What Happened to Spring!?!?!?

Usually we ease into our busy season starting in late spring and peaking in July. We slammed into the busy season in April and haven't let up since, hence the lack of blog posts the past few weeks.
I hardly had time to enjoy spring and summer is here already. My weekly hikes have become monthly hikes. My June hike was last week and I did some trails in Pisgah Forest in the Turkey Pen Gap area. One trail, Riverside, had 8? 10? 12? river crossings of knee height or so. That kept me cool on a warm, muggy day. A nice picnic by the stream....if only I'd had time for a nap.

One of our campers wrote a wonderful review of Ash Grove, with some great photos. Here is the link http://www.squidoo.com/ash-grove-resort

Gotta run!

A Glide Through Nature

The NC Arboretum, located just over 1/2 hour from Ash Grove, has a new program this spring, "A Glide Through Nature," Segway tours of the Arboretum's 65 acre cultivated gardens and 10 miles of trails on the 434 acre property. The 3 hour guided tour includes woodland trails, seasonal flora highlights and a history of the Bent Creek Watershed in Pisgah Forest. Instruction on the operation of the environmentally friendly--and fun--Segway precedes the tour. The Segways have all-terrain tires to navigate the non-paved trails.
Photo of the native Flame Azalea

Spring's Still Coming

The Spring weather has been typical Spring weather--a few lovely, warm sunny days that you hope will last forever, followed by a few cold, windy, gloomy, rainy days that you are afraid will last forever. Today is one of the good ones, yesterday we had 2" of rain (which we still really need, so I'm not complaining--but our campers probably wouldn't agree!).
Here at 3000' the sarvis trees are in bloom; the leaves are out on the blackberry bushes; the buds on the trees are just beginning to open; and the foliage for irises & day lilies is shooting up. In Brevard (2200'), it is very green and filled with flowers.

Mountain Cabin Special

We have a special on our cabins for this week only: Stay a minimum of 2 consecutive nights between 22 Mar and 29 Mar and take $20/night off any cabin! See our website www.ash-grove.com for details and more information about Ash Grove.

Signs of Spring

It's hard to believe that I took this picture today, just 1 week after the snow pic in the previous post! The snow is long gone and today is the 3rd day of temps in the 70s. I know that it is just a tease--we will have more cold weather, possibly even another little snow--but everyone is enjoying it while it lasts. I have the office windows open and am being serenaded by some songbirds, a gentle breeze and an occasional caw from a crow. But, its back to work for me....

Let It Show!

Yesterday/last night, we had our first real snowstorm in 4 years or so. It is absolutely gorgeous! There is about 6" on the ground and on the branches and evergreens near the ground, but all of it blew out of the tops of the trees (40mph winds!). It is a nice fluffy, powdery snow, not the hard icy kind that we sometimes get. Several vehicles have gone by this morning, so the roads are at least somewhat passable, but we haven't been out to see for our selves (and probably won't--there is no reason to go out on the road). My snow saucer is calling my name, so I'm cutting this post short. See more pix at our Flickr album.

What's New at Our Cabins, Camping and Brevard, NC

In time for the (original) deadline for the digital TV changeover, we added satellite TV to our cabins. There is now a great variety of good quality television and XM radio available in the cabins. For our campsites, we are enlarging the tent pads on several of the sites to be able to accommodate the bigger tents that many of our guests want to bring. Also, new for this year is our "Rent-a-Tent" program. We will rent you a tent and have it set-up when you arrive, then take it down for you when you leave. We also have some other camping items available for rent (campstove, etc). You will have to bring your own bedding (sleeping bags, air mattress, cots, or whatever you want to sleep on). This service will start in mid-April.
A new restaurant, Marco Trattoria, just opened in downtown Brevard. We went there last night for Mark's birthday. It was excellent! I had an individual wood-fired pizza (the Bianco--ricotta cheese, fresh basil, garlic and red grapes). Mark had the special of polenta encrusted scallops over parmesan potatoes & leeks with Chianti sauce.

Winter Camping

In spite of the cold temperatures, (upper 20s at night, mid 40s daytime), we have several campers here this weekend--both tent and RV camping. Some regular campers, Mark and Michael, came a couple of weekends ago when the temp got down to 14 degrees on Friday night. When they made the reservation, they said that they new it was going to be cold. But, knowing the cold and tolerating it are 2 different things. On Saturday morning they stopped by the office and asked if we had a cabin available (we did), so they spent their 2nd night toasty by the gas log fireplace in the cabin.
This weekend, one of our tent campers, Tonya, is here for her 3rd visit since October. The Oct. trip was the first time that she had ever camped, and she loved it. She made the reservations for the 2nd visit while still here on their first. This is her birthday weekend--she said that there is nowhere that she would rather spend her birthday than at Ash Grove. We have had many cabin and camping guests that have returned to Ash Grove again and again for the special occasions of their lives. It makes us feel good that we are a part of their celebrations.

BRRRRRR!

As is happening with much of the US, the coldest weather in years is upon us. Last night it got down to 7 degrees and today's high was only 28. It is supposed to get down to 4 tonight. Thank goodness for fleece and handwarmers! We haven't really had any snow this season--just a few flurries, enough to lightly cover the ground, but not the roads. We average 3 snowfalls per year here in Brevard, each with 4-6". The state of NC is really good about clearing the mountain roads after a snowfall. When snow is predicted, they park plows and sand trucks at the tops of the mountains and start clearing the roads before the snow has even finished. Most of the roads are cleared within 4 or 5 hours after a snow. The one exception was 4 (I think) years ago, when we had 6" of snow and Charlotte, North Carolina's largest city had 17". Every snowplow in the state headed there first, so it was about a day and a half before we had clear roads. Much of the time, it snows after we have had some warm temps, so it doesn't even stick to the roads, just on the mountainsides and valleys--absolutely gorgeous, but no problems getting around, then gone in a few days--my kind of snow!

(This is Hickory Hideaway, our 2 bedroom cabin during Martin Luther King weekend of 2008, in about 6" of snow)

The Santa Collection Update (see Dec post)

Thanks to Brenda and Sylvia who read our post about having difficulty finding the Anorexic Santas--they sent us 4 of the duplicates from their collection! And I found a couple at Brevard's new Goodwill Store before xmas, so the collection does continue to grow.