Way Out West

Thursday we spent the afternoon & evening with our Replacement Friends*, George & Teresa Morris. They have a beautiful cottage at Creston but are only part-timers there. They wanted to take us to the place where they got their fireplace mantle called Vintage Beams & Timbers. It's a place where they salvage old barns and timbers and then re-sell them at high prices to northerners who come down and build homes in the mountains. We had to drive about 1 1/2 hours west of Asheville almost to the Smoky Mountains.
Vintage Beams is located on a beautiful farm with a huge old barn and lots and lots of beams & timbers. We met with Buck (most people down here are named Buck) who wore overalls and after looking at our fireplace plan said he could make the mantle and other pieces for us no problem. After we left Buck we drove to the Nantahala Forest and had a drink at a restaurant overlooking the Nantahala River. We haven't explored this part of the state much so were glad to be with someone who had. It is a beautiful area. The Nantahala River has a lot of rapids so is popular for white-water rafting and kayaking. After our drink we decided to find a place for dinner. We drove to Sylva, a very quaint old mountain town then went to Dillsboro and had dinner at The Jarrett House. We found it by asking someone walking down the street in Sylva where was the best place for dinner. They served home cookin'. Robert and I had fresh trout, Teresa had pot roast and George had chicken 'n dumplings. The veggies & potatoes were served family style. Everything was so good.



If you click on the last picture you can see Robert on the porch.

*Friends we have had to make down here since our old friends from Michigan won't come and see us.