Drizzly Day in the Cherokee Foothills

New Year's Day was a travel day for us, and we spent the whole day in the rain.  We drove from Asheville to Table Rock State Park in South Carolina and got out for a few minutes to enjoy the drizzly view.

View from the back porch of the visitor's center

Visitor's center with Table Rock and Stool Mountain in background

As a nod to my Cherokee heritage I wanted to take this route instead of the freeway, as this park is situated on the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Byway.  Cherokee legend claims a huge chieftain would eat his meal from the massive rock's top while seated on the smaller Stool Mountain nearby.  Table Rock State Park is one of the recreational areas created by the CCC during the depression in the 1930's thanks to Roosevelt's New Deal.  Something to think about as everyone complains about the money being spent trying to rejuvenate our economy during our current depression recovery efforts.

Our next stop was a whim when I saw a sign for Long Shoals Wayside Park.  Steps led down to the creek and while my companions waited in the car I spent some time breathing the clean, damp air and wandering the rocky streambed. I could have had a lot of fun here with my tripod, some extra time and the right light!

But, we had to move on! It wasn't long before we crossed into Georgia and dropped my mom off at Dunkin' Donuts in Gainesville to meet up with her cousin.  Katrina and I hit the highway again to make it to our final destination of the day, a rental home in Cumming, Georgia on Lake Lanier.

The home is darling and very well kept.  My only complaint is that when I scoured the rental website for homes I specified to any owner that I contacted that fragrances, especially scented candles and other similar scented items, was something I could not have in a home I was staying in.  The owners replied that it was not a problem and made a note to make sure the cleaning crew did not use anything offensive, but when we arrived I discovered 4 scented candles laying around the home, and in every closet there was a bag of "damp rid" hanging which was so scented I almost cried while removing it from the home.  Now those items are all on the back porch and I had to spend the night on the couch with the window open because the bedroom closets smell so strongly of that damp rid product.  I was pretty much near meltdown over the situation last night, so after the drama and a session with my neti pot and allergy medications we headed over to the North Atlanta Outlet Mall for some shopping therapy.  It helped, and in the morning I woke to the sound of birds and mostly symptom free so all turned out fine in the end.

Lake Lanier is down by more than 11 feet according to the owner.  Mom will be hanging out with her cousin for a few days and Katrina and I are off to the Jimmy Carter Library & Museum and the MLK National Historic Site in Atlanta!