Saluda, North Carolina, "The Gem of the Blue Ridge Mountains"!

Another public holiday for Presidents' Day, along with a curriculum day for school kids meant we had a four-day weekend to fill. As Chief Holiday Planner, I'd drawn up a short list of places within a 5 hr drive of middle Georgia, and Saluda, a sleepy but quaint little railway town in the hills of Western North Carolina came up.

We'd found a lovely looking Airbnb set up in the mountains behind Saluda, overlooking a lake and headed off on Saturday morning, stopping just over the Georgia border in South Carolina, to collect maps and the usual paper flotsam jetsam that one gathers along the way.

View from our digs

Another pitstop was the Western North Carolina Aviation Museum, in Hendersonville, NC. Dave was in his element, and a "quick" stop ended up being an hour. Considering the fact that the museum's small but impressive collection was mostly of aircraft from the 30s and 40s - his favourite era in terms of design and general aesthetics - and the ready supply of amateur aviators keen to share their knowledge, it was Plane Boffin Heaven!

Brace yourselves - there are a few plane pics, and one day, Dave may even add captions to them to make it "more" interesting...!

There is always something to chat about...

"Seriously, you can't be giving me the 'wind up' - we've only been here 90 minutes!!"

The Piper Cub logo may look familiar...we visited that museum in Pennsylvania in July last year!

The weather in western North Carolina was fresh and there'd been forecasts of snow so we were prepared and keen to sample more of the fluffy white stuff, before our second Georgia summer. Our Airbnb hosts, Dawn and Ben, were absolutely lovely, and welcomed us like family when we finally arrived around 4pm. Dawn had left us a little box of freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies and a card wishing us a lovely stay.

Their home was a cute cabin, set into a hillside overlooking Lake Sheila, on the North and South Carolina border. The trees surrounding the lake were mostly bare so we had an uninterrupted view down to the lake. We did wonder how pretty it would be in the different seasons, green and lush, or bright fiery autumn hues. It really was an idyllic little spot, and we were lucky enough to enjoy it for the long weekend!

"Jesus died for sinners" and similarly themed crucifixes featured quite prominently around these parts!

Dawn's welcome gift - cookies and card!

Checking out the perimeters

The local Police Station, slash, City Hall

Police Station vault

This place was packed to the gunwales...with "stuff"!!!

Can "art"?!

Good to be "home'!

Sunrise!

Cranking up the computer...

I'd done my usual research and selected a little local restaurant Saluda Grade Cafe which overlooked the old disused railway line. Although we had an early booking, it was Valentine's Day, so the cafe was rather busy. In our time here, we've discovered that many Americans - at least the ones down South - and surprisingly even ones without small children, like to eat rather early, so even a 5.30 booking can be full of adult diners! Why? I have no idea!!

Dinner was tasty, home-style cooking with a few fancy flourishes. For example, there was duck with a sour cherry sauce, rib-eye steak, and a Bombe Alaska for dessert, which was the most massive dessert I'd even seen! It also happened to be delicious, and I did share it with Dave. We retired up in our mountain hideaway well sated, and ready for the next adventure.

On the Sunday morning, we decided to skip church, and head to Pearson Falls Glen, a pretty spot with a gurgling brook, frozen in spots, and an even prettier waterfall. Along the walk, we encountered a number of icicle formations which were an endless source of fascination for the kids. Dave had underdressed for the occasion and was feeling the cold a wee bit, but the kids and I were rugged up and enjoying the bracing air and magical setting. Isabella even brought her tablet along to take pictures with!

Throwing rocks into the frozen river

Poor Daniel - it's hard work being 3!

From the falls, we headed into the tiny town of Flat Rock, where we had delicious wood-fired pizza at the Flat Rock Village Bakery. Dave and I shared a wild mushroom pizza with truffle oil and fresh basil and it was divine!!! The kids had a margarita - always a good litmus test of a pizza place, and it was pretty good, too! We also shared a healthy beetroot salad with gorgonzola, walnuts and balsamic dressing.

Decisions, decisions!

Our Beet Salad...mm!

It tasted as good as it looks!

The dissection of a croissant...

Poor little Pepe Le Peu, and no, it wasn't us!

From the bakery, we headed for the Overmountain Vineyards, Tryon, a short drive east of Saluda. This was another recommendation from our hosts, and what a find it was! The winery was a lovely, family-owned and run affair, with a couple of Great Danes greeting visitors. While the kids swung on rope swing outside, we hung off the bar in the tasting room  and were looked after by Lita and her daughter, Sofia. 

For $10 a head - yes, you generally have to pay for a wine tasting here - we tried 7 wines. Lita, a very warm and laid-back lady, originally from South America, offered to continue to bring us our tastings if we wanted to sit outside on the rainbow row of Adirondack chairs. It was a great suggestion, and proved to work really well with the kids in tow as they could run around and amuse themselves, as we amused ourselves, sitting back, admiring the view, as the sun slowly sunk over the hills, with Dave puffed contentedly on his one cigar for the decade!! 

Enjoying the sunshine at Overmountain Vineyards

It started to get chilly, and while we warmed ourselves around an outdoor open fire, the kids were introduced to a 2 1/2 week kid - of the goat variety - called "Half Pint".  We got chatting to the locals, who turned out to be friends of our hosts! A box of wine later with a 5% discount because we were "mates" of Dawn's, we were on our way, and on the hunt for dinner! 

Meeting "Half Pint", the 2 1/2 week old kid

This had been one of the highlights of our weekend - in such a relaxing, warm atmosphere, while  enjoying their delicious wines, we really felt as if we'd crashed a private party where everyone knew each other, and yet no one seemed to mind that we were there!

Hendersonville is the closest town to Saluda of any size, and we found ourselves a groovy little Thai fusion place, which served a purpose. Nothing terribly innovative, to our palates, but tasty food and friendly service.

Downtown Hendersonville

Monday was a relaxing day spent with a lazy morning of mooching about the pad, kids playing with an assortment of toys, and Dave working. Yes, this was a feature of our trip - every morning spent on the computer, with various emails whizzing back and forth...




Lunch was at Saluda's Ward's Grill, which is part of "Historic Thompson's Store", established in 1890! "Greasy Spoon" comes to mind as the menu is classic diner fare - burgers, dogs, fries, with endless mugs of bitter opaque liquid passed off as coffee. Not my "cup of tea", but it hit the spot, and it was fun to mosey around the store next door.

There's no getting away from the ubiqutous red and white !

Not the best burger we've eaten but it did the job!

 

Our time was almost up!

The highlight of this little adventure was the discovery that Saluda is home to "Coon Dog Day", in honour of coon dogs - apparently, these are the doggies that hunt for raccoons. Ill have to put that in the calendar! According the the lady in the store, there's a parade and everything!

T-shirts, magnets, books and cds were available for purchase!

The weather was on the turn, for the worse, so back up the mountain  we went and hunkered down while watching weather reports of the impending ice-storm, heading our way. By early evening it had started, and while it looked like snow as it fell, it formed a hard crunchy crust on the ground and pretty icicles on the vegetation.

When we woke up on our last day, Tuesday, the whole landscape outside had been transformed - it was absolutely beautiful, if not a little foreboding! How the hell were we, with our "all weather" tyres, going to safely make it back down the mountain, and onto the highway home. No pressure, but Dave was flying out of the country on the Friday!!

Someone was a little stressed!

Every cloud has a silver lining, as they say, and the kids enjoyed scooting down the road on a plastic disk, without any means of stopping...mmm, just as well there wasn't any traffic. 

Very pretty!

Poor "Baby"!

Icicles are endlessly fascinating...when you're three!

 

Oh no! This isn't going to end well!

The local weather reports had advised against driving on the ice, especially for those on secondary roads, which ours, as a dead-end road up the mountain definitely was! Dave was panicking, the kids were loving it, and I was quietly torn between the two extremes of enjoying the drama of it all, while stressing that Dave was going to be determined to leave, regardless of what the man on the weather said!!!

Ben and Dawn - our lovely hosts!

Luckily, by late morning, and after Ben had kindly driven his Subaru down the mountain and back up again, to see if we could safely do so, we decided to make a break for it. There was another major freeze forecast, and if we left it too late, were were, according to Dawn, likely to be stranded there for at least two more days! Once the car was loaded up, Dawn and Ben generously shared with us a tasty and fortifying lunch of chicken soup, homemade chili, and cornbread, and we were on our way.

Despite the hairy driving conditions, Dave continued to make and take work calls for most of the trip home, while the kids watched movies in the back seat, and I enjoyed the fairyland atmosphere rendered by the ice-covered trees lining the freeway. I really do prefer winter, I think!!