Lake Hiwassee - ladies only!

The first day of school I left town! I went to Lake Hiwassee with 3 other piano teachers. We often go to Atlanta to shop for music, and one of the ladies, Catherine, owns a lake house. I was the youngest of the four, ages 50 - 74!!

We stopped in Blue Ridge for lunch and some shopping. These ladies can shop! It's not on my priority list, but I had fun.

Lake Hiwassee is outside of Murphy, NC. Catherine's house is in Bear Paw. It's a gated community in the mountains. We were in for a real treat!

Kathryn, Catherine, Leigh & Martha getting ready for Chicken Fajitas. I took my Pampered Chef baker and fixed fajitas our second night.

The lake house is on South Paw Trail. One of the residents is baseball pitcher, Rick Hunnicutt. He was a "south paw", thus the name. He lives next door, but wasn't there. He is now a pitching coach out in LA.

Looking up from the lake. It was a hike to get to the lake and back!

This was before we went on the pontoon boat (there is a story about the pontoon boat later!)

Enjoying the lake.

Beautiful views on the lake. During the week there were very few folks out.

Martha relaxing in the den.

The basement was just finished this summer. Catherine is a great decorator. The house has 4 bedrooms and 3 baths.

We drove to the Natahala Outdoor Center, had lunch and watched the rafters.

Lunch with the music ladies.

After lunch we stopped in the John Campbell Folk School. We learned a little of the history and did some more shopping (I looked).

This is view from my bedroom. It was so peaceful here.

View of their cove.

View from the steps going down to the lake.

We did a LOT of talking, laughing, eating & relaxing. The porch was our favorite spot.

Several of us took a walk in the neighborhood, and Catherine pointed out this small graveyard. There were no dates on the stones, but they were very old.

Packing up to leave.

I'm not posting a picture from my injury, but I did manage to fall as I was exiting the pontoon boat. I have a nasty gash on my leg, that probably could have taken a stitch or two. I just cleaned it up, and put some band aids on it. It makes for a great conversation piece and remembrance of our trip.

The day we left, Leigh commented that she wished we could just stay. We envisioned the headline, "four piano teachers missing." We imagine our students would shout hurray! Alas, all good things must come to an end, and the students will have lessons after all.