Excursion

"Mom, Steve wants to take you and Dad to see some sights today," our daughter Julie announced. Well, that sounded like fun, especially since she and granddaughter Mackenzie were going, along with great-grandson, Mason, age three.

After getting everyone situated and seated in the van, we drove through town, with me thinking the various shops and businesses we passed were a little bit common place. Just then, we got off the beaten path and entered a magic forest of towering oaks and pines, the oaks cloaked in clouds of autumn leaves--yellow, golden and red,  translucent in their glory!

We were at Mountain Home, a place for retired veterans to live in stately brick structures, a city in itself, with street signs with names like Heroes Drive.There was a Mountain Home Cemetery where the patriots were laid to rest. Some of the stones were so old they did not bear a name, while others stood in rows of white stones like the Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

But that wasn't all! Next we found ourselves in the Cherokee National Forest, where tree tops  looking like puffy patch-work quilts blanketed the landscape in a riot of color. Higher and higher we went, until my ears popped and the motor noise grew quiet. The altitude was over 6,000 feet.

Beside the road, a rushing stream tumbled over rocks,  where an opening behind angled rocks  was known  to be the den of a bear! There was even a short wire-mesh fence down to the river for the brave or fool-hardy to explore!

"This is where the hill billies live," our driver quipped, as some makeshift homes and camps came into view. Still, it was beautiful. Who would not love to live in a place of nature's beauty and serenity, tucked away in privacy far from the city's bustle? To each his own, I guess, but for now, we'll go  down the mountain!