Weekend in the Mountains

Our weekend in the mountains this year should be re-titled "World's Longest Drive for the World's Shortest Vacation".  We had planned this trip way back in the summer the same as we do every year.  It kinda crept up on us and when my husband asked off from work, someone else on his team already had those days off and they wouldn't let him go (don't get me started on how annoying I find this...it's not like he is a doctor or some job where they have to have you there...he works in an office).  Since my mom and grandpa were going to meet us at the mountain house I really didn't want to cancel.  I also didn't want to disappoint the kids so I decided that I would do the 9 and a half hour drive by myself.  Never again.  I repeat, never again will I drive that far by myself and if I get a hair brained idea to do so, please make sure you remind me of this!  It was long.  The stops took forever because I had to pump gas and take the kids to the bathroom and no one was there rushing us (wait, maybe I liked that part, the no rushing part) and so it just seemed to take forever.  When all was said and done it took more like 12 hours to get there.  Ugh.  I was exhausted.  BUT...I am still glad we went.  We did have fun and we got to see my mom and grandpa which made it all worth it.  Not counting the 2 entire days it took to drive there and home we were only there for 2 days.  The best part was that we got to see fall.  It wasn't quite late enough to be perfect leaves, but it was still way more like fall than anything here in Florida.  Although Florida is making me an even bigger wuss when it comes to cold weather.  I was freezing!  I still enjoyed the beautiful scenery though and we are already planning to make sure we make it a yearly event (it already was, but missing out on fall here is making it a must do event).  Only we are for sure making sure my husband is with us next time to help with the driving.  Plus, we love him and missed him!  :)  I took some photos while we were there, but I didn't get as many shots of the mountains as usual since we drove there from the south we didn't actually drive over the mountains like we usually do.  We still did drive through some, just not the normal ones and I didn't want to prolong the drive any further by stopping anywhere to take photos.  There was the most amazing fog on both the drive there (going through the Florida farmland) and on the way home (through the mountains of Georgia) that I wish I had some photos of.  Oh well.  I'll just share what I did get.  Here you go!

This was parked right in front of the house when we got there.  Can you spot the kids?  My cousin was having a new house built right across the road.  I cannot believe I didn't take one single photo of her amazingly beautiful house!  Anyway, trust me, it's gorgeous, but it wasn't quite done when we were there and the road was still a mess.  The kids didn't mind though because it was the weekend and there were two different digger things for them to climb around on.  Also, note that my son scared me to death climbing up on the top like that, especially since there is a creek right next to it making the drop even further, so of course, I did what every normal parent would do and took a picture and told him never to do it again. :)  Oh, and he did manage to fall in the creek this year while playing tag.  Never a dull moment!

Silly girl.

We took a drive to the "Road to Nowhere" one day to enjoy the scenery.

The road ends at the other end of this tunnel.  It's way bigger than it looks. And it was freezing inside it!!

Our cousin and her favorite guy, Rabby.  That on the right is the view from the road driving up to the tunnel.

We made it through the tunnel!  My watermark is blocking it, but he's jumping in that pic.

Cutie cousins. :)  

Most of the leaves were still green, but there were still some pretty ones if you looked harder.

I love this shot I took on the way back through the tunnel.  He looks like a zombie or something to me. Kinda spooky.

Some more shots of the pretty leaves.

I really am glad we went.  It is nice to be back in sunny Florida though.  I really, really do miss fall, but I think I miss mostly the colors and the sounds, not so much the reality.  Like I really don't miss the cold and I don't miss raking leaves, and the dampness and fact that it means winter is on it's way.  So yeah, I think a weekend trip in the fall is pretty much the perfect solution!  I can't wait for next year's trip!