Hills and Valleys

“We already have several special things planned to do,” Rhonda, our daughter-in-law announced about the couple of days we were spending together in North Carolina. The first thing they wanted to do was go to a small hamlet called Valle Crucis, a beautiful place of picturesque valleys, sparkling streams, and steeped in local history. The area was named by a priest in the 1800s when he noticed two streams that crossed in a valley, forming a cross.

The first place we visited was a historic general store dating from l883 whose slogan was “Everything for the living; coffins and caskets for the dying.” A wall of post office boxes filled one corner; several locals collected their mail while we were there. A mammoth wood stove, adapted from a pot-bellied one, sat in the center of the room where rockers were pulled up and two senior citizens were engrossed in a game of checkers. The playing pieces were lids of Pepsi bottles.

After the wonderful store, our venture took us to a setting right out of a storybook--the store owner’s birthplace--a rustic, two-story cabin that belied an interior of modern conveniences and decorator styling. A little path led up to a pond with a dock holding Adirondack chairs. Other farm outbuildings had been converted to guest houses, with the main building a beautiful inn. We could have stayed all day in the gorgeous surroundings, but we contented ourselves with getting pictures in the porch rockers and dreaming of days gone by. Mark plans a trout fishing trip there for the summer.

“We have to eat at this place everyone has told us about,” Rhonda emphasized. “I can’t go back home unless we eat there.” We set out to find the highly-recommended restaurant, and we were not disappointed. We were seated at a table set with glass goblets, place mats and real china, and a cart was pushed in laden with food. Bowls of fried chicken, mashed potatoes, vegetables, steak, country ham biscuits and coleslaw were put in the center of the table for family-style dining. The food was luscious, then we had our choice of peach cobbler, strawberry shortcake, or chocolate layer cake.

What a sweet ending to a magical day, and what better place for a respite for us and our minister husbands than a place with a beautiful name like Valle Crucis--the valley of the cross.