In mid October, my parents and I traveled to Burnsville, North Carolina and stayed in a cabin we rented through Airbnb called Big Dog Properties. The cabin is located way up in the Western mountains on the South Toe River and just miles from the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was my first time experiencing a real fall, so I was like a kid on Christmas morning. The fall colors and leaves were so thrilling! I could not stop smiling from excitement. During out trip, we went apple picking, hiked, zip-lined, saw an old mica mind and toured around downtown Spruce Pine, Little Switzerland and Asheville. The best part of everyday was coming back home to our secluded mountain home away from the noise. Our cabin was both beautiful inside and out. I wish I could relive our trip again and again. Enjoy the pictures!
The outside of the cabin:
This is what the ground and trees looked like when we arrived. The leaves were just starting to peak and turn colors and the trees hadn’t lost any leaves quite yet. Most of the trees were still very green also. When we first arrived it was very warm and in the 80’s. The locals told us they had experienced very mild weather and had not had a hard freeze that usually crystallizes all the sugars in the leaves to bring out the bright vivid colors. I was clearly not disappointed though. Any fall foliage was beautiful in my book! I probably collected hundred of leaves in under a week.
This was taken just 2-3 days after we first arrived and just a few hundred feet down the road from the picture above. The leaves had all completely turned and it had rained for one day which brought in big gusts of wind. The wind knocked almost all of the leaves off in a day. By the time we left, the trees were almost completely bare. I love the wet ground and the gloomy look it brings. It truly made it feel like fall with rain and cool weather. The naked trees made it a tiny bit easier to leave our quaint home for the week and travel back to Florida.
I sent this picture to my sister and she said it looked like a scene straight out of Naria! I couldn’t agree more. Or maybe Little Red Riding Hood. That would have been a really fun photoshoot to re-create.
This was the guest house across from our cabin. The people we rented the cabin from said they might possibly rent out the one bedroom house in the future! The gave us a tour and it was super cute with a spiral staircase. Right behind the house were hiking trails you could walk up. If you walked far enough up the mountain you could see the old Mica Minds! Those were really cool to see and looked like chunks of the mountain were removed and all that was left were giant pieces of grey rock.
This is the bottom of the South Toe River and the owners called it, “the beach”. It was just a short walk from our cabin and my absolutely favorite thing besides all of the leaves. I was so excited we had a beach by our cabin. I woke up and took walks along the river rocks every morning. There are a bunch of giant rocks in the river and the owners say that people just off of them during the warmer months. I want to come back just so I can kayak and swim in the river!
The view of the South Toe River from our cabin.
Every morning I would wake up and make chai tea and toast with almond butter and jam from the local Apple Orchard. I miss my quiet mornings with fresh mountain air! There’s nothing like waking up to the sound of spring water running down the river. There was absolutely no one around for a good mile or so, so when I saw it was quiet, it was quiet! There are normally people who stay on the same road but they were all gone for the winter.
The inside of the cabin:
This view overlooked the river. The inside was so homey and was always warm from the heater we ran constantly! It had an upstairs room where I slept and a downstairs master bedroom where my parents slept. There was also a fully furnished kitchen, washer and dryer, living room, and outside porch with a grill. They had a kayak and paddleboard type float but it was to chilly to use them although I wanted to really bad! I had even packed my swimsuit just in case!
I started a leaf preservation corner ha! I would collect leaves everyday and then bring them home and lay books on top of them so they dried flat. I tried the whole wax paper thing and did not like how it barely preserved the leaf color and left a ton of air bubbles. Instead I placed all of my leaves inside a Joyce Meyers book (lol) and brought the book home then painted modge podge on all the leaves. This worked like magic and the leaves are now strung up in my kitchen!
Pretty flowers the owners left in my bedroom! Our stay was absolutely wonderful and we would love to come back one day in the warmer months or when it snows! Can you believe this girl has never seen snow before? I may need to change that now that I got a taste of fall. Up next, mountains and skiing, hopefully!
If you interested in staying in the cabin, be sure to check out their Facebook page (I think it’s pretty cool the cabin has its own Facebook!) and find the Airbnb cabin rental page for Big Dog Properties here.
No Comments