Magic Wineglass Tours

Tag: smoky mountains

  • Savoring the Sweet Life

    Savoring the Sweet Life

    It seems that nowadays everybody (including yours truly) posts everything on facebook. While that’s loads of fun, it does mean that I’ve been blogging there instead of here. I apologize for the hiatus… but if you’re on facebook, join me there! There’s a business page, for Timberwolf Creek, and I have my personal page under my own name for political rants, travel posts, and pictures of my grandkids. And my dog. And my ridiculously handsome husband. So it goes.

    Meanwhile, I grabbed this photo in the morning and it just sums up All Things Wonderful about living on this beautiful mountain. Moss and ivy climbing up the side of an enormous tree, ferns underfoot alongside the tumbling stream, an understory of great rhododendron, promising white bouquets in another couple of weeks… It all combines to make a cool, green, quiet space, for retreat, reflection, renewal. You can *breathe* here.

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  • The Creek House kitchen

    I have been remiss.  With eleventy bazillion photos of the Creek House all over this website and also www.maggievalleycottage.com, I didn’t realize I skipped pictures of my hands-down favorite place to be – in the kitchen!

    Now, this is not a dream house magazine spread designer gourmet kitchen.  Far from it.  It isn’t snazzy.  But it makes you feel so *welcome*.  It’s a cook-in-your-socks kind of kitchen.  And after making breakfast in here for the past eighteen years (how in the world did that much time fly by?!) I confess that I never want to spend any time in another drywall ho-hum boring kitchen.  I love my mismatched cabinets, hardwood floors, low ceiling beams covered in mugs.  The hooks are horseshoe nails fashioned into cup hooks for me by a blacksmith, back when we had one of those in Maggie Valley.

    There are treasures in every corner, and little odd places to tuck in another bit here, another bit there.  I’ve filled it with things I love to use, and it’s an easy place to work.

    So this week, when a very nice lady asked for kitchen pictures, I was stunned to find out that in my many tens of thousands of pictures on my computer, I couldn’t find any of the kitchen!  That’s because… wait for it… guess what: when I’m in the kitchen, I’m COOKING, not taking pictures haha!

    Without further ado, voila: The Kitchen, before and after…

     

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  • Picnic Lunch in the Great Smoky Mountains

    At last!  Something special for our hikers.

    Our Picnic Package always includes the basket – so that you can take it with you on your travels. We’ve just gotten in our newest edition of baskets: a backpack! These things are SO COOL! The body of the backpack is insulated, and when you unzip the outside section, voila: dishes and utensils.

    We think the slip pocket is ideally suited for a trail map…

    Take your picnic into the mountains to enjoy in the high country of Western North Carolina. We’ll provide you with directions to some wonderful spots for a picnic –choose from the Blue Ridge Parkway, the historic Cataloochee Valley, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, or right here at Timberwolf Creek alongside the stream.

    Enjoy freshly baked bread (sandwich filled to order) and fruit and cheese and veggies and olives and sweets and beverages and the list goes on… There’s usually a pie in there somewhere… Nothing like finding a whole entire pie in the bottom of your picnic basket 🙂 and of course all the implements you’ll need to enjoy that pie, and the rest of your picnic.

    But wait, you’re not a hiker?  No worries.  The backpacks lend themselves to all sorts of outings.  The insulated compartment keeps everything nice, so you can take this on your road trip and have lunch along the way (some of the highway rest areas have really beautiful picnic areas) instead of just hitting another fast food drive through window.  Or tuck a book into the front pocket, pack snacks and head for the park.  Do you bring your lunch to work?  Take turns with a friend, and blow them away when you arrive with this one, filled with your favorite pasta salad and fresh cut fruit and bakery delights.  And by all means, surprise your sweetheart with a walk in the mountains, a special bottle of wine, exquisite cheese and crunchy goodies.  What a great way to propose…

    Picnics at Timberwolf Creek are packed in a picnic basket/backpack for you to keep. Everything you need for a marvelous lunch in the fine country air.

    And of course, you can always just use it as a backpack.

     

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  • The WNC Cheese Trail – an artisnal delight

    North Carolina has an abundance of artisnal cheesemakers, and we have two within an hour’s drive that you can easily visit during your stay with us.  Out past Cherokee, is Yellow Branch Farm.  They have both cheese and pottery tours (feel free to bring me a piece with that exquisite blue glaze).  And stop on the way back to tube down Deep Creek in Bryson City, or take the seven-mile loop hike and see the waterfalls.

    Heading east past Asheville, you can tour both Looking Glass Creamery (makers of my all-time favorite chocolate lab cheese) and, if you’re feeling adventurous, continue out to Hickory Nut Gap Farm for you-pick berries and apples to perfect your tailgate picnic.  Of course, there are a bazillion little spots to recommend in nearby Asheville, but that’s a post for another day.

    WNC Cheese Trail

    Not looking for a day trip, but still want all that fabulous artisnal cheese?  No problem!  Pop over to Waynesville (ten minutes away) and head down to the Montgomery Street Market for lots and lots of locally made yummies, in addition to all that cheese.

    Or just laze away an afternoon upstairs at the Frog’s Leap Public House, with a lovely glass of wine, and a small-plate of local cheese.  They usually have four or five… and I usually tell them to put everything on a platter and bring it to me…  Now *that* is a fabulous lunch!

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  • October’s Bright Blue Weather deserves a mention, today!

    October’s Bright Blue Weather deserves a mention, today!

    October’s Bright Blue Weather
    by Helen Hunt Jackson (1830-1885)

    O SUNS and skies and clouds of June,
    And flowers of June together,
    Ye cannot rival for one hour
    October’s bright blue weather;

    When loud the bumble-bee makes haste,
    Belated, thriftless vagrant,
    And Golden-Rod is dying fast,
    And lanes with grapes are fragrant;

    When Gentians roll their fringes tight
    To save them for the morning,
    And chestnuts fall from satin burrs
    Without a sound of warning;

    When on the ground red apples lie
    In piles like jewels shining,
    And redder still on old stone walls
    Are leaves of woodbine twining;

    When all the lovely wayside things
    Their white-winged seeds are sowing,
    And in the fields, still green and fair,
    Late aftermaths are growing;

    When springs run low, and on the brooks,
    In idle golden freighting,
    Bright leaves sink noiseless in the hush
    Of woods, for winter waiting;

    When comrades seek sweet country haunts,
    By twos and twos together,
    And count like misers, hour by hour,
    October’s bright blue weather.

    O suns and skies and flowers of June,
    Count all your boasts together,
    Love loveth best of all the year
    October’s bright blue weather.

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  • The heck with the red hat; gimme the yoga pants

    When I am an Old Innkeeper
    I shall wear yoga pants and fuzzy slippers
    and forget where bras and hair products are stored.
    I shall spend my worldly riches on chocolate and good wine
    and tequila aged forever in oak.
    I shall spend my afternoons playing silly games
    and watching old TV series
    and reading books one after another.
    People will tire of ‘when I was in Italy’ and stories of
    unruly guests and breakfast kitchen disasters.
    But I won’t care. I’ll tell it anyway.
    I will sleep through the morning and have breakfast mid-afternoon
    and use paper towels as napkins.
    I will lick the spoon and put it back in the sauce because
    it will all be for me, anyway.
    I will drink from the orange juice bottle in the middle of the night, in front of the refrigerator, in my bare feet and pajamas, with only the one small bulb to light my way.
    I will go all week without cooking one egg.
    I will go out for breakfast on Sundays, and order ovo-vegetarian-lactose-intolerant-gluten-free-low-carb high-protein-paleo-south-beach-vegan-macrobiotic omelets. With real cream for my coffee. And bacon. On the side.
    For now, I will rise before the sun and indulge my guests and perform in the kitchen and savor each conversation and encounter.
    But I am already practicing… for when I grow old.

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  • Trout Fishing – complete with rod & reel and mini-tackle box with lures $5

    This is just a marvelous program – North Carolina Wildlife Resources has a Mountain Heritage Trout Waters program that makes it a piece o’ cake for you to fish for trout while you’re staying with us!  Three miles of hatchery-supported trout stream in Maggie Valley have been designated for fishing within this program, and $5 gets you a three-day license. 

    No rod & reel?  No problem!  They have loaners.  And every registrant receives a first-time gift of a mini-tackle box with assorted lures.

    All the information is right here, and you can even buy your license online.
    http://www.ncwildlife.org/Fishing/LearnResources/Programs/MountainHeritageTroutWatersProgram.aspx

    If you’d rather wait ’til you arrive, the Maggie Valley Chamber of Commerce is just down the road, and you can get ’em there, too.

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  • Guest Blogger? How about Guest Poet…

    This poem was in the room journal, left by our guests this weekend.  Made me all misty!  But I ask you, how wonderful is this?

    Sh.. I have a secret
    That I just have to tell
    I met a fairy godmother
    Into the rabbit hole I fell.

    She welcomed me with open arms,
    And a beautifully mischievous grin.
    Then with a wave of her wand,
    Showed me where dreams begin.

    It was a pretty little cottage,
    Nestled daintily in the trees,
    Quietly offering sanctuary;
    A haven for a soul in need.

    From the first moment I entered
    And stepped through the front door,
    The feeling of home and comfort
    Seeped from every pore.

    The cheery crackle of the fireplace,
    And the soothing rush of the stream,
    Invited the body to rest and relax,
    And encouraged the soul to dream.

    And oh my! The fairy godmother knows all!
    And her wedding fairy sees too!
    Dreams never spoken
    Somehow come true.

    Waving away worries with a magical wand
    In her magic I should trust,
    And believe in a world filled
    With love and magical fairy dust.

    What more can a bride ask for
    Than for a fairy godmother and her crew
    To treat her like a princess
    And make her dreams come true?

    Of course this would be true,
    How could it be any other way?
    When a fairy godmother waves her wand
    Poof! A beautifully perfect stay.

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  • Appalachian Mountains? Smokies? Blue Ridge?


    We are, according to the USGS (United States Geological Survey, the official mapping service of the federal government) in both the Appalachian mountains and the Blue Ridge Mountains, which are part of the Appalachians.

    The Great Smoky Mountains is a national park.  While we are not physically in the park, we are colloquially in the Smoky Mountains.  (USGS actually refers to our area as the Appalachian Blue Ridge.)  For instance, Dolly Parton is ‘from the Smoky Mountains’ and sings ‘Smoky Mountain music’ and has an album called ‘A Smoky Mountain Christmas’.  None of these refer to the national park, but rather this particular region of the Appalachian Blue Ridge, which is in immediate proximity to the borders of that which Roosevelt declared a national park.

    We are, legitimately, in: the Smoky Mountains, the Blue Ridge Mountains, and the Appalachian Mountains, simultaneously.

    This also gives credence to why the Appalachian Trail passes by us, from Georgia on its way north, and also the Blue Ridge Parkway’s immediate presence.

    So, Great Smoky Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains, Appalachian Mountains… it all comes together for you here at Timberwolf Creek.

    Glad I could help sort that out for you.  😉

     

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  • Gunfights and glory at Ghost Town in the Sky

    From Larry’s Desk…

    People always ask me ‘What’s there to do in Maggie Valley?’ My answer, with a wink is, ‘Nothing. And we like it like that.’

    But truth be told there are a lot of things to do. Unique things that you just can’t do most other places. Like this one. The Ghost Town in the Sky amusement park has been entertaining kids both young and old for half a century. While it has fallen on hard times in the last few years, it was recently bought by a local resident who aspires to restore Ghost Town to its heyday. And she’s off to a good start. Where else can you ride a ski lift in the summer, or a 1,000 meter zip line, or see the famous western shoot out?

     

    Yes sir, there’s plenty of things to do in Maggie Valley.

    Larry

     

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