Magical Mountains

There is just something so magical and mystical about waking up in the morning high up in the mountains. The sun is still low, bursting with pinks and oranges into the blue to come. Looking down in the misty valley then up to where the clouds skim the mountain tops, casting big, dark shadows right next to the sunny wilderness. I just came home two weeks ago from a way too short of a stay near Chattanooga, Tennessee where the Appalachian mountains meet the Cumberland Plateau. I have driven through there many times on I-75 going back and forth to Florida from Ohio and the stretch from Kentucky through Tennessee always was my favorite part of the drive. My daughter, son in law, and grand kids drove up from Florida and we came from Ohio to meet. In Ohio, it’s a lot of cornfields, flat, industrial sights; fairly boring to drive through. When we cross the Ohio River, signs of the rocky cliffs and hills are getting close that soon turn to mountain views. I often have a soul remembering feeling from this area-did I live there in a past life? I watch out the window as the rolling hills are lush with life. Horses, cows, and goats. The road twists and turns with falling rock signs that really seem like a metaphor for life.

We stayed high up on a mountain with a beautiful view from our AirBnB where I would have been happy just sitting with that view all day. The first night we sat outside around the fire and listened to crickets, frogs, and other forest creatures unknown. We hiked a little bit in Cloudland Canyon State Park and I was a little paranoid about bears but no sightings. We did venture to Lookout Mountain and Rock City which is beautiful though touristy. I enjoyed being there with my family and sharing the experience with my grandchildren, seeing the wonder in their eyes of a backdrop that is foreign to them as well coming from the top of the Sunshine State. My son bought his nieces and nephew a bag of gems to “mine” at Rock City. I am a crystal junkie and saw pieces of quartz just left there in this cute little area for kids and immediately pocketed these abandoned crystals. Who knows what kind of magic they hold, right? I loved that my grandchildren were so excited with their crystals. Laying them out back at the AirBnB, admiring the colors and sparkle. Someday, they will be the owners of my vast collection.

We drove home a different way to see some friends near Louisville. While my son drove, I decided that I would definitely want to be in a valley looking up at the mountains. I saw many pieces of flat land where I envisioned my dream of a downsized home, veggie and flower gardens, animals, and the obligatory huge garage for my husband to store all of his tools and such. A screened in porch full of plants and crystals. Will it ever come to fruition? I don’t know. I certainly like to keep that card on the table since there is something there that keeps me coming to visit. I feel the magic there, an ancestral like pull that just seems familiar but I can’t trace it to any of my family. I remember being 10 and coming home from Florida and there was an ice storm that forced us off the highway to spend the night at the high school in the tiny town of Jellico right on the TN/KY border. I’ve never forgotten the beauty of how it looked on that icy morning when we were able to resume our travels. I have seen the beauty of it in all of the seasons now. Maybe someday it will be in my grasp.

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Cloudland Canyon State Park

Lookout Mountain