This is the story of the first day of our vacation to North Carolina. You can also read about the background and trip up.
The view from the cabin’s porch was lovely! Every morning we would get up and take our coffee and tea out and sit on the rocking chairs. A sample view:
The view was constantly changing, especially the first few days. One moment we could see mountains, and then soon we would be enshrouded in the clouds and couldn’t see a thing. One thing we did see was this brilliant bird – a scarlet tanager. I had never seen one of these before so I got to mark it down in my book. Yay!! Great way to start the vacation. Click the picture to see the zoomed in shot.
The first order of business was to go grocery shopping and then head over to Sylva to get beer from the Heinzelmannchen Brewery. What a cool place! The Braumeister gave me a little sample of each of the seven beers… all but one were very good and we ended up selecting the Black Forest Stout (a dark, smooth ale; balanced roasted coffee and caramel flavors with a thick creamy head) and their spring ale Hoppy Gnome (a creamy pilsner style ale with a mild bitterness and hoppy bouquet; light and refreshing). Here’s the Braumeister filling Mike’s growler:
They also had root beer and birch beer which were pretty good. We took home a gallon of root beer for floats. Nummy!
After the brewery, we stopped for lunch at a little cafe on the main street of Sylva (I had a delicious goat taco) and then headed back to Franklin. On the way back, we stopped at the Ruby City gem store. Oh, I was in heaven! Rocks everywhere… so pretty. Trav bought me an amethyst heart and I got him one made of black, sparkly rock. Bleys & I got magnetic hematite bracelets, too. Mine is black and his is blue.
When we got back to the cabin, we found Mike’s son and his family were there to visit. It was nice to see them again (we met them last year) and we spent the afternoon tipping a few beers and chatting. Also, Jen was presented with a gift from Ruby City… she collects these glass paperweight things and Mike got her a really nice one. Here she is, opening her gift:
I would say it’s 6-7″ tall and has a squid-looking design captured within. The egg now enjoys the center spot in the display of her collection.
That was pretty much it for that day… we ate another delicious supper, socialized with each other for a while and then went to bed. It was a very relaxing day. Don’t they look relaxed? :)
