Smoky Mountain Getaway

Well we are back from our nice little weekend getaway. Friday afternoon we left for a surprise trip over to Cherokee, NC where we cruised around town finding penny machines, then spent an evening at Harrah's. Before we moved, we used to go there about once a month, but we haven't been in probably a year now. Harrah's has beautiful rooms (ours, above) with a fabulous view of the mountains (from our window, below), and of course they have great restaurants as well. We always eat at Sycamore's On The Creek, although they have several dining choices there. James had unbelievably great luck at the casino, and let's just say I got a new Dooney purse from my generous, thoughtful winner of a husband.





The weather was spectacular as well, as you can see below. This was taken Saturday around lunchtime, in the NC mountains, and it was still almost chilly when we stopped later to eat in Knoxville. We stayed at James' parents' house, and visited several hours with his granny on Saturday. Later we met his younger sister Cindy and her family- husband Richard, son Matt, daughter Meghan- for a great dinner and then a few games of bowling where Uncle James proved to be the big winner for the night. After that we headed out into the country to visit older sister Stephanie, husband Paul, and youngest daughter Sarah at their home, where we all watched the NASCAR race and laughed and talked for a few hours. Stephanie and Sarah had been canning veggies all afternoon, and my sister-in-law was nice enough to give me some of her beautiful rosemary out of her garden.



Sunday we had a nice lunch at his granny's home before we got on the road to come back. We decided to take the long way home, and try to add a few more to our penny collection, so we mapped out a few towns along the way home on Sunday. Unfortunately two out of the three stops were closed, and we only ended up with one penny to show for it. But we had a nice day and a beautiful drive, staying off the monotonous interstates and enjoying the scenic back roads through Tennessee and Georgia. We stopped at one cute little town where the state line apparently runs right in the middle (photos below). In TN, the town is Copperhill. On the GA side, it's McCaysville. It was already late on Sunday, so not much was open, but we knew just by the looks of it that we would have to come back again for a visit (and to get our pennies). Just a little farther south is Blue Ridge, where they have an old train that runs from Blue Ridge up to McCaysville. We picked up a schedule and are already planning a Saturday up there later this fall.

See what you can discover if you just get off the main highways and take the long way home!