Summer vacation 2017

The first week school was out we took our summer vacation. I had found a farm in Jefferson, NC that had a guest cabin and, having had a wonderful experience staying on a farm for our summer vacation previously, I booked it for 5 days.

 The owners of the farm live on the property, but in a separate house that they built themselves. They were super friendly and showed us their home. The husband is a talented artist who incorporated a lot of his creativity into the construction of their home. They used to own an art gallery in town where he sold his paintings. She is a retired school teacher. Now they are living their dream on the farm, where they have animals just for pleasure. The cabin was on 72 acres with trails we were free to explore and animals we were welcome to visit. The kids loved checking for eggs to gather and particularly visiting the baby goat, Sally. The only animals that weren't enjoyable were a pair of geese named Bonnie and Clyde. Clyde was quite aggressive in his desire to protect Bonnie. 

Jefferson is very rural, but in a very beautiful part of North Carolina. This was not one of our more action packed vacations, but we enjoyed relaxing in the cabin, fixing our own meals without having to leave, wandering the property, and having bonfires. The owner, Stephen, was gracious enough to bring us dry fire wood and even start the fire for us one night, because we had mentioned having a hard time using the wood that was already out at the fire pit. The kids loved having smores. They also loved eating their meals outside and Claire particularly loved when the farm dogs would come down to keep her company while she ate.

Because we do like to get out and do things on vacation, we found some local area attractions to sprinkle into our days. There was a local cheese factory which didn't amount to too much as far as a tour goes, but we were able to watch as they did their work (when we were there they were actually finished making cheese and were cleaning their equipment) and check out, in their on-site store, all the different cheeses and products they make. 

Also nearby was Grandfather Mountain. It was a beautiful place to spend a day hiking, picnicking, and exploring. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed seeing the animals they also keep there- the otters and bears, for example. But it was very windy and chilly at the top of the mountain!!

We toured a working goat farm run by a husband and wife who originally had only purchase goats to help control the briars and overgrowth on their property. But, little by little, they started milking the goats and taking cheese classes until they became a full operation, making their homestead goat cheeses (in many varieties) to sell at local farmers' markets and retail stores. We bought some of their feta goat cheese. We didn't love it, but our private tour was an interesting experience.  

 The kids enjoyed fishing in the river that was walking distance from the cabin. They learned that sometimes fishing requires a lot of patience and doesn't yield much of a result.

 On our last full day, Paul had to report to work in Virginia for a few hours. His office was only an hour from Jefferson, so we decided we would all go, we would drop him off at work, and the kids and I would find something to do in Marion until his meeting was over. We had to leave very early in the morning, before some of them had even gotten dressed or eaten breakfast. So our first stop, after dropping Dad off at work, was to a local park to eat breakfast and play for a little bit, until anything in town opened for the day. I must say, I felt like we probably looked like homeless people, eating our breakfast at a picnic table, in raggedy clothes.

 After getting their fill at one park, we moved on to another in town, for a change of scenery. Then we hit up Walmart for some candy and snacks, and headed to the nastiest movie theater to watch the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie. After that, Paul's meeting was wrapping up and we were able to pick him up and head back to Jefferson.

 
The next day, as we were driving away from the farm, Claire was the saddest little girl because she didn't want to leave Sally the baby goat. We had intended to head through Boone to go zip lining. However, when we arrived we found that they were unable to accommodate us without prior reservations. That added additional disappointment. So, what better way to cheer everyone's spirits than swinging through Cook Out for milk shakes!