Another summer and another adventure under our belts! This year, The Harris Sisters traveled to the mountains of nearby Bryson City, NC, for our annual Girls' Weekend vacation, and it was too much fun! We kept you guys updated with posts here and there on our Facebook page, but we wanted to wrap up with a blog post to give you all the details of what we did while we were there. We arrived Thursday afternoon, so we didn't get to exploring in earnest until Friday. Riding the Rails On Friday, we spent most of the day riding the Great Smoky Mountains Railroad. They have several different excursions to choose from. We chose their Moonshine Experience, which included a tasting of seven different flavored moonshines, lunch, dessert, a souvenir tote bag, a souvenir Carolina Shine mason drinking jar, a round trip train ride in a renovated first-class train car, and a free ticket to their train museum. Our train left from the station at Bryson City and traveled to Nantahala Gorge for a 55 minute layover. We explored a little bit by the river and a few of the shops there before heading back to the train. During the train ride, Mountain Man Tim went from train car to train car and stopped to tell stories about the Appalachian area and the history of the railroad and how it was built. He was quite the character! Here's a video of one of Mountain Man Tim's visits! And we also got to hear some authentic banjo playing too! Although our banjo player clearly stated when he introduced himself that he was not adverse to playing anything from Beyonce to Pink Floyd, in between his own storytelling (which was quite entertaining), he ended up playing the bluegrass favorites Fox on the Run and Rocky Top, by request of the passengers on our train car. (And if you're wondering, yes, Harris Sister Deanna - the one who lives in Tennessee - is the one who requested Rocky Top.) All in all, we would definitely recommend that you check this out! They have so many different trips to choose from - and special ones during the holidays - that there is surely one that you and your family will enjoy! After our train ride, the skies opened up and it poured buckets of rain. We waited it out under the train boarding platform for about 30 minutes. That cut into the time we had planned to walk around downtown a bit, but we still got to visit some unique shops in the downtown Bryson City area. There is a lot to see! Antique Stores in Downtown Bryson City The most notable shop we visited downtown was Calby's Antiques and Gifts. The easiest way to find this is that it's located in the historic 1905 Bennett's Drug Store building on Everett Street. And it still has the old drug store sign - can't miss it! We found a lot of milk glass, depression glass, china, and other decorative items there. We spoke with the owner and found that his business partner teaches music lessons in the loft (which was formerly the pharmacist's office). I found two vintage tomatoes (one Holt Howard salt shaker and one vintage sugar bowl marked Made in Japan) and a vintage piggy bank that will make a perfect gift for Jaxon in a few months when his birthday rolls around (not pictured here). Here are the tomatoes with some stacks of vintage Pyrex in my Spring/Summer kitchen cabinet display: A note about most antique stores in this area - cash is king! This store did accept credit and debit cards, but it was a very long checkout process! We wound down Friday night with some time in the hot tub and a movie at our rental cabin! Our cabin had this sign posted near the hot tub - so funny! We cooked our own dinner with a meal service that we ordered right before we left for the trip. That way, we had just the right amount of food for the trip and not a lot left over that we would have to bring home with us. Hunting for More Vintage Treasures! On Saturday, our plan was to set out to explore around town. We started our day off with our traveling Donald Duck orange juice with breakfast. Ever since we were children, we would drink this particular brand of orange juice when we were on road trips. We have since taken to doing this on Girls' Weekend too! Our first stop of the day was an antique store near our cabin. We have affectionately named this store "The Bigfoot Store" because they have large Bigfoot signs in their front yard - you seriously cannot miss this store when driving by. It is located on on the corner of US Route 74 and Gibson Road in Bryson City. It's a small shop, but we found LOTS of treasures inside. Here are some of the special items we spied. A vintage metal Barbie Thermos from 1967. A chalkware Indian bank in excellent condition. A Peter Cottontail tin. They had lots of vintage banks, but we thought this metal Popeye bank was pretty special. And this 1987 Ronald Regan doll in original box is not super old but was the era that we grew up in. And best of all, a vintage sign from Misty Valley Winery for Harris Sister Misty - sometimes it's just fun to see something with your own name on it! This antique store had a sign posted "Cash only (Checks maybe)" - which we took as "if the owner personally knows you, he will take a check from you." So make sure to bring cash to this one too. Their merchandise was very unique, although we felt a little overpriced. We didn't make any purchases here but it was really fun to look! Our next stop happened by complete chance. We were actually looking for a See Rock City barn on the outskirts of Bryson City. The only "directions" we could find online were a road and a 2011 picture of the barn that was starting to look a little overgrown. We never did manage to find the barn . . . We have since found out that by 2016, it was completely grown over with kudzu. What a shame! We probably drove right by it and there wouldn't have been anything left to take a picture of anyway. BUT! In the process of looking, we found an AWESOME spot to look for treasures. It's in an old motel of all places and it still has the old motel sign! This is what the sign looks like today. So while we were out driving around looking for the See Rock City barn, we accidentally happened upon the Warrior Motel. Its address if you want to visit too is 5731 Ela Road, Whittier, NC. It is between Bryson City and Cherokee. Of course, we all said, "Look at that old motel sign!" And then Misty said, "There's antiques or something there." Deanna and I had totally missed that because we were looking at the awesome sign! We turned around to investigate, and here's what we found out! It's a shop called Teresa's Treasures, and it has all kinds of stuff (antiques, cool junk, and weird stuff according to the sign out front). Some of it is vintage, and some of it is random stuff you might find at a yard sale. You are going to have to sort through it. But, the stuff you will find is worth it! They had a whole room devoted to vintage clothing and shoes - which you guys know is right up our alley for authentic vintage Halloween costumes. Deanna found a hard cover Peter Pan book that was printed in Italy and inscribed with the date January 18, 1969. It is beautifully illustrated in the way that you don't see in books much more nowadays! Not bad for a $5 investment! And I found a set of three Fire King Green Meadow pattern casserole dishes for $4 each. They are missing their lids, but I am only going to use them for display anyway. I also found a Fire King Peach Lustre casserole dish (also without lid), but it nested right inside the other three, so how could I say no for $5? This is how they look in my Spring/Summer kitchen cabinet display along with two Indiana glass sunflower bowls right now: We spoke to the owner when we checked out, and she told us a little about the motel. She said that she remembered it from when she was a child in the 1960s and that she remembered swimming in the pool a time or two herself. Like many motels and motor lodges of the time period, the Warrior Motel had postcards available for sale. She had this postcard framed in the shop. It shows the motel in its heyday and the pool, which has since been filled in. A little more research about the motel reveals that the tomahawk on the sign used to move back and forth, and of course, the neon on the sign used to light up at night time! One More Adventure Even though Sunday was technically our check out and head home day, we planned on one final adventure before packing up the cars and heading home. We went on a small hike to see a waterfall at Deep Creek Waterfalls. There are three waterfalls on the trail: Toms Branch (the closest to the start of the trail), Juney Whank, and Indian Creek. We visited the Toms Branch waterfall and it did not disappoint! In this area, there are lots of folks who go tubing in the river, so we visited around 9:00 in the morning to try to beat the rush and to make sure we got a parking spot. We saw one group of people who had gotten there even earlier than us who were finishing their hike. Other than that, we didn't see a soul for another half hour. Here's a little video of the falls so that you can see how big and beautiful it was! We were brave enough to dip our toes in the water for just a moment, but at 9:00 in the morning, the water was ICE COLD! You know what else was ice cold? Our Donna, Deanna, and Misty Coke bottles! You didn't think we'd go on a Girls' Weekend without leaving you with another Coca-Cola photo for you? Take a look here for a recap of all of the other Coca-Cola photos we've done over the years for comparison. . . . . And you'll NEVER GUESS what Deanna found on her way back to Tennessee . . . Peeps, if THAT doesn't make you believe that the timing of your life is perfect, I don't know what will. We were never meant to find that first barn . . . this one is a different barn, about an hour out of Bryson City headed west. Sometimes we just all need reminders like this every now and then, don't you think? That about wraps up this year's Girls' Weekend! We had a great time, and we'd definitely recommend the small town of Bryson City, NC for a quick getaway of your own.