Fall in Blue Ridge

Today, we’re sharing how we celebrated Fall in Blue Ridge! 

We arrived home late last night from a long weekend trip to the mountains. We were visiting family for an early Thanksgiving.

Normally, I have a full list of places I want to go and new adventures to experience. But this time, I decided to go with the flow and let things happen spontaneously.

It was SO hard, you guys! Just thinking about surprises makes me sweat. Wake up without a game plan? What!

Learning to Go With the Flow 

The character testing started Friday morning when we realized our scheduled post hadn’t gone out as planned. This meant that yesterday’s post wouldn’t go out either. The WiFi where we were staying was still down when we left.

Technology is so frustrating sometimes.

Then we had to change plans midday Saturday to accommodate last minute scheduling conflicts. Next we had to buy warmer clothes when we got there and realized the lightweight shirts we had packed for temperatures in the 70s weren’t going to cut it in the 50s.

I was sitting in the passenger seat super quiet (read stewing) thinking we should have had a plan and checked the weather report instead of asking the locals what to pack.  We should have scheduled this entire trip last month and checked the events page for things to do. 

Things would have turned out perfectly then, right?

Every Day is a Gift 

All of these thoughts went through my head as we took the long and winding road from the house to town…so many shoulda, coulda, wouldas…

I was lost in thought when I heard a voice say, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No” was the only word I could muster.

“I know things have been kinda of messed up. I get it and I’m sorry it’s been so frustrating. But we can’t let everything that’s happened so far take away from these gorgeous golden leaves. We never get a fall like this in Florida. We’re only going to get one chance at this, ok? Let’s not miss this gift.”

I don’t know what it was about those words, “let’s not miss this gift” but it softened me immediately. How many times have we been so caught up in the “shoulda, coulda, woulda, and the what ifs moments that we miss the gift that’s right in front of us?

So today, I thought I would share a little bit of that gift with you guys and the gentle reminder that every day is a present.

Enjoy the View, Fall in Blue Ridge

Despite everything that had happened, we were able to take a short hike and enjoy this view…

and every time we drove into town we had this view…

A good majority of the leaves had already started falling. It was still fun to see the mix of leaves, pine straw, moss and mums…

I found a few things at my favorite junkin places but this was the prize find of the weekend. This magazine has been sold out in an almost 3 county area at home so imagine my complete elation when we finally found it some 432 miles away!

Life Lessons at The Apple Orchard

We took a late afternoon ride around the apple orchards and met the sweetest old farmer. He was sitting on this bench waving to the workers as they left for the day. They all had names like “Petey, Shorty, and Slim” which gave me the giggles. He called out every worker’s name and waved bye to them. 

I’m totally using these apple crates for inspiration on an upcoming project. LOVE!

Once he found out we came from a farm family and a military family, he gave us the VIP treatment. No playing, I could have sat with him for hours. 150 acres of apple trees… can you imagine?

He said, “This is my favorite view of the property.” I replied, “I would be completely awed by this view every day if I lived out here!” and he said, “You would think so but sometimes you miss the most important view…you know, the one that’s right in front of you because you let yourself get too busy to appreciate it.”

I know. He was speaking truth on the tractor.

I’m always interested to hear what types of apples people like best. Any honey crisp or pink lady apple lovers out there?

Of course, we had to have some cider and a fried pie before we left. Check out all these apples!

Is this display super cute or what?

Colorful Fall Leaves and Mums 

These mums were at the grocery store! I know! Scoop them up for my car right now!

All in all we had a great time celebrating Fall in Blue Ridge. I don’t know if I would want to be spontaneous every trip. But I did learn a lot of important lessons on this one. There is beauty all around us, let’s not be so busy we miss the gift.

Until then, I’ll see you on Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.

Many blessings,

CoCo