last october (i told you i would be getting caught up on overdue blog posts), my parents rented a beautiful cabin in maggie valley, north carolina in hopes to be there in time to see the leaves change for fall. they were kind enough to invite myself, cory and louie, as well as my brother and his family (unfortunately my sister-in-law couldn't make it due to work). while i think we were a little early in the season and didn't make it quite in time for the peak fall colors, the mountains of north carolina are always a wondrous, beautiful place to visit in any season. no matter how many times i go to the blue ridge mountains, their beauty never fails to take my breath away. we all had a blast, and visited some our long-time favorite spots! here's a look at all the fun we had:
*my mom (who's way more on top of her blogging than i am) wrote a post about our vacay too, you can check it out here.
i also made a post/video when we did the same thing back in 2015 to celebrate my parent's 40th wedding anniversary, and we stayed at a cabin in waynesville, north carolina. my sweet baby bentley was there to enjoy the leaves too. you can check that out here.*
(y'all know i had to make a video. play below)
our lodging for the week.
hi mom and dad!
the whole crew finally arrived!
me and my baby soaking in the view! i think it's safe to say he was relaxed.
let's talk a little bit about this view from the cabin...
it was breathtaking when it was cloudy...
...when it was sunny...
...when the sun was rising...
...when the sun was setting...
...at night...
...when it was foggy in the daytime...
...and when it was foggy at dawn...
i literally teared up a few times at just how beautiful it all was (not uncommon though, i'm known to cry uncontrollably during subaru and publix commercials too, so i guess it's not saying much). it's amazing how much the view changed throughout the day, depending on the angle of the sun.
i'm sure glad he's my brother.
my dad, the grill master!
a friendly game of chess with grace (she beat me everytime, and i was actually trying to win. kinda embarrassing to get the pants beat off you by a ten year old).
two of my favorite little boys.
my dad soaking in the view!
louie and i exploring the woods.
there's just something so cozy about having moss under your feet.
eye spy a chipmunk! so cute.
we toured lake junaluska while we were there. the lake is very quaint and peaceful, surrounded with beautiful homes and riverstone-lined sidewalks.
i'm just a girl... in front of a lake...
even the roses couldn't tell it was fall yet :)
someone found a giant acorn!
my adorable parents.
we were sure to make a stop at barber orchards to stock up on some honeycrisp apples, and fuel up with some cider and apple donuts:
i'm really at my best when there's a donut in my hand.
one day at sundown, we went to cataloochee valley in hopes of seeing some elk. boy, did we get lucky. there was a bull elk there with his harem (the park ranger called it that) of female elk. a young male rolled up into the herd, and the bull elk began to "bugle" to warn him to get away! it was such an awesome thing to witness:
i love when the sun does this pictures :)
that's the bull elk in the center.
check out those antlers!!
i think every creek should have an adorable log bridge!
we visited downtown waynesville where they have a cute main street, lined with little shops and cafes. my family has been coming here since my brother and i were kids, when my parents would take us on a summer vacation every year to the mountains. it was so fun to explore around in all of the stores. it hasn't changed much, and still is just as charming as it was all those years ago.
we were here in october, just before halloween. i loved these adorable skeletons crawling all over this brewery's storefront.
two of my favorite dudes :)
my mom told me about the smokey mountain dog bakery, so obviousy i had to go in and stock up on some treats for louie.
this lady seriously has my dream job.
cory had to leave early to go back to work, but not before we put back some yummy barbecue at haywood's smokehouse!
it's not a visit to downtown waynesville without stop at mast general store. they officially have the world's best candy selection.
the day before we left, we went for a cruise down the blue ridge parkway to soak in some final views of those beautiful mountains:
we pulled over at this stop when we visited the mountains in 2015 (see blog post mentioned in into), so we decided to recreate the picture :)
you can see some fall colors if you look really hard, haha.
these trees made me think of the movie E.T.
there's just something about a winding mountain road.
My people!
louie told me he wants us all to drop everything and move to the mountains permanently. maybe one day we can make his dreams come true :)
