From the mountains of Virginia and we're back on our island.  A day early.  I admit it.....I'm a whimp!  When the temps hovered around 30 degrees Thursday night, I could hear my island calling to me.....so we checked out of the cottage a day early and got back home this afternoon, rather than tomorrow.  It was a great trip, I got to see and do everything I'd hoped to, the foliage was spectacular, it was a nice get-away, but.....it was time to come home to the Sunshine State.  I mean, come on.....that's why I left those Boston winters behind me to live here.  Although I will say, the first four days, while brisk and crisp.....it was perfect autumn weather in the mountains.  Mornings and nights were chilly but the days warmed nicely with the bright sunshine.  So now on to sharing it all with you and I'll start at the beginning.......We left here on Sunday and stayed at a hotel in St. George, SC that night.  And of course, it was Holly and Duncan's vacation too.....so here they are doing something that's a no-no at home.

I have to say, those two dogs are incredible to travel with!  SO well-behaved and a pleasure to have along.  We made pit stops for them at rest areas but otherwise, they both curled up in the back seat and slept.  And the best part was we didn't have to listen to "Are we there yet?"  I love traveling with the dogs and the only drawback was not being able to go inside to restaurants or shops.  But we either cooked at the cottage or got something to go and due to a very patient and understanding husband, he sat in the car with the pooches while yours truly did some mega shopping at various shops in Floyd.

We went over the border of North Carolina into Virginia Monday afternoon and here's a glimpse of the mountains my eyes were able to feast on right away.  It's been 10 years since I'd last seen mountains and that was in Switzerland.  Having grown up with the White Mountains in NH, I was craving this sight in autumn.

And here's some more photos I managed to get from the car as we made our way to Willis, where the cottage was located.

All of the scenery and foliage was all that I'd hoped it would be.  However....the cottage....well, it was lovely and fairly comfortable, but I'm afraid the owner misinformed me as to the exact location.  She'd told me it was a 15 min. drive into downtown Floyd....on those hairpin turn roads, I'm afraid it was more like 45 minutes.  The entire time I was in the Floyd area I had no cell phone signal, no internet connection except at the Cafe del Sol and the library in Floyd and yes.....I was feeling mighty cut off from the outside world.  Not to mention, when I saw how remote and isolated the cottage was I became a bit apprehensive as to what we'd do if we needed medical assistance.  When I questioned the owner about this on checking in (As an RN and somebody over age 50, access to medical becomes a priority...just in case)  she told me I could come up to their house and use their phone.  Hmmm, great.....except to get to their house, it was a mile up a narrow dirt road surrounded by deer and who knows what else.  Needless to say.....I'm just grateful I never had to resort to that at 2 in the morning!

We did go into Floyd all three days and we managed to drive another horrific set of roads into Radford one day as I was told I could probably get a cell signal there, which I did.  But once we left the cottage for the day, that was it until we returned around 6:00, before dark.  Some of you might know that Floyd is famous for their Friday night Jamboree at New Mountain Mercantile.  I was SO much looking forward to attending this.....lots of neat mountain music and we thought we'd walk the dogs around as I was told you could hear the music on the street.  But after seeing those roads leading back to our cottage, I passed on driving that at night time.  A few merchants in Floyd also agreed with me and said if you're not a local, it might not be wise to drive that at night.  So unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the Jamboree Friday night.....another reason for leaving a day early.

I have loads of other things to tell you and many more photos to share, so I'll just break it up into daily blog entries over the next week.  One of the highlights of being in Floyd was going to the Cafe del Sol and meeting other blogging friends in person.  And I even got to go to a "commune" of sorts that only the locals seem to know about.  That's a blog entry all by itself with photos.  I've missed all of you while I was away and will be spending time catching up on your blogs.  So come back and join me tomorrow when I'll have photos of the infamous lovely cottage we rented.....See you then.