The view from our side of the mountain in Balsam, NC.

This Thanksgiving we were off to the mountains in North and South Carolina for a little R & R & R & R  ( rest and relaxation and reading and rendering). With all our ‘kids” and their spouses off establishing their own new Holiday traditions – it was time for our new traditions, too.

Of course, a rather back pack filled with art supplies accompanied us on our journey.

The Balsam Mountain Lodge - formerly an early 1900’s railway stop.

The first few days we stayed at the Balsam Mountain Lodge in North Carolina, The Lodge has no TV’s or radios -  just fireplaces and a library with about 5,000 books and a seemingly infinite supple of hot chocolate and hot cider. It was amazing!

An ink and watercolor sketch looking toward a fireplace from the library

We drove up the Blue Ridge Parkway to see what ice and snow look like (not much of that in Savannah).

We spent part of a day in Waynesville, NC. – which must have more art galleries per capita than any town I have ever seen. We ended the day at a furniture store/ café/ gelato shop listening to an evening set by a local singer songwriter. She was excellent!

a night view of Main St. Greenville, SC.

The second part of the trip was to Greenville, SC. We stayed at a hotel and reserved tickets for the national traveling troupe of MY FAIR LADY at the Peace Center. Greenville is such a beautiful town- with a natural waterfall downtown and then there are the cafes, shops and galleries strewn about the city. The town featured an old fashioned Christmas Market and a Festival of Trees (decorated Christmas trees throughout the city). It was a great way to ease into Christmas Holidays.

More art on the way!

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