We spend a few days in the North Carolina mountains in a different place every summer, and every summer we say it’s not enough time. This year I reserved a house on 50 acres for five days. It was just the right place for just the right amount of time.

The ramshackle abode had its own stocked trout pond and private hiking trails. The frog symphony crescendo rose each morning and evening, Concord and muscadine grapes were ripe for the picking on the porch vines, and a few scattered blackberry and blueberry bushes had treats too.

When it rained (and how it’s been raining in North Carolina!) we watched movies, ate leftover pizza from Asheville Brewing Company, and drank local mead from Wehrloom Honey.

When the sun came out we hiked one of the oldest virgin forests in the country, Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest, and visited Fontana Dam, the tallest dam east of the Rocky Mountains.

When my love spent a day with 500+ Miata drivers at the annual Miatas the Gap event, I spent the day finishing revisions to my short story collection, writing poetry, reading, rocking on the porch, and plucking a dark grape off the vine every once in a while. Here’s a little haiku from our stay:

Impasse with scaled friend.
I hope it leaves the trail, but
this snakes loves hiking.

On our drive home I wrote six blog posts (2,300 words total) and booked our summer getaway in the mountains for 2019. Next year is another new place for just the right amount of time.