Creekside Cabin Getaway

2 hurricanes & 2 cancelled Airbnb’s later .. I want to start this post by saying thank you for being here.

I know I haven’t really been posting much lately. The contrast between last year and this year has been slightly overwhelming for me.

To say the least, this trip was much needed.

This cute little cabin was manifested by my sister for her birthday weekend.

She made a list of everything she wanted in a cabin and THIS was it. She forgot to write running water and power .. but we convinced ourselves those are luxuries.

Plus - we go camping all the time. It wouldn’t be that bad!

We packed the car (her brand new Mercedes) and headed into the mountains.

A 5 hour car ride full of conversation and throw back tunes. When we arrived, we met with the owner of the property. He gave us a hand drawn map and way too many verbal directions to process. I smiled and nodded, and we proceeded deep into the woods. The one thing I remember him saying, and I also read in the reviews online; "if you feel like you passed it, keep going!" Okay. So this is really some last house on the left shit.

We drove 30 min+ out of cell phone service, down a dirt road that twisted down the mountain into the valley.

Had I been with anyone else, they probably would have made me turn around. A glimmer of hope that we would be able to call loved ones and let them know we arrived - a phone sat on the deck, plugged into the outside of the cabin... which of course had no power.

Oh well, we sent positive vibes home. It was only 5pm but it was already getting dark in the valley,

underneath the thick canopy of trees.

So we set up the cabin, got comfortable, introduced ourselves

to the outdoor compost toilet and fixed dinner. Veggie dogs, yum. Then called it a night early.

A very peaceful night, as we slept and woke up to the sound of the creek.

In the morning, we celebrated my sister's birthday with

a few gifts and tons of fruits.

We celebrated her birthday as a family before leaving, but I was able to sneak a gift from myself and my mom into the trunk for her to open on

her actual birthday.

I cut open at least one of every fruit we had, we took a few photos, and ate away.

No really... we had to eat most of the fruit right then. In fear of attracting

mountain mice.

Which .... is a whole separate story.

We glanced over the hand drawn map we had been given, located the waterfalls, then set out to find a few of them. We wondered around the beautiful land, in awe, talking about how one day we hope to own our own piece of land with private waterfalls, and a remote tiny cabin alongside a creek. We all agreed we would want to be higher up in the mountain, rather than a place like Maggie Valley.

Although Maggie Valley is a lovely town and pretty neat. Home to Ghost Town in the Sky.

An abandoned amusement park on top of a mountain.

I remember my mother telling me about visiting Ghost Town as a child.

A very popular western themed amusement park.

It is actually set to open back up in Spring of 2019.

The only way to access this small town and amusement park is via chairlift.

It seems pretty cool - I will keep up with the re-opening !

Although peaceful and calming, it was also dark and much colder down in the valley.

As we approached the 24 hour mark since having cell phone service, oddly, the only reason we felt the need for service was to let our loved ones know that we are safe. And, of course, show them how awesome the place we were staying was.

We drove back up the windy dirt road. Going up was much scarier than down.

++ Who let me drive?

Our cabin was only a few minutes from The Blue Ridge Parkway, so we went for a ride.

We had eventually gained enough service to reach out, and continued on.