Summer Fun In The Mountains

We travel to Robbinsville, North Carolina each summer to spend time at our mountain cabin with as many family members as can come to join us.  We built the cabin over 20 years ago, long before there were any grandchildren.  Needless to say when everyone arrives we are all like sardines, but we all manage to have a great time anyway.

Knowing we would all be at the cabin for the 4th of July,  daughter Sharon made this beautiful wreath to bring as a decoration.  She is a busy mom with 4 boys,  so I am proud she found time to make this for us.

All of us like to gather on the front porch of the cabin.  It is nice for visiting, reading a good book and just sitting quietly enjoying the peaceful view and listening to the different sounding birds.

The view from the porch each day is different.

No day is ever the same.

We were totally in the clouds on this day.

Another beautiful day.

One of my very favorite things to do is walk the road leading to and from the cabin.  From the creek on up to the cabin is about 0.7 miles, or not quite a mile.

Walking down is great fun, but walking back up is another story.  I usually take a Walkie-Talkie with me and call up for someone to pick me up rather than walk back up.  Cell phones do not work on the mountain.

Of course it is  fun taking the camera on the walk.  There is always something pretty to see and photograph.  These pretty flowers remind me of a wild version of Queen Anne's Lace.

These plants dotted the entire roadway and were so pretty.

These very small little wildflowers were everywhere.

Another pretty wildflower along the roadway.

And another.

These colorful blossoms appeared to be a berry plant of some kind.

There are a total of 18 bends in the road.

In the shadier spots along the way this Maidenhair-type wild fern grows up the hillside.

Another bend in the road going down.

We had lots of rain while visiting in North Carolina, so it was so nice to see the sunshine highlighting these beautiful green leaves along the way.

Different type of fern growing in another location along the roadway.

We have heard stories of wild creatures in the area so I am always on the look-out for bear, or wild boar, or coyotes as I walk along the roadway.  On this day though I only saw daughters Debi and Sharon walking back up the roadway. 

Then, when I arrived back I did see the "wild monkeys" in the below photo.

Daughter Debi, granddaughter Elly (with a raccoon hat on), grandson John Scott, daughter Sharon, grandson Will, his dad Charlie, and on the front row grandson Lawson, Ethan (Elly's twin brother), and grandson Preston.

Map showing Lake Santeetlah.

Lake Santeetlah is a huge lake located just outside of Robbinsville.  There are pontoon boat rentals available at a couple of different points around the lake.  The kids/grand kids all enjoy swimming in the lake.

Pontoon boat rental dock.

The mountains are very picturesque from the boat.

Jumping off the boat is great fun for the grandchildren ... There goes Preston!

Will's turn!

A gloriously beautiful day on the lake!

    Daughter D'Nai visiting from Kentucky.  Her pretty monogrammed hat was a gift from friends.

Daughter D'Nai with granddaughter Sydney and Nate ( Don, their Dad was in the boat)

How about a rest after that swim.

Son-in-law Charlie with grandchildren Will, Preston. Lawson and John Scott.
Visiting from Tallahassee.

Returning to the boat rental dock.

Growing along the banks at the boat dock were some of the most beautifully colored hydrangeas I have ever seen.  They were on the steep banks of the river and it was hard to manipulate the camera to get the best picture, but you can still see the very pretty bi-colored flowers.

North Carolina and Tennessee, and I am sure so many other places as well, have such nice places to vacation during the Summertime when school is out and families have time to be together.  Join us in the next post when we travel into Cherokee, North Carolina and across the beautiful Smoky Mountain National Park for more fun adventures.

Wishing you many special Summertime days and many blessings wherever you may be.