Trip Notes

Our spring buying trip was not all work and no play. We made time to visit Macon and spend an extra night on the way north. Macon is a pretty little town and we had just missed the Cherry Blossom Festival but there were still some pretty pink cherry blossoms here and there and plenty of other blooming things.

Macon must have more churches per capita than any place besides McIntosh where we have a church per each 89 persons. (That's 5 Mcintosh churches!) This is St. Joseph's Catholic Church being renovated. Construction was started in the 1888 and completed in 1903 and it is now undergoing a major restoration.


The downtown area is charming and since Sherman missed Macon on his March To The Sea, there is some wonderful
historic and original antebellum architecture to explore.


There's a cute antiques shopping section on Ingleside Ave. Everyone we met was just as friendly as could be. We enjoyed spending a little extra time in the historic town of Macon, GA and will visit again.


In North Carolina on our second day, we were totally surprised by a hearty spring snow so we stayed snuggled in at Moonpie (the cabin edges the Nantahala Forest) and is between Franklin, NC, and Wayah Bald. Since I took mostly Capri pants and platform flip flops, I wasn't prepared for cold weather. We got 4 or 5 inches of snow and it was 24 degrees with the wind howling at what seemed like gale force. My toes were cold! There were icicles over a foot long!

on the Wayah Road. It was slippery and there are no rails along the sides of the narrow road with sheer drops of hundreds of feet down the mountain side. I scream every time we drive there and I've been driving that road for almost 35 years. You can take the flatlander out of Florida but you can't make me stop screaming when there are no guard rails.

We took this picture of the snow on a split rail fence at Wilson Lick.

on the Wayah Bald road. Wilson Lick Ranger Station was built about 1913 and was the first ranger station in the Nantahala National Forest.

We took a day to go to the Cove. We've been going to Cades Cove, a 6,800-acre valley near Townsend, Tennessee for years and years. We love the Cove any time of year and it is equally as beautiful during any of the four seasons. Nineteen years ago, we were lucky enough to catch an unexpected, heavy spring snow in the Cove. They closed the Great Smoky National Park Roads and the Blue Ridge Parkway as impassable but we lucked out, isolated, had the whole place to ourselves and had the most perfect time that April. In fact, we had planned to run part of the Blue Ridge this trip but alas, heavy snow had the portion south of Maggie Valley closed again.

Anyway, the Cades Cove Loop Road Auto Tour is something you should do if you are ever in the area. Read all about it here. In fact, I have a painting of Carter Shields Cabin on the wall to my left as I type.

We try to visit Cades Cove at least twice per year. The leaves were tiny and tender and spring was popping at the Cove. Too early for bears but we saw several dozen wild turkey and dozens of deer and even a few woodchucks. No snow in the cove but we did have some
snow and ice at the Tennessee and North Carolina border

on the way over and back. You can see the ice pellets on our windshield behind our trip mascott, the little bear on the dash that I bought for 10 cents at a yard sale in Dillard, Georgia. Of course, it is over 5000 feet altitude along the TN/NC border so it is always on the cool side, even in the summer.

We antiqued and searched for jewels at all of our usual sources. The scenery is pretty and the weather is always interesting in the mountains. Here's a photo of the courthouse in Sylva, NC.

There were paperwhites, daffodils, iris, dogwoods, cherry blossoms, tulips, violets and other every spring flower blooming profusely. It is a treat to be able to enjoy Spring twice. Come to think, it was a treat to be able to enjoy winter twice, as well!