Going to the Mountains

Beba SchlottmannGoing Places Leave a Comment

Tennessee Mountains

Oh how I love the mountains!  My ideal winter vacation is to disappear to a secluded cabin somewhere on the Georgia or Tennessee Mountains (or any other mountain with a glorious view of green everywhere!).  I love the idea of wrapping myself under a thick fuzzy blanket, drinking hot tea (or coffee) with my feet spread on the coffee table, while staring at the beautiful panoramic view out the rugged windows of a log cabin and listening to the crackling from the burning logs in the fire place.  Ah, that is bliss!

I’ve actually taken a few vacations to the mountains up in Gatlinburg, GA with my family during different seasons (not necessarily just for winter).  as a matter of fact, I got to thinking about it today because my husband had mentioned we should try another trip to the mountains for a weekend or so.  “Are you serious? When do we leave?” was my response.  I don’t have to think twice about a vacation or time away with my favorite people in the world.

Our vacations to the Georgia mountains have never been all relaxing and perfect, with a number of mishaps; there was the time my youngest son got sick from something we ate and I had to keep him indoors for the remainder of the vacation.  then there’s the time we left a large bag of our dirty laundry in the cabin we were renting, unbeknown to us until we got a call-and by then we were too far to go back for it, so we had to call and have them throw it out.  What, from getting lost, to getting stranded, to food poisoning, to being locked out, bored, hungry, dirty, tired and broke, you would think we would hate going to the mountains.

Truth be known, is all about getting away and slowing down from a very busy schedule.  the best part is that we are together.  When we are home, everyone has their own schedule of things to do, places to go, and people to see.  Especially, now that my boys are older, we don’t have as many meals together as we used to, so vacation time is definitely family time and relaxation time.  There are no video games, no work (well, maybe a little), but definitely no agendas.  We pretty much go without a plan and decide day to day what we want to do.

Going without a schedule is something you can pull off on a vacation to the mountains, because  there’s not much to do there.  I remember one time we rented a cabin and literally stared at cows from the front porch for most of the vacation…Not a very memorable vacation, for sure.  I don’t recommend going without a plan/agenda if you are traveling abroad or to a place you’ve never been before.  You want to plan ahead so you can hit the best spots (historical, shopping, best restaurants, etc.) in order to bring back tons of pictures and memories of the sights you visited.

We recently took a short weekend vacation to Gatlinburg, TNN and stayed at a friend’s cabin for the weekend.  It was neat and so needed.  I had just finished with a women’s conference and the timing couldn’t have been better.  I remember I got up every morning and went walking for a couple of miles, while my husband and and one of my boys went around the town.  My desire was to stay in the cabin, working on some writing.  It was the perfect place for that. The weather couldn’t be better, the cabin was beautiful and the view was inspiring. I was able to get started on a novel I’ve been wanting to write.  It felt so good not to have any distractions and no place to be or people to see.  I had great devotions while there and was able to complete a whole chapter on my novel.  I eve lost a couple of pounds from my daily walks up and down the hill where our cabin was located.  Who loses weight on a vacation?  Can’t wait to go back!

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