Mountain Song Chalet @Beech

  Mojarra Dorada Vegetable Fajitas  After spending a whole day at Blowing Rock, we realized that the roofers might be still working on our chalet, so we decided to have another food splurge. Kevin never says NO to Mexican cuisine, and I always say YES to seafood. It is easy for us to pick this local restaurant that seems meeting all of our requirements: Puerto Nuevo Mexican & Seafood Restaurant Address for GPS: 2120 Tynecastle Hwy UNIT 1, Banner Elk, NC 28604 Everything about this restaurant exceeded our expectations. Very pleasant atmosphere. Reasonable Prices. Good portions. Excellent food. Great services. We enjoyed the complimentary salsa bar too!

Apparently a lady hand makes them and the store sells them. You order your pie 2 days in advance, and the woman makes them in her home and then delivers them to the store. The store calls you to pick it up. Literally a homemade pie straight out of someone's home kitchen hand made for you from scratch.  Each bite a little piece of heaven dancing on your tongue.  The whole pie is $15.99.  They are so delicious! 5 stars.

  We have been planning these two major projects since last year. Now it is finally the time to do it. Maintaining a mountain house does take a lot of work, but it is so well worthy. In the last two days we cleaned up the leaves and branches from fall and winter along the bubbling brook, and guess what? Our deer friends visited us again and enjoyed the clean and clear water from the stream!

  Even though we come back to the High Country whenever we can, there is still so much that I haven’t seen or discovered! Lower Pond Creek Trail was definitely worth waiting for.    From the beginning, the trail leads downhill so coming back is an uphill climb. The hike is rated as moderate to difficult because it can be a little tricky since the path is made up of mostly roots and rocks. I didn't plan to finish the whole trail since it seemed a little challenging, however, once I started it, I felt I was obsessed with it more and more.  I felt like I was in an enchanted forest with a canopy of lush green Rhododendron lining the path with a full stream running along beside me! Water cascading over and between brilliant green moss-covered rocks and trees led to huge boulders as the framework for beautiful waterfalls.  She-Falls Falls is 20 feet tall and is found at about the halfway point in the trail.  The benefits of hiking for me have been profound. There...

The roofers started their work this morning, so I decided to have some adventures in the nature. First spot I wanted to check out is the small lake of Lake Coffey which is a 2 acre lake. The trail around the lake is only 1/4 of a mile but paved and very nice. There were people walking and jogging around the lake. The lake has a fishing pier and is considered delayed harvest trout waters. It’s stocked with with brook, brown, and rainbow trout. The lake is also near the upper and lower pond creek trails, which are my favorite trails in Beech Mtn. Lower Pond Creek Trail is fairly strenuous with lots of roots and rocks but beautiful and lovely water views all along 1.2 mile trail in and out. Upper trail is more relaxing where you can enjoy the creek,  wooden walkways, bridges, and educational nature signs. Lake Coffey is 8 min drive from our chalet, a very peaceful place to stop by when you are in the mountains.   Address for GPS: 111 Lakeledge Rd, Beech Mountain, NC

The Blue Ridge are both noted and famous for their unique blue color, often seen when viewing the mountains at long distance from higher elevations. This blue haze is caused by the numerous trees covering the mountains and surrounding valleys.  The trees release isoprene into the atmosphere, which contributes significantly to the distinctive blue color. The Cherokee Indians, called their homeland, Shaconage (shah-CON-uh-gee) - the land of the blue smoke.