Our First Year Anniversary

The glory of having been married in May is that when we take our yearly anniversary getaway, we can travel north to cool off or south to warm up. This being the case, we were looking forward to a long weekend in the cool (FREEZING) mountain weather of Blue Ridge, Georgia. I browsed online for waterfront cabins and discovered the cutest, most quaint cabin of all.. "Watersound." It's perched in the deep woods of Cashes Valley just yards from Fightingtown Creek. It sounded perfect and so our journey began....

Blue Ridge is about 85 miles north of Atlanta and roughly 400 miles from our quiet, little Crawfordville. For those of you who have had the pleasure of experiencing "Atlanta traffic," high five- you made it out alive. Holy hell... literally. Nervous before our trip, I asked my father to give us a blessing. If you're not LDS, this might sound odd, but in the blessing, we were clearly warned to "obey the laws of the land" not once, but twice. That worried me a bit, so immediately after the blessing I looked at Fernando and warned him to stay in the speed limit and we were to wear out seatbelts at all times. After goodbye hugs and kisses to my parents, we were out the door and on our way to celebrate one year of marriage.

I began driving and rarely having been through much of south Georgia, it was amazing to see plantation homes still standing and the grounds kept so beautifully. You could look out the window at most moments and see groves of pecan trees on either side of the road. It was the perfect setting for a game of hide and seek- if we were 7. I happily traded the driving seat for the passenger seat once we entered Macon, just south of Atlanta. "Obey the laws of the land" stayed in the back of my mind. It wasn't 10 minutes after entering Macon that a construction ladder fell off a work truck a few cars ahead and flew across the freeway just inches from hitting our windshield. I thought I was going to die and realized that had Fernando been going just a mile per hour faster, I'd be headless. Whew... food for thought. After recovering from a near anxiety attack of losing my life, we fought Atlanta traffic until finally finding ourselves outside the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We stopped for a breather and took in the view at a roadside rest stop with an amazing view of the valley below. Once again, we played photographer with this end result:

When I was a child, we took our annual vacations, just like any other family. I remember always feeling giddy the minute I would see sky scrapers and city skylines. I would press my face against the window and take in everything knowing that within a week I'd be back in a town with only 1 traffic light. My how things have changed. The only skyline that made me giddy on this trip was the sight of mountains in the distance. Keep in mind, these are NOT the Rockies... completely different but majestic and grand nonetheless! We followed the directions to our check-in destination in the adorable little, historic town of Blue Ridge. I fell in love instantly and couldn't wait to return the next day to shop and visit the art galleries.

As previously mentioned, I was battling my anxiety the entire trip and was hoping to be put at ease as soon as we arrived but once we began our final journey that would take us to our cabin, panic and hysteria soon followed. I'm a huge advocate of guard rails. Call me crazy. I find them to be a huge source of comfort when driving next to ravines and cliffs in unknown territories. These mountain folk were insane but I'm sure they had a few good laughs at my expense. The trek to our cabin took us through cork screw turns and roads (hog trails as I like to call them) further and deeper up the mountain. There were "blind" curves as they liked to call them, meaning you couldn't see ANYTHING or anyone coming around the same curve in the opposite direction. In a last attempt to save my sanity, I sank to the floorboard and instructed Fernando to keep driving and not let me look until we got to the cabin. "We're here" finally came and as I rose to peer through the window, there was our driveway to the cabin. It was more like a 300' slide of death but what do I know. Back to the floorboard I went until we were parked, safe and sound. When did I become such a baby??

After gathering myself and our belongings from our modest sport utility vehicle, I announced to Fernando that I was perfectly fine staying at the cabin for the next 3 days as we had adequate groceries and reading materials and should we need to leave, I was sure there was a helicopter rescue team nearby to assist us. Yeah, that didn't fly with him and after much debate, I agreed to head into town the next morning. I'm a champ. We enjoyed that evening with a bottle of wine we received at our wedding and grilled steaks, compliments of my amazing husband. After dinner, we relaxed in the hot tub and later in front of the outdoor chiminea, swaddled in blankets. Morning came much too soon...

Needless to say, we survived the journey back down the mountain and as soon as we reached somewhat flat ground, I was a happy camper. The weather was cool and crisp, but never too cold for flip flops- hallelujah! We walked along the cracked sidewalks, checking out antique shops and specialty stores along the way. While I was debating on making a purchase, Fernando rushed in and begged me to follow him to the neighboring gallery.

"Turning Leaf Wood Art" it was called and it was there that we had the privilege of meeting Master Wood Turner, Gary Gardner. What a pleasant and intriguing gentleman he was! Fernando was taken by his work and I began to feel as though we were on a field trip and Fernando was that one kid in the class that kept asking our guide question after question. All good though, it was definitely interesting to learn about the process and see his and the work of many others. If you're interested: http://www.turningleafwoodart.com/GaryGardner.htm. We both had our eye on one of his pieces. Fernando was intrigued because Mr. Gardner said that he nor his colleagues had been able to identify the wood he used- I was intrigued because of the price. It's a disease. I can't help it. We purchased our very first piece of art that morning and Mr. Gardner was kind enough to include a personal note of gratitude to us.

With our first and newest addition to our hopeful art collection, we decided to have lunch at this picture perfect eatery- The Serenity Garden Cafe. We sat outside under the shade of an umbrella and sipped on fresh squeezed lemonade and filled our stomachs with hot sandwiches. We ended the day after hours of strolling through town and retired to the cabin to relax in the hot tub and sip coffee in front of the chiminea. It seemed like heaven.....


May 20th- our actual anniversary arrived and we decided to spend the day collecting river stones and enjoying the rushing sound of nearby Fightingtown Creek. Collecting river stones promptly ended when I could no longer feel my feet and I sat on the creek bank and watched Fernando soldier on. That evening we dined at a nearby steakhouse though I must admit, Fernando's steaks put their $20.00 steaks to shame. After dinner we explored a bit more and ended up at the Blue Ridge Dam. It was beautiful and of course we had to take a photo of ourselves once again! Maybe I should be in charge of holding the camera from now on!

We decided to get back to the cabin before nightfall so we could see well enough to get through the mountain maze. We were just minutes from the cabin and Fernando was telling me how people on the mountain here knew how to drive- it was in their blood since they grew up driving these back roads and OH MY GOSH WE ALMOST DIED! An SUV came barreling around a "blind curve" and even if there had been a comforting guard rail, we would have gone straight down the ravine. I have no idea how she stopped in time, but the warning from our blessing rang through my ears and I knew had Fernando not been doing the speed limit (of 10mph might I add), we probably would have needed that helicopter rescue after all. I was so ready to go home!!!

We rose bright and early the next morning. Fernando and I were both looking forward to our trip home. I planned a quick stop at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta since Fernando is such a marine fiend! He drove, of course, through the wicked streets of downtown and we arrived in time to beat the long lines. I'm the type that can walk through and exhibit and take in everything in record time. Fernando would rather stop and look for 20 minutes at every miniscule detail. That's not a fault, infact, I think it's a great character trait of his. It just so happens that I don't share that character trait and can't force myself to stare at a jellyfish for more than 60 seconds. Our favorite exhibit was the "Ocean Voyager" which housed 3 whale shark and my personal favorite- sea turtles! We managed to get the most adorable picture of someone's sweet, little girl standing in front of the massive aquarium wall.

What a refreshing end to a near-perfect anniversary weekend. We made it back home in one piece and were so grateful to have avoided two near catastrophic incidents. Perhaps we'll return to Blue Ridge for anniversary #3- if my nerves can handle it.