Day 3 ~ Light At The End of The Tunnel...Day 4 ~ Lake Junaluska

Day 3 ~ The sun came out! 

It was a beautiful morning. We had both been able to get a good night's sleep! We took our time, enjoying the sunshine and the lake and Paris Landing, Tennessee as we packed up. I had been wanting to get a photo of the bridge (I think it's called Rainbow Bridge), but there hadn't been good sunlight until the last morning.

Our tent worked out perfectly! We will be setting it up again in a couple of days in Virginia.

Our Campsite was beautiful.

After that first night it calmed down and Paris Landing was a really nice place.

This tree has a face that looks like it has seen many things...

Or maybe it is just sad to see us leave ; )

This Bluebird came to see us off and we loved it...

The Bluebird of Happiness...

Driving over the bridge, crossing Kentucky Lake...

On to the next leg of the trip... driving through Tennessee to North Carolina.

Destination for Day 3 ~ Lake Junaluska, Waynesville, NC.

We were just outside of Nashville, TN and we decided to stop for lunch at Red Lobster.

We were thoroughly enjoying our meal when we got the text.

Mom needs heart surgery... life threatening... 

There was more but I honestly don't remember what it was.

Our hearts sank and we became silent.

We finished our lunch and went outside.

We sat in the parking lot debating what to do.

I had to choke back tears... we were so close to North Carolina, to my Mom Marie, Dawn and Randy, seeing my brother... but maybe we should go home.

We were at a crucial point, if we went forward we were too far to go back in a day.

Poor Richard. How hard this was on him. His heart was so heavy :(

Some more texts were sent to get more information. 

Finally... after 2 hours... he made the decision to go forward.

I didn't take pictures until we were getting into the mountains of North Carolina...

 There is something about entering those Great Smoky Mtns... It's like a piece of my heart and soul is returned to me.

We made it!

I didn't know that Richard had never driven through a tunnel before...

So this was his first.

Light at the end of the tunnel...

~~~

Appropriately this is the last photo I took that day.

~~~

We made it to Lake Junaluska and were reunited with Dawn Grasty, Randy Weisbaum, and 

 Mom Marie.

There were big, long hugs and lots of tears.

We all settled in for an evening of catching up.

~ The End of Day 3 ~

(Note here... Richard's other brother told him if he turned back and didn't keep going on this trip he would kick is butt!)

Day 4 ~

Coffee and Breakfast at Chez Metcalf... On the back porch of Mom Marie's

The Garden

Bleeding Hearts... Aren't they perfect?

I don't remember the name of these but I love them

Mom Marie took us out for a drive around the lake... 

These are my photos of Lake Junaluska

These orange flowers were the brightest we had ever seen in the sunlight.

 This gentleman creates carvings out of fallen dead trees here... and those gorgeous pink flowers were abundant all around the lake this year!

 A mountain species of Dogwood Trees... (And Randy in the background )

Dawn and Randy

Dawn and I have been besties since 2nd grade

Randy had a crush on Dawn in 3rd and 4th grade and now, after 43 years they are together

Randy is moving from Nevada to NC next month.

The 4 of us, Richard and myself, Randy and Dawn, were all friends in 3rd grade and look at us now!

 This is my Mom Marie... She is Dawn's mom by birth and my mom by heart!

Mom Marie took pictures of the 4 of us reunited after 43 years but I don't have any yet. I will share later. 

We hated leaving Mom Marie's house

But we all had to go on. 

We followed Randy and Dawn to Durham where Dawn currently lives and Randy will be moving to very soon : )

We had such a great time... it really was wonderful.

If you want to visit Lake Junaluska I highly recommend it...

We will be back!

~ The End of Day 4 ~

Patty Hagedorn Photography