Birthdays and Chasing Waterfalls
Today is my hubby’s birthday, but we aren't going to talk about today's birthday, we are going to take it back to last year’s birthday. Last year for Fonzy’s birthday, he claimed I dragged him to the mountains for a weekend trip. DRAGGED him! Now, I will admit that way back in March of last year, when the weather was still cold and fall seemed a lifetime away, I booked a little cabin in the North Carolina mountains for a long weekend that just happened to fall on his birthday. The Airbnb listing showed a bright red fireplace on the porch of a little cabin nestled in the woods, and I could picture us cozying up in front of a fire wrapped in fur blankets. Honestly, the red fireplace was what sold me on the whole weekend. In the months that followed, every so often I’d pull up the listing and dream of how our long weekend would be. The leaves would be turning all shades of orange, red and yellow, and the weather would be a perfect 70 degrees and sunny during the day for a hike and chilly in the evening to cuddle in front of a fire. I fantasized often of our PERFECT fall weekend.
Fast forward to the week of our trip and Hurricane Ian is all over the news and social media. At first, I wasn’t too worried because we were heading to the mountains in western NC, but by the time Wednesday rolled around, I was checking my weather app every few hours. It wasn’t looking good. Ian was headed for central NC, with Friday being the worst day. Of course, Friday was the day we were taking the 4hr drive to the mountains! It looked like our whole weekend was going to be rained out with Ian. To say I was disappointed was an understatement.
Friday dawned gloomy, windy and with torrential rain. I laid in bed listening to the rain hit the roof, sulking. Fonzy kept mentioning we would be driving in a HURRICANE and probably best if we stayed home. Most of the morning we went back and forth on leaving as the rain continued and the wind roared. I was near tears. I had been looking forward to this for months! Finally, late in the morning we decided to brave the elements and head to the mountains. I was still sulking, but at least we were going. We started our trip with a stop for breakfast and contemplated our decision while we ate. I’d glance out the window every few minutes, hoping the rain would slack off, but it seemed to get worse. Back on the highway, we drove along slowly with the windshield wipers in overdrive trying to keep up with rain. Snuggled in my seat, I pulled out my knitting to calm my nerves because we really shouldn’t have been on the road. Country music blaring, we sang along to all the songs we knew and slowly my bad mood started to melt away. We were going to make the best of this weekend, Ian be damned!
As the sun was setting, we pulled up to the cabin and I got so excited when I saw the red fireplace on the porch! It looked just like the pictures on the website. We settled in for the night with plans to hike the next day. Or at least that is what I can recall right now. I started writing about our trip LAST year when it was fresh in my mind, but never got around to finishing it, so I may not remember everything as it happened, but what I do remember will forever be a core memory. You see, when Fonzy was a kid, he watched the movie The Last of Mohicans, and one of the iconic scenes was behind a waterfall, and little Fonzy said one day he was going to find that waterfall and go behind it. So that was our mission for this trip - chasing waterfalls.
Bright and early the next morning (or maybe not so early knowing us) we headed out to hike the Blue Ridge Mountains to chase waterfalls. When I tell you, the mountains in North Carolina are beautiful this time of year. We couldn’t have asked for a better day. The sun was shining, the leaves were just starting to change, and it was in the 70s. Perfect! Wandering the forest we stumbled upon several waterfalls, but not the famed Bridal Veil Falls of the Last of the Mohicans. We had been hiking for most of the day, encountering several signs that warned DANGER! Serious injury and death have occurred here. We’d pause for a second but weren’t going to let a little danger stop us! We were going to find that waterfall and make childhood dreams come true, no matter what! With the sun setting and my body aching we finally found the infamous falls! I watched Fonzy as he gingerly made his way behind the falls he saw in a movie all those many years ago, and made a childhood dream come true and my heart was happy! When it was all said and done, we had hiked over 13 miles, but it was so worth it. This trip will forever go down as one of my favorites.
Once home from our weekend, we rewatched The Last of the Mohicans again and it was so much better this time around since we had been in many of the places it was filmed. For days after the movie, Fonzy repeated the lines to me from the waterfall scene, “stay alive, no matter what occurs, and I will find you!” He even said the next time we go; we’ll have to reenact the scene behind the falls and I’m holding him to it.
Anyways, I shared all of this to say Happy Birthday Fonzy! I wish you many more years of making childhood and adult dreams come true, no matter how big or small. And I look forward to chasing more waterfalls with you.
Love you, always and forever!
Link to movie clip behind the waterfall.
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