It was an absolutely glorious weekend in North Carolina, the color was almost peak & we so enjoyed all the beautiful fall leaves & scenery up in that area. My parents have a house in NC, about 2 hours from where they live in GA. They love to spend time up there & they have a huge garden that they still tend to year after year. It’s a country house on the side of a mountain, with a stream running through the frontyard. I’ll tell you about it later. This little shop is in the little area of Murphy, NC called Brasstown, which is where my parent’s house is. There are some cute antique stores all lined up. I’ve been in there before, but didn’t have time this trip to browse. The weather could not have been more perfect for a Fall getaway. Me & Peter really enjoyed ourselves, eating & looking at the pretty mountains. We took off on Saturday and spent about 6 hours making a tour of the mountains & just enjoying the scenery. Wow, was it pretty!
Here is my parent’s house. They built this house 20 years ago after our family spent many years in NC, vacationing & sightseeing. We have such fond memories of NC & really had a lot of fun family time there during the years that my sister & I were growing up. This house is fun to visit. My mom cooks SO good, a typical country cook & we have eaten many a meal in this house. In the summer, the vegetables are plentiful & we eat & eat, until we can’t eat anymore. This weekend was no exception. 
I took so many pics this weekend that I had to put most of them in a collage, so that you wouldn’t be here all day looking at the pretty pics. I tried to capture as best I could all the gorgeous Fall leaf color that we experienced. The sky was extra blue & the leaves were extra colorful. God is the best painter there is, don’t you agree?
This is a fern outside my parents house.
And this is a pretty kitty that I made friends with. She lives next door & comes over to eat the scraps that my mom throws out in the woods. She never would let me pet her, but she did eat out of my hand finally & actually sat there for awhile with me. I think if I had a couple more days, she would be sitting in my lap.
My family’s love for NC started many years ago, back in the mid-60’s when my mom’s extended family all bought lots on a mountainside in Franklin, NC & they all built cabins up there. My mom is from Florida, as is my dad. Our family settled in the Atlanta area back in 1963, when I was 6 years old & my dad became the Pastor of a church in Marietta, where he stayed for 27 years. Anyway, my mom’s dad & all of his brothers & sisters decided to build cabins up in NC, to get away from the heat of Florida (I think there were 7 in all). They all took to the mountains immediately & loved it up there. We went for a nice long drive on Saturday & decided to stop in the old homeplace & take a peek at the cabins. Most of the cabins are still owned by family members, but we don’t have any immediate family that still goes there, although some of the 2nd & 3rd cousins still do. I have many fond memories of going up to this mountain, with all the cabins being full of relatives. All of us cousins would roam around on the mountain, hiking, swinging on the big swing that was tied to the top of a big oak tree (until one day we all broke it!). Oh, what great memories there were. The mountain was abuzz with all the activity of each family in those cabins & we loved every minute of it. This went on for at least 20 years, with my family going up many weeks in the summer months & spending time up there. We would find out through the grapevine who was coming up when & make sure we hit it when lots of our kinfolk from FL would be up there. We would picnic, go & look at waterfalls, slide down the Sliding Rock….oh, the adventures we had. It was great! And just spending time together around a campfire, roasting weinies were some of the best times of all. Lots of stories told. The above collage is of several of the cabins. It was so much fun to go back & reminesce about those wonderful times. My granddaddy died in 1985, so it’s been a long time since we were at his place. Now a distant cousin owns the house. But, it sure was fun to go back & see it all. You can tell that it was a wonderful place to be just by looking at the pictures.
Oh, the food we ate this weekend. My mom is a fabulous Southern cook. If I ate like this all the time, I would be in bad shape. This is meatloaf, potatoes, carrots, fried eggplant, field peas, creamed corn, sweet potatoes & fresh tomatoes. All of this but the carrots came from their garden. You can understand why I love it up there.
For breakfast on Sat., mom made homemade biscuits & gravy. This is what is called sawmill gravy (for you Yankee girls who know nothing about this stuff!), made from bacon or sausage grease, milk & flour. Boy, is it good! A side of eggs & bacon & it’s heaven.
Here’s mama & daddy in front of my granddaddy’s old cabin in Franklin.
I wanted you to see how pretty everything was, so here are some leaf shots. Wasn’t that sky beautiful?
The mountain streams up there are just wonderful. And cold!
More color.
Mountains & color.
This is a little church that my parents attended for several years. The congregation has since moved down the road & built another larger church. I went with them to this church many times over the years & always thought it was so charming.
This is my parent’s house. I just wanted to show you all around. They have several acres up there & the flat area you see is my dad’s garden. He grows all sorts of vegetables & has blueberry bushes too that are just loaded every year. This year the frost got them though. See that pretty creek in the frontyard. And the porch is such a nice place to take a nap. I have so many fond memories here in this house too. My dad built that bridge that you see in the middle & did a lot of the work on the house himself. That lounge chair is a great place for a nap! My parents were remembering back when they decided they wanted to build a house up in NC. They had passed through this valley many times going back & forth from GA to NC to my granddaddy’s place in Franklin & decided to stop & talk to a realtor 20 years ago & the rest is history. I think the Lord was looking out for them, as they got the land at a really good price, cause they couldn’t have afforded it otherwise.
And these are all Fall pics I wanted to share with you all. Enjoy the color!
Some of these pics are from the Nantahala River. I’ve rafted down this river at least a 1/2 dozen times, as well as the Ocoee River (only once!). Boy, is that fun to do! There’s hardly a prettier place anywhere than North Carolina. I’m sure many of you will agree who have visited this fine state or those of you who are fortunate enough to live there. Mountains, streams….they have it all. We sure enjoyed our weekend there this year! Hope you are all getting some Fall color too.
I’m so happy y’all enjoyed seeing the junk store too while I was gone. Wasn’t that fun? I really will have to go back & dig through there sometime.
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Oh my Gosh Rhonda, those pictures brought back so many memories for ME. My family camped all through the Smokies when I was just 15. It was our last family vacation before my dad had a terrible accident in which he went through dozens and dozens of surgeries and did not return back to work until I was 21! My parents lost just about everything they had owned at that time, due to Dad’s accident/health. So thanks for the memories of our last “family” vacation. I still treasure it. We went into NC to the Cherokee reservation and camped near there too. I thought NC was absolutely the prettiest state I have ever seen (and still think so – probably equal to our Hawaii visit for our 25th wedding anniversary.)
What beautiful pictures and such great memories. Thank you for sharing!
Erin
I just love stories like this…if we moved all the players to Indiana I would have almost the exact same story…God bless Godly parents.
let’s chat
Rhoda
I am soooo jealous! Living in Florida, I miss seeing the leaves changing. We just don’t get the fall look here….not much at all. All of your photos were wonderful. Thanks for sharing.
And the food….my mouth is watering. My Mom and Aunts cook like that too. Yum Oh!
Hugs!
Kat
Beautiful, just beautiful … and some mighty good-looking food, too. You are blessed to still have both your parents still living.
Betty in Oklahoma
It looks beautiful Rhoda! We’ve been thinking of getting a vacation home but can’t decide between mountains or beach. I’m thinking mountains after seeing your gorgeous pictures.
Mmmm….that food….looks soo good! Sounds like you & Peter had a lovely weekend!
Manuela
Oh, what a great getaway! The scenery is just splendid and it brought back memories for me, too, visiting my family in north Arkansas (especially the little streams/creeks–and the church reminded me of one we would attend while visiting. Many on my Dad’s side are buried in the little cemetary that surrounds it.) Yes, you are so lucky to have both of your parents.
Great Scenery….Great Family time…..Great Comfort Food! What more could anyone want?
MANY MANY good memories. Except when the hair lip man chased me down that mountian with a knife! Remember peach Dubee (sp?) cake! YUM! That meadow now, was my grandaddy’s HUGE garden!! miss that! Thanks for the pics, have’nt been to Franklin in years. OXOX cousin april
Wow, what beautiful pics! I’m glad you had a great time. I really loved the tour of NC and your parents’ house. Your mom’s food looks yummy! My mom’s a good old southern cook too (from KY).
Have a great week!
Ah, what wonderful memories and a wonderful getaway.
I’m afraid our fall is going to be less than spectacular this year. We just haven’t had enough rain.
stunning pictures! great memories! thanks for sharing! i always feel better having stopped by your blog.
love you rhoda, you inspire me.
~janel
NC is one of my favorite states, especially since my son lives there now. We had hoped to have a fall trip this year but had to cancel. I enjoyed seeing it through your trip!
Hi Rohoda!
Lovely pics! Be sure and drop by my blog today 🙂 …
Joy
I love your photos. I have been to NC one time and your pictures brought back a lot of memories. Your mom’s biscuits and gravy made my stomach roar in protest of my skimpy cheerios and milk breakfast!
Rhoda, How Beautiful these photos are. The colors of the Changing Trees are so pretty. The Southern Cooking made me so Hungry. Thank you for sharing.
Now you’ve made me so hungry! There’s nothing like starting the day with a batch of homemade biscuits and sawmill gravy! Yum!
Such beautiful pictures. Really enjoyable to see them. Thanks.
I am so glad you had such a sweet weekend.
It is always special to be with family and in such a beautiful place. I know this area pretty well…my folks were in TN for many years and I know the mountains of NC and TN very well. It is gorgeous in the Fall and you captured it well. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Hugs,
Sue
Hi Rhoda…..
Thank you for the beautiful post….I have never been to NC and have never had sawmill gravy (yes I am a Yankee lol) sounds like you guys had a wonderful time.
My sister in law just relocated to SC….so perhaps when we visit we’ll have to cross on over into NC for a peek !!!
Go Red Sox,
Kathy 🙂