No Way, Jose was I getting back out there in that devil’s dandruff! Wine:30 for us while the kids skidded down the mountain on the sleds we brought. I’m sure they’ll be fine. (70’s parenting!)

The Holle’s and John made it in without much trouble that night and we were ready for skiing the following day!