We left on Thursday morning....Dennis was glad to be our chauffeur, 
while Melinda and I chatted ourselves hoarse and Shugs snoozed in her bed in the back. 
Once we got to the cabin, Melinda turned on the power and water........yep, once again we had a water problem! We had to use a blow dryer to thaw out the faucets just to turn them on and find no water! First we got the woodstove going 
and then Dennis and Melinda headed to WalMart (the only place open on New Year's Night within probably 100 miles) to get a small heater to put under the house to heat the pipes (we sure hoped that was all it would take and no pipes were broken!).
while Melinda and I chatted ourselves hoarse and Shugs snoozed in her bed in the back. Once we got to the cabin, Melinda turned on the power and water........yep, once again we had a water problem! We had to use a blow dryer to thaw out the faucets just to turn them on and find no water! First we got the woodstove going and then Dennis and Melinda headed to WalMart (the only place open on New Year's Night within probably 100 miles) to get a small heater to put under the house to heat the pipes (we sure hoped that was all it would take and no pipes were broken!).Shugs and I stayed behind to keep the woodstove full of wood and start dinner. I can't explain to you how hard it is to dice an onion when your fingers are numb from the cold. After dinner we all settled in to watch a movie. Although it wasn't toasty in the cabin yet, at least you could no longer see fog come from your lips when you spoke! If there is any indication of how cold it was, here's Dennis fast asleep....with his coat on and a blanket! 
It's at times like this that I envy Shugs' natural coat!
It's at times like this that I envy Shugs' natural coat!By the next morning we had hot AND cold water, and the cabin was very toasty....and it was starting to warm up outside, even though the pond was still a bit frozen over....almost! 
We got our showers and decided to head into Floyd to check out some antique shops
...then we headed over to Chateau Morrisette. Yes, I know we've been there before...in fact, we go every time we visit the cabin! Who can resist!? The wine is fabulous AND we don't have to leave Shugs in the car!! We took the tour of the winery......that is such a fascinating place, with such a fascinating history!!! You just have to make this trip up! Melinda had been on the tour before with Jess and Adam, but still learned some new things on this one. I really would like to go up for their Valentine's Day celebration....it's called the "Puppy Love Dinner"!! Don't you just love it?! I can't decide if I want the tenderloin, jumbo lump crab cakes or the veal! I guess the crab cakes would go best with my favorite Our Dog Blue. We'll have to wait and see....
...then we headed over to Chateau Morrisette. Yes, I know we've been there before...in fact, we go every time we visit the cabin! Who can resist!? The wine is fabulous AND we don't have to leave Shugs in the car!! We took the tour of the winery......that is such a fascinating place, with such a fascinating history!!! You just have to make this trip up! Melinda had been on the tour before with Jess and Adam, but still learned some new things on this one. I really would like to go up for their Valentine's Day celebration....it's called the "Puppy Love Dinner"!! Don't you just love it?! I can't decide if I want the tenderloin, jumbo lump crab cakes or the veal! I guess the crab cakes would go best with my favorite Our Dog Blue. We'll have to wait and see....After that we headed back to the cabin to make dinner and watch more movies....and chat....and drink lots of wine! The next day we decided to head south on the Blue Ridge Parkway......Dennis couldn't resist the signs pointing to Mt. Airy, Andy Griffith's home town. Melinda and I went along with it, since we had been dragging him in and out of antique stores. We were pleasantly surprised when we got there.....it looked just like the old shows! There was even a guy there who chauffeurs you around town on a tour in Barney's old squad car......and he looked like Goober!
Here are a few pics from that part of our journey:
Melinda with Goober's tow truck...how cool!
Barney's Squad Car (not the real one though)
It looks just like I remembered.....
C'mon....doesn't he look just a little like Goober???
After that, we headed back up to the parkway and guess what we found???? A new winery!!!!! If there is one within 20 miles of us, we'll find it. It isn't Chateau Morrissette, but we enjoyed some wonderful wine and even better stories about the retired pharmacist who now makes his own wine. 
He also sells these kits with everything in them to make your own wine....and they are quite reasonable. It's an interesting process, as you can see here......she's explaining it all to Dennis and Melin:
It's called Thistle Mountain Winery, and although they grow no grapes at all, the wines he makes from the grapes he imports are all fabulous! There is a great gift shop there and they have everything you need to make your own wine....check out their website for making wines at grapestompers.com. Yep, we did talk about buying the stuff and making our own........just so we'd know that we have an endless supply...........well, we did kinda throw out there that we could open our own little winery.....maybe call it Cabin in the Woods Winery??? No.....we can come up with something better than that!After that we were starving and asked where we could find a bite to eat.....the BBQ place that was described had us drooling, so we set off in the direction we were given...or at least we THOUGHT we were heading in the right direction.
After miles and miles of fields planted with future Christmas trees, we found ourselves in the middle of nowhere......homes with 20-30 rusted out cars in the FRONT yard.....washing machines in the FRONT yard (maybe to keep dirt from tracking in the house??)......geez, you had to be there. I just couldn't help thinking what the inside of these places must've looked like!
Finally we were back to civilization and started putting together our last night dinner.....steak and lobster, compliments of Melinda! 
That girl KNOWS how to cook lobster....it was tender and buttery...without the butter! Later that night? More movies...and more wine......then we packed up the next day and headed home. I don't know about everyone else, but I can hardly wait to get back.....partly because I just love that cozy little cabin, and partly because I feel relaxed when I'm there......oh, and there's the part that is full of adventure combing the mountains.....I just love it, that's all. I don't think I could actually live there, but I'd sure like to practice more often.
That girl KNOWS how to cook lobster....it was tender and buttery...without the butter! Later that night? More movies...and more wine......then we packed up the next day and headed home. I don't know about everyone else, but I can hardly wait to get back.....partly because I just love that cozy little cabin, and partly because I feel relaxed when I'm there......oh, and there's the part that is full of adventure combing the mountains.....I just love it, that's all. I don't think I could actually live there, but I'd sure like to practice more often.
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