Beech Mountain

As we've done so many times this year, on Wednesday morning we packed up the Sequoia and headed out of town.  This time our destination was to Beech Mountain, NC.  The drive was uneventful, until we got to to the Blowing Rock Boone area... snow was everywhere.  We tried to take the Blue Ridge Parkway, but quickly realized-- thanks to cars and trucks scattered on the side of the road-- that the scenic route was not in our future.  We arrived safely at our cabin (rented with friends) and settled in with a hot dinner.

Here's Aaron helping a lady that was stuck at the entrance to the Parkway.

 Thursday morning, we woke up to a fresh dusting of snow.  The day warmed up to a comfortable 43 degrees... which while nice for being outside... the snow was melting and there was a light rain.  After lunch, we set out on a mission to find me some boots-- yes, I actually wore shoes!!  Once we were suited up, we all went tubing at Hawk's Nest on Sugar Mountain.  It was so much fun!!!  We went so fast... even knocked over some of the workers as they tried to stop us.  AND...having a conveyor belt to ride to the top of the hill made it so much more enjoyable with 3 kids.  We finally ran into our friends at the very end of our tubing experience and the kids played on a big pile of snow until they were told not to :)  Back at the cabin, the kids played fort, found treasure (a hidden door under the stairs) and ran around crazy!!

New Years Day, we woke up to another fresh snow... this time a couple of inches.  We decided to take the kids up to the town and go sledding.  It was a much colder day... 17 degrees!!  It was made even colder because at one of the sledding locations the snow makers (blowers???) were blowing.  Freezing cold wind, with wet snow hitting your face is no fun!!  We hadn't even been sledding for 10 minutes when Claire announced that she was done-- crying ensued because her poor face and hands were bright red from the cold.  We decided to switch hills and leave the snow maker behind, which made Claire happy for another 10 minutes ;)  I-- not being fond of the cold-- happily volunteered to take Claire to the car to warm up while the boys finished sledding.  Once they were done, we headed back to the cabin to warm up with hot cups of cocoa.

We ate some lunch, played outside and took a walk down the road where we saw animal tracks-- deer, raccoon, turkey, rabbit and crow.  The kids lay in the road and made snow angels and we walked through the woods where we saw a small waterfall.

We spent the later part of our afternoon playing games.  And at one point, I looked out the window to see a family of deer eating leaves of the trees outside the kitchen window.  We also saw a turkey.  It was like watching a nature show, just without the TV :)

Saturday morning, it had snowed again.  This time we woke up to about 6 inches of powdery snow.  We had originally planned on going skiing and ice skating, but when Aaron called the ice rink and learned the temperature (not including the wind chill) we changed our plans.  The temperature had once again dropped... this time it was a mere 5 degrees!!!  We decided to hang around the cabin all day.  Sledding when we felt like it and walking inside when we'd had enough of the cold.  We played more games and saw more deer.  The whole week there had been a fog over the mountain or blustery snow... and that afternoon the skies cleared and we headed out to get a picture.... it was cold freezing, but well worth it :)

After we braved the elements for a couple of pictures, we went to the cabin for dinner.  Just as we started eating, the electricity flashed.  It flashed several more times before going out for 30-40 minutes.  We ate our dinner by the light of an oil lamp.  Something we say we should do more often, because it was so nice.  The electricity came back on... but we weren't convinced it would stay... so we started packing up the house.  It only made sense to be prepared to leave if we lost electricity again because we couldn't stay there with no heat.  Through the night the power flashed several times... BUT... Luckily, it never fully went out again.

Today, we woke up to another light dusting of snow and the coldest of temperatures by far.  We packed up our belongings, returned our ski pants and took our recyclables to the drop-off site as we headed out of town.  Here's the temperature...

It was a great vacation.  A winter wonderland for sure.  As we drove up the winding hills the trees glistened and looked just like they were covered with powdered sugar.  It was breathtakingly beautiful.

The kids-- unaware of spelling-- think that Beech Mountain should be changed to Snow Mountain.

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