Jackson County Journey

​Less than three hours's drive from Atlanta in Georgia lies Jackson County in North Carolina. I speak of a whole county because it consists of five cities but any one city by itself would be too small an area to consider a location on its own. A few miles past the NC visitor center on US23North lies
Dillsboro, one of those cities I mentioned above that is part of Jackson County. On the day I arrived, it was one of their four days/two weekends when they host a citywide holiday celebration called Lights and Luminaries featuring more than 2,500 lights. Many locally owned shops are in this area but there is a surprisingly high number of pottery places within such close proximity to each other and while I
assumed that might create a bit too much competition, my thoughts were shushed by my very first visit where the lovely lady who owned the pottery place stated it actually helped that they were all located together in this craft center and could represent the area well at the national level!

A half hour away and you will drive through another small town, this one being Sylva, housing a few shops and businesses you can rummage through but my destination was the River Lodge bed and breakfast in Cashiers. Now be thoroughly forewarned, there seems to be some issue with mapping devices, which will take you up the wrong narrow dirt mountain road in your quest to get here when in fact, that is not the way at all. Don’t venture onto an eerie treacherous upward hill drive if your GPS tells you so. Follow the directions provided on their website, don’t make the mistake I made.

Once at the b&b though, charming cCathy makes you feel at home asap. She will show you around and give you the ins and outs of your stay. The place is pretty and charming although that entrance/exit route is a tad bit narrow for me, and I only drive a Kia Soul so if you drive any other larger vehicle, you might be tight for space. Lovely spacious living and family area greet you as you head up wooden steps to a corridor of rooms on either side. Mine was the very first room available since I was the only one staying there during that time. Closest to the stairs and easiest to get to with my bags, light though I pack.

Of my room, I will say it had the comforts necessary for me. A good size bed for one occupant, dresser, closet space, night lamp and a tub and shower in a spacious bathroom area. I also luckily had a balcony area overlooking the outdoors and one grumpy brown cat that I decided not to take any chances bothering. There is heat and air conditioning, and the room had a fan that I never had to use. No television here but Wifi pretty much substituted that need. They offer a wide variety of books and magazines in the common area along with a pool table so a larger group would easily be able to entertain themselves.

​Stay tuned for more updates!