Haven On Earth......

It was close, but we made it to Graves Mountain! We were packing in the morning when we heard the "You've Got Mail" sound....yep...another foreclosure that Dennis needs to list! We didn't panic...just took care of everything and figured we'd get out of town by 2 or 3...plenty of time to make it for dinner! NOT.......an hour later another one came over and 20 minutes after that...yep, another! Three in one day!!! We rushed to get done what had to get done and got to Graves Mountain just after sunset.

Shugs was soooo excited to be going for a ride in the car and she loves it even more when her bed gets to go, too! She used to hate going for a ride in the car, but once she figured out that the alternative was to stay behind without us, she started going along and now she just loves it!

I could hardly wait to get there....it's been 6 or 7 years (can't really remember!) since I've been and each year I've known when it was Graves Mountain weekend...if you weren't there this year, it smells the same...it looks the same....it feels the same! There was a great group this year......20 of us on Friday night, 15 on Saturday night and 6 of us on Sunday night! Of course, we all really missed some of the OSLers that couldn't make it this year....as a last thought before heading out the door, I ran off copies of Shelby and Justin, Courtney and Austin, and Lindsey and Darren....figured it was better than nothing! Y'know...I think they had a great time!!! They got to sit by the fire, eat at the harvest table.

...sit on the porch....Shelby and Justin even helped make the Cabin Chicken Chili (recipe coming soon!)...yep, I think they had a great time!

On Saturday the guys had breakfast going before our feet hit the floor...it was delicious! Melinda started her Cabin Chicken Chili for our lunch, then headed out with Jess and Robin to a baby shower. Dennis and I went down the Apple Harvest Festival to check it out...great bluegrass music, crafts, food and I love watching them make apple butter. I thought I was taking a picture of the guys making it, but I guess I wasn't...check out the video! Sound like the festival????

Then we took a drive up to Skyline Drive.....it wasn't peak, but the colors were brilliant on one turn, then you'd make another and it was pure green.....it was a beautiful drive.

On the way back, we decided to mess with "Gypsy" (our GPS system) a little bit. We really just wanted to go through the mountains to get back instead of around them. So when she said go straight, we took a left....when she said take a left, we took a right....she recalculated so many times I think she was dizzy. THEN she decided to mess with us a little....she had us going down a "slightly paved" road, which turned into a rocky road, which turned into a dirt road that got narrower by the turn.....we were having such a great time! We really thought we were going to get back to Graves by going over the mountain.......not! We ended up at a gate...with a sign....and the sign said, "If you can read this, you're within range!". Needless to say, we did a quick u-turn and I could swear that I heard "Gypsy" chuckle.

We gave up and got back on the main road....we got back to the cabin in time for dinner and some relaxing on the porch! Later Adam started a fire in front of the cabin, the OSL and Partners hangout! The adults sat on the porch with the puppies and drank wine, although I do remember a s'more or two! Yummm!

Melinda and I were the last to bed....we ran out of lime juice for our gimlets, but found some cranberry juice and made our version of "Decks Out of the City"....get it? I was a hurtin' fool the next day, but that night chatting was worth every pain that shot through my eyes into my brain!

On Sunday Dennis, Leslie, Karen and I headed to "town" (the apple shed, grocer and a couple of yard sales)...we found some interesting things at the yard sale. Check out what was inside of this tin when Leslie opened up! It must've driven that poor lady crazy when she couldn't find those teeth! In hindsight, I probably should have bought them....they might come in handy someday!

When we got back to the cabin and told Melinda, she HAD to see it! So she, Dennis and I headed out to check it out......then we decided to take a little drive over the hill to a winery! It was a cute little place and they had a house and log cabin on the property for rent....the log cabin was different, but nothing like Graves or Baby Graves!!!

After we left the winery, we took a back road we'd been told about by Mark, Everett's brother (they're from up in that neck of the woods....). We were expecting dirt roads, but I guess progress has been made and it all now paved, but it was a beautiful drive!!!

Back at the cabin, all of the kids had left......there was only Melinda, Brad, Everett, Robin, Dennis and me left! The place looked kinda lonely......and it sounded kinda quiet.....the chairs were empty....and the bonfire was out!

Sooooo.....we heated up all of the leftovers and had a feast!

Then Dennis went off to try his hand at fishing and Everett decided to take the chill out of the cabin by starting a fire....only first he had to split wood! He was doing great until he got to this one piece....it looked like it was pretty hard, but that man refused to let that piece of wood get the better of him.....here's the picture story of how it went:

Now I would have given up long before that hatchet got embedded in that piece of wood, but it didn't deter Everett....he headed down to get his feet entrenched in the earth, then tried a piece of wood to hammer it through, but ended up using a huge rock to pound the thing. I didn't get a picture of that because we were all laughing so hard! But he DID IT! I'm impressed!

I sure am glad that we had plenty of leftovers to eat and weren't depending on Dennis' catch of the day..... he said it's hard to catch big fish in little bodies of water.....I guess that's why he loves the Chesapeake Bay so much! Oh well, back to the salt water fishing! Monday was a sad day.....seemed that we'd done everything we could to fill the weekend and now it was time to pack and go. Shugs did get a little "dog watching" in.....there was a Golden Retriever swimming in the pond area of the creek....Shugs just sat there and watched, but I'm quite confident she wasn't thinking of jumping in! After we left, Dennis and I headed back up to drive the rest of the Skyline Drive....we stopped at Loft Mountain for lunch, then headed home. I drove, while he napped....not long into the drive Melinda called shrieking that her niece had gotten engaged and they're hoping to get married next October during Graves Mountain Weekend!!! ARGHH!!!! Melin says that she told her brother that she'd drive to Graves on Friday, Philly on Saturday morning, and Graves on Saturday night..........it would take more than a wedding to keep that girl from that cabin.....she hasn't missed that weekend for 17 years....I'm sure next year won't be the first!

See you there!!! PS - Sorry for the long blog, but it was a long weekend! I have lots more great pics that I'll post later....my hands are tired and this "Add Image" button really ticks me off!!!