earthly memories: Over the hills & through the fog, to Banner Elk, NC we go!

DAY 1 (Wednesday)
It's finally here! After a rainy week in South Carolina we are headed for peaceful Blue Ridge mountain relaxation for 4 nights. Ahhhhh, I can hardly wait to dip into the hot tub holding a glass of wine after our monkeys go to bed.

Ezra napping while we cross
into North Carolina by Steph

Kane's brother Klint drove up from Pensacola to join us on our snowboarding vacation in Banner Elk, North Carolina. We left this morning at 7am. It's a 5 hour drive to the rental mountain cabin. Alex got carsick within the first hour, poor girl, she is just like her mommy!! Ezra is currently napping, & we are listening to an audio book....The Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. And I just downloaded the Blogger app!

We are headed straight to Sugar Mountain Ski Resort, trying to beat the rain. Looking outside there is no snow cover, high of 50 degrees today. Kane plans to snowboard and Uncle Klint wants to ski. The next two days have a chance of rain, then snow Sat.

We are winding through the mountains, gazing at the snowless cold ground. There are lots of little cabins tucked away and little shops. Alex wants to go "skiboarding" with her Daddy. We drop off Uncle Klint & Kane at Sugar Mountain and watch them for a bit. Hopefully next winter I will be able to try out snowboarding once again as well as Alex. Maybe she could ski?? I paid $4 for a popsicle for Alex which is crazy I know, & Ezra munched on his yogurt drops. Poor baby eats way to many of those while we are out & about. On our way back to the truck, Alex slipped under the railing & found a flat patch of snow. Despite hearing me say, "please come back here Alex", she continued to the middle of the patch & attempted to make a snowball out of the slushy white stuff. A few onlookers were chuckling since I could not chase after her with Ezra strapped to my back in the baby carrier. So again, Alex wins. As usual.

She finally came stopping back to me, & found out snow is cold without mittens.

Daddy & Uncle Klint before their
Sugar Mountain adventure by Steph

So now its up to me to drive & find our cabin. Banner Elk is not even a town really, but a collection of real estate offices, cafes, & ski rental shops in a picturesque backdrop with dainty cabins tucked into the mountain rock. I found our cabin online at bannerelkmtncabins.com. We are at the top of the ridge, at the end of a scary state maintained road. I swear if there were icey snow on the ground our GMC truck would not make it! Thank goodness their is a snow chain shop just in town just incase.

Here are some pictures I took in the evening. Isn't it lovely???

Mountainview Cabin, Banner Elk, North Carolina by Steph 2012

Sunset back deck view by Steph 2012

Beautiful fireplace by Steph 2012

Around 8:30 pm after I unpacked ALL of the totes from the back of the truck (totes = water proof luggage) I head to the grocery store near the slopes. I have never taken my monkeys shopping at this time. Let me repeat, never. Needless to say, they were excited to be out, & Alex even picked out the milk and put it under the cart while I was grabbing eggs. What a helpful sweetheart!

Upon paying for our goodies, I went to Sugar Mountain to pick up the cold & sore men. They both had big smiles on their faces from the fun day in the snow. GOOD. Daddy really needed it. He has been stoked to go snowboarding all winter & wishes to end up one day close to a slope so he can go out on a whim with his kids since he expects his ER schedule to be cushy. Plus, he was excited to try out his board again, the one he received from his mom in Alaska last April.

Back at the cabin I cooked up some white chicken chili, cornbread, & Daddy tossed a salad. Ezra & Alex were quite entertained by the new roaming grounds. Ezra is so quick & mobile now, he cruises all over the place. Once the babies were put down, we hopped in the hot tub outside the master bedroom. The fog had really start to set in with a little chill in the air. Weather forecast was right, the next day or so was going to be nasty. Uncle Klint had picked up a bottle of blueberry wine in Augusta which was AMAZING I will have to purchase some more of the liquid dream drink.

Did I mention the hot tub was the entire purpose for the trip for me? I couldn't snowboard with the monkeys around so relaxation was my anticipated activity.
Or lack of activity.
Which ever you prefer.

DAY 2 (Thursday)
Woke up to a little sunrise through the fog. Today is going to be a ski bummer of a day. Alex ended up in bed with us in the loft, apparently the air mattress is not good enough for our lil monkey. Ezra slept horribly as well. We slid his pack n pay in the bathroom so the fan could lull him to sleep. It worked for the most part except he hardly nursed the day before while on the road, so he took the opportunity last night to "catch up" on calories. Mommy bear is soooo sleepy.
Where is the instant coffee I packed?
And the sugar/creamer packets I swiped from Subway?
Most of the morning was spent playing with the monkeys & figuring out our plans for the rainy day. We ended up visiting the Pink Gorilla Souvenir shop & Alpine Ski Shop. Too icky to snowboard, so Daddy & Uncle Klint tagged along. I picked out a cute snowflake ornament with Sugar Mountain on it to add to our family collection. I swear its the best idea; no tshirts, no clutter, no tacky gifts, just a sweet ornament to pull out and admire on the tree once a year. The rest of the day was very, very, foggy.
Then came the rain.
Then came more fog and wind.
The boys didn't hit the slopes at all. In all seriousness, they were popped from yesterday so it didn't seem to bother them. It did bother me, I wanted nice weather so we could enjoy some local shops. Oh well, time to sit by the cozy fire!

By the way, Alex and Ezra have been following the VACATION schedule.
Which I now know translates to NO SCHEDULE. Its been rough. I expect both of them to be completely wacky the entire trip.

Daddy cooked up some Italian moose sausage his mom mailed down to us. Here is a picture of the poor creature. I can't believe I had him for dinner, mixed with red sauce & spaghetti.

Grandma Jean's first moose 2011

Outside the weather was crazy. Like in hurricane windy crazy. I guess on top of a mountain that's what is expected. If it were only 15 degrees cooler, the rain would have been beautiful crisp snow. Oh well, at least we have a fire to cozy up around. We found a deck of cards & uncorked some wine for a good time. Kane & I ventured into the hot tub despite the gale like winds.
Worth it.
I love water jets. Especially after carrying monkeys all day.

DAY 3 (Friday)
Weather was horrible again. Super foggy & windy. Its too bad the temperature couldn't have dropped so it could snow a bit. Gotta find something to do instead. Alex was dying to hop into the hot tub so Kane brought her to me. (Naturally, I was already in it, the exact moment after Ezra went down for his morning nap) She grinned & grinned & thought the jets were so cool. My little monkey kept saying, "I love vacation!". Uncle Klint managed to make a fire (takes him awhile but he always gets the job done) & so we spent the morning having breakfast & dips into the hot tub.

We all wanted to visit Grandfather Mountain & cross the swinging bridge, but the office stated it was truthfully too foggy. So instead, we headed to a nearby town called Valle Crucis to visit the old timey Mast General Store