August 1-3, 2008 Escape

It is a lovly cabin, but it is famous for it’s driveway. We promptly started having issues with the famous 800Ft driveway… the car could not go up it even if its life depended on it. David tried first with the fully loaded car… no luck, so we carried the luggage all the way up the driveway. After our first trip up it, David had chest pains and told me to try to get the car up one more time… well, I tried. I was not able to get to the first landing, and I did something dumb, I backed down the mountain, and David was yelling at me the whole time to stop, but I had never heard him. I opened the door to check on my status, and I finally heard him when I was just about all the way back down, and unfortunately, I got distracted and ended up in the ditch.
The owner of the cabin’s uncle happen to come home a few hours later and he pulled me out, but I ended up with a damaged bumper cause I slammed into his trailer hitch. However, David and I didn’t care, the car was out and the nice man and his family were a true blessing to us. David cooked us a nice batch of really spicy spaghetti and I ended up with really sore legs and arms. Ohhh…. We had the car park at the very bottom of the driveway from then on, lol.

The next day it rained and we got nothing done. The following day though, We got up and hit the road bright and early. David was determined to show Calvin some snow. We spent the whole day exploring mountains and taking beautiful pictures. There was no snow unfortunately, but that is alright. The beauty of the mountains was exciting enough.

However, I don’t know why, but the next day it poured all day again. The following day, the 31st of December, we went to Chimney Rock.

Chimney Rock was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it very much. We took some good pictures of a water fall.

Mike,

Wow! What a great vacation.

You have a great place, very secluded but close to some great activities. Thursday we rented a pontoon boat from John. What a beautiful lake. We did not raft the the river, but will next time.

I mowed the grass around the fire pit area. Also enhanced the fire pit with larger rocks, a little safer and looks good.

My Dodge would have not made it up the driveway, but the Suburban did fine. Thanks for not sugar coating the driveway.

Thanks again, hopefully we can visit your cabin again soon,

Alan and Stacey

Mike, Thanks for checking on us. Many thanks for allowing us to share your cabin up in the woods. We found it, alas but with some trouble. We came up through Franklin, and after a little trouble found our way over 1310 to Juneleska. Wow, that 1310 mountain is crazy high!!But beautiful ride. We loved the cabin! Simply adorable. So very pleasant that you all had stocked the extras that one needs with having to buy, spices, papertowels, butter, condiments, etc. we left some stuff too,I bet you will find most people will also leave behind for the next folk, just as someone did before them. It was much colder than we had expected, ran the heater all night. Didn't discover the other heater until Saturday morning. It did snow Friday night almost 4inch I would say. Was really pretty, but we were not prepared, didn't have much food and was not sure we could get down the drive much less little choga. Sat morn, still snowing and very cold, when we got up couldn't find a station with much weather info other than going to the teens. We waited until snow melted enough to leave. Just could not take the chance that we might get stuck on mountain,Easter morng, so we had to pack up and leave early. We were all sad about having to leave, but I must admit, me, my mother and my youngest daughter were NOT sad about the fact we wouldn't be going over little choga again! Very scary, road in normal conditions.much less snow and ice. I was disappointed that we were not closer to the vast amounts of antique shops, I saw coming in, and it seemed we were really far from much to do. Made it to NOC, was really cold not many rafters. Tried to ridge horseback, couldn't get a reservation, except for the one we missed due to being snowed in Sat am early. Finally found Bryson City, and felt better. Nice little town great charm. Loved the Italian rest there. Sat after we left, went all the way back around to Cherokee, down through Dillsboro and Franklin. Everything was closed by the time we made it there. We did take kids to trout farm right off junelseka, they loved that. I sure hated to waste one of our nights, as did my family. We live near Atlanta and the city, as I may have mentioned this was our First ever cabin rental, I was not really expecting such a remote place,not having phone service was scary, I have cingular and I cant think of many times I haven't had service, this was a first for us. but we enjoyed the cabin itself, and would like to have one of our own one someday in north Ga.

The Wells Family

Hi Mike!

Dean & I really enjoyed our stay at Smawlie last week. What a great little cabin it is!

Nice and quiet, secluded, wooded environment. Perfect for exploring the outdoors with a peaceful retreat to return to. Definitely a get-away type of destination with a more intimate and personal touch. What an adventure!

This is the place to go if you want something simple, spotless, organized and out in nature. This small, quaint cabin is a great mountain escape. You can hike, swim, rent boats near by and spend a day on Nantahala Lake. Why not have a little weiner roast as well and enjoy the fresh, clean and crisp air. This cabin has all you will need to enjoy the outdoors an a mountain escape. It is not spacious, but why would you go on vacation to sit in a cabin all day and watch TV? Get outside, enjoy the beautiful nature around you and go explore a little.