What Happens in the Moutains, Stays in the Mountains

(Actual sign hanging on the wall in our cabin)

We were asked again to join the Bayer and Newberry families for another NYE mountain trip.  We jumped at the chance of course as we had a fabulous time last year.  We did miss the Hartmans this year though :(

Elizabeth, John and I hopped in the car after a half day of work on the Thursday before New Years.  We had some snow in our area the day after Christmas but it had pretty much cleared out by then.  The weather forecast in the NC mountains that weekend looked beautiful with highs in the 50's.  Courtney had verified with the rental agency that this cabin had easy winter access---but with that weather forecast it wasn't even necessary.  Right? 

WRONG.  We hit a dirt/gravel road on our way up to the cabin that was still covered in snow and ice.  And my little old Escape did not feel like making that trip.  So it stopped, and we spun.  Did I mention it was dark out?  Oh, and that we had no cell reception?  And no idea how far away from the cabin we were?  Luckily we got stuck right in front of two houses, so I ran (slid) up the driveway to ask if we could use the phone.  A light was on and there was a car under the carport so this should work out.  Right?

WRONG again.  No one was there, nor at the other house.  So I ran (slid) back to the car.  John decided to run up the mountain to see if our cabin was close by, and we would just leave the car there until morning and walk up to the cabin.  After 5 minutes of looking he knew he wasn't close so he came back.  We were about to head back down the mountain in to cell phone range to call the Bayers and Newberrys to let them know what was going on, when some lights came around the corner.  A 4 wheel drive F-350 came up behind us.  Turns out it was the rental agent, who was heading to our cabin to fix our hot tub.  He offered to drive us up to the cabin in his car and we could come back and get ours the next day when the ice melted.  Should work, right?

WRONG yet again.  Robin tried to go around our car to get up the mountain and his 4 wheel drive got stuck in a ditch.  He was pulled out by another car that was behind him and offered again to take us up.  ?!?!?!?  John asked how confident he was he could make it up there and his answer was "I was more confident before I got stuck in that ditch."  Ummm, thanks but no thanks.  We politely asked where a hotel in town was.  Robin was a nice guy and offered to put us up for the night in his guest house in town.  So back down the mountain we went, we called the others and told them our problem and that we'd see them the next day, and settled in our warm and cozy bungalow for the night.

I have to say Elizabeth was amazing through all of it.  Thank goodness for portable DVD players and kid movies.  And thanks again to Uncle Bill, Elizabeth watched her new Toy Story 3 movie while we were stuck.  She never quite figured out what was going on (or that Mommy was freaking out) thanks to that movie. 

Although it wasn't quite what we planned, we made the best of the situation and enjoyed a morning at the bungalow.  It was on 20 beautiful acres and they even had donkeys that Elizabeth fed.  Around lunchtime the rental agent decided he was ready to try to get back to our cabin so we followed him up.  Fortunately for us the dirt road had melted in the sun that morning and we got up there with no problem.  Oh, and we found out that we were about a mile and a half from the cabin when we got stuck the night before.  There was no way we were getting up there that night!  I believe the rental agency misled us on that easy winter access thing.  The others were fortunate they got up there in the daylight the day before (and had better tires than I did). 

We were so glad to get there and catch up with everyone.  And once we got there we found that isolation at the top of a mountain boasted some absolutely beautiful views of Lake Nantahala. 

Elizabeth's new best friend Jessie made the trip too.  She also enjoyed the views. 

Elizabeth loved spending time with Avery and Luke.  She played so well with them both and took good care of them as she was the big kid.  She showed them how to play with their toys and ran circles around the pool table with them. 

We had a great time with everyone and are so glad we FINALLY made it up that mountain.  Once I got over my anxiety I realized being "off the grid" on that mountain with friends was a great thing.   I'll leave you all with some of the more interesting signs hanging up in our cabin.