Autumn Escapes

He's been bugging me about not updating this blogspot.  If you've been wondering what happened, I haven't written about our fall and winter escapes because they are just that - escapes!  I left the laptop at school, took no work with me, and enjoyed the chances we had to get out of town.

I figure I'll do some catching up here and maybe that'll get me primed for our spring and summer adventures.

North Georgia Mountains
In October we visited Whispering Pines Campground in Morganton, GA.  Located just off the highway outside of Blue Ridge, this quiet campground is nestled alongside the gently flowing Hemptown Creek. Nestled is the nice word - tucked tightly is more like it.

Hemptown Creek flowing next to the Whispering Pines Campground in Morganton, GA

We arrived late in the evening after all the other campers had burned their day's ration of firewood and called it a night.  Our reserved space spanned a few feet between two other campers.  With a narrow driveway, a couple of trees, and a propane tank all perfectly situated, we tested Jamie's parking prowess. This was a one-shot backup - no retries.  We caught a limb, but luckily no damage.
It was so late, and the campground so quiet, that we chose to forego our usual careful leveling for the night.

Fall in the north Georgia mountains is delightful.  The temperature was pleasant, the leaves colorful.
With Jamie's mother and aunt, who stayed at their cabin, not in the campground with us, we enjoyed the Blairsville Sorghum Festival and the Punkin Chunkin in Brasstown, NC.  The Punkin Chunkin was a real treat - we'd never seen anything like it before. Man, they could toss a pumpkin!  That was some serious engineering for such silliness.

Punkin Chunkin 

Fortunately, I had made an advance reservation at one of my favorite spas, Serenity in the Mountains. I relaxed and enjoyed the pampering on Monday.  To how much I like this spot, read my previous review.

Prior to this trip, we had purchased an Oster roasting oven.  We tried it out.  Oh. My. Yum!  We baked a turkey breast and treated Sandra and Jan to dinner in the SolAire.  It was so delicious that we used the oven again at home for Christmas.

The Oster Roasting Oven

We baked cookies in the Oster.

My lumberjack keeping the fire burning

St. Joe Beach
Fall at the beach is another of our favorites.  We made a quick trip to St. Joe Beach in late October. Sunny afternoon on the beach.  Football on television.

Baked a cake in the Oster!  This little gem is incredible.