High Country Hijinks

So, what did we do while in the mountains for a week?  We visited the Mast General Store a few times, like we always do.  While driving in and out of the Valle we noticed bunny hutches across from the Mast Farm Inn. So one day we stopped to visit the bunnies. So cute!  They were really friendly and let us cuddle with them.  They had bee houses there too.  Bees are not as cuddly.   The day we visited the bunnies and bees was girls’ day.  Papa was home with the boys while us girls went into Boone for lunch and shopping.  I scored a great deal on 600 thread count king size sheets at The Shoppes at Farmer’s Hardware.  Only $25!  Woot!

We grabbed lunch at Tupelo’s World Cafe.  It was wonderful!  We’ll definitely go there again.  We normally go into Blowing Rock for our lunch/shopping adventures but decided to go to Boone this time.  So glad we did!  While there Gigi bought Momo, Sara & I sursies.  She got me a very cool monogrammed garden flag for the house.  You know us Southern women love our monograms!

On the way back to the Valle we noticed all these roads that shoot off from the main road.  Roads we’ve always wanted to explore.  So I turned down a few.  Some went straight up the mountain.  We saw AMAZING houses.  Some went down the mountain.  Some were so rough and narrow and steep that we all thought death was near.  We were screaming so much going down a couple roads that on 2 occasions men came out on to their decks to see what was all the commotion.  Who knew those were private drives?  We made it back to the house alive, thank goodness!

The day before our big adventure Papa & Gigi went to visit some friends and left us kids on our own.  Momo, Sara, the boys, and I went into Boone for lunch at Peppers.  Peppers has long been a tradition and favorite local joint.  No chains while on vacation!  Not sure what’s happened between visits, but Pepper’s is now off our list.  The prices are too high, service sub par, and food was bleh.  That was sad.  After lunch we went to the pet store in the same shopping center as a reward for the boys.  I think I had more fun than they did though.  They had these adorable birds called conures there.  The pet shop lady called them jail birds because they’d stick their little heads out through the bars of their cage to try and get you.  I totally fell in love with them.  There was a white cockatiel baby in the cage on top of the conures and while I was petting her I felt a tickle.  I looked down and the conures, 10 of them or so were pulling my shirt into their cage, gnawing on it.  One was grabbing at my bracelet.  They were so cute!  If I weren’t 2 hours from home, poor, and currently running a zoo of pugs at home I’d totally get a few of those sweet little birds!

Poor Joey was worried that I’d lose a finger to the birds.  He kept pulling me back away from the cage.  Then he became worried for the general population and began sheilding all the customers from the birds.  It was really sweet.  He fell in love with a kitten they were housing from the Humane Society.  When we left Sara & I were in tears over Joey and his kitten.  He was so upset to leave her.  He told her to behave herself. So cute! Again, had we been closer to home, rich, and his daddy allowed it I’d have gotten that little kitten for him.

More to come!