October 10-11, 2017 Fort Collins, CO to Banner Elk, NC

It seems like I was home for a blink of the eye before I was heading back to the airport for my annual quilting retreat. By a funny coincidence, our son Tyler, was on the same flight at 1:15 AM to Charlotte, so he was able to drive me to the airport! He continued to New York for business, I continued to Banner Elk.

After picking up my rental car, I stopped at Mary Jo’s Cloth Shop in Gastonia. I have always enjoyed their wide variety of fabrics, but was disappointed this year. It seems the ownership has transferred to her sons and the selections were limited. I guess the good news is, my wallet wasn’t drained!

Heading north, I stopped at the Brown Mountain overlook. Brown Mountain is a low-lying ridge, approximately 1.5 miles long, in the Pisgah National Forest near Morganton, North Carolina. There is some history of strange light sightings in the sky near here that date back to the 1200s! Ghosts? Aliens? I didn’t see any, but it was daytime, so who knows??The colors are beginning to change, but it will be a while before the intensity of their show peaks.In Banner Elk I stopped to look at one of the markets. I love these displays!I continued on to the Holsten Camp and Retreat Center where our quilting group holds their annual retreat. This year we only have 6 attending, but it will still be a great time. My body is telling me that 2-1/2 hours of sleep wasn’t enough, so that’s it for today. Tomorrow, watch out – that sewing machine will be humming!