"A Tale to Make You Smile" - A True Story

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My life is filled with so many weird stories that I've lost count. At this point, I just accept it as 'my kinda normal' and have learned to appreciate them for what they are. Yes, they defy logic....often. But, that's okay. What's a little sparkle every once in a while to get the heart thinking! Certainly, these experiences have stretched my perspective on the 'something more' that we walk along side every day.

The following story is just one of these true stories that I hope you will enjoy, too.

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This particular story takes place in 2006. A relatively peaceful and good time in our lives. Albeit, exhaustive with two boys ages 2 and 4 - but it was a happy exhaustion!

It had always been a dream of ours to buy some land to play on, camp and explore. Both, my husband and I, were nature lovers and talked often about raising our two boys with plenty of opportunities to run and play on this land - to have all the childhood experiences that we did.

I set out searching for that special land online and came across a sweet little place called, "Maggie Valley". The name itself conjures up thoughts and feelings of 'sweet and simple'. It was a picturesque place - at least from the photos of misty covered mountain tops, lush green valleys with wild flowers and blue skies. I developed a little fantasy obsession, gathering links and pictures. I just couldn't get this special place out of my head.

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I eventually brought it up to my husband, who's response was less than favorable, "Too far away." I had to admit, it was quite far away - at least a 7 hour drive - and the likelihood of us packing up the family (and the 100 stuffed animals) probably wouldn't happen very often.

One afternoon, as fate would have it, a gas pipeline broke and exploded at a local company a few miles away. People were being asked to evacuate if they lived within a mile. Despite not living in the evacuation area, however, we were 'coughing'. So, we made the spontaneous decision to pack up the family...two small children (and MANY stuffed animals), two dogs and our cat, and headed out 'somewhere' an hour or two away from the stench that was now permeating our air.

Fun family trip or family trip from hell?

Just an hour or two? LOL Now, everybody knows life never abides by these carefully thought out plans we make.

All hotels were booked solid. Convention events, fall weather in the mountains, poor timing? It was all of that and probably more. NO VACANCIES! Hotel after hotel after hotel. To top it off, it was raining...storming...foggy..and the highway was bumper to bumper for miles.

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Another hour or two? Where are we?!

We kept driving on for a couple more hours. Still no hotels had vacancies! It was looking pretty hopeless. Now into our 6th hour, we had one child hungry, the other throwing up in his car seat, the animals hungry and needing to take a potty break.

"Oh, what have we done?! What kind of parents are we? How irresponsible to make such a spontaneous decision. What were we thinking? I'm out of coffee."

We were literal vagabonds. Nomads of the highway. Another state perhaps?

"Mommy I'm hungry", cried our 4 year old. "Okay honey, I know...eat another carrot. Did you eat all your crackers? We'll be stopping soon to eat." I said with reassurance (trying to convince myself at the same time). Our 2 year old then begins crying and the animals are verbally protesting and trying to find an exit from this car ride from hell (no doubt, I kept smelling crap circulating through the car vents...child or dog, I didn't know)

"Well now, this has turned out to be the trip from HELL. I think we're going to have to find a park and sleep in the van...for TWO days." I said this with dry humor flavored with snarky undertones to the love of my life driving our family mini-van. To which he responded, "Just a little while longer, we'll find something." I know this man way too well and I know he often has impeccable instincts, but his body language said otherwise as I watched him shifting in his seat and darting his eyes as if his wheels were turning inside.

We have now entered THE TWILIGHT ZONE

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As my husband and I descended into two very fatigued, crabby and scared arch enemies of shared space, suddenly his cell phone rang. We both stared at it sitting on the dash as if we were startled back to reality. This was his 'work phone'. Who could possibly be calling? His boss? This was also a time when cell phones were not the 'norm' like they are now so it was very strange to receive a phone call on this contraption rarely used but for emergency work-related calls.

We argued over who would answer the mysterious caller - "Well, it's your work phone, babe..it's probably your boss calling." I said. "Yes, but I'm driving and I have to keep my eyes on the road because it raining." he responds. Of course, you know who won, right? :) LOL Suddenly I hear, "Yeah, yeah we're looking for a place to stay - who is this?" He then pulls over to the side of the highway to finish the conversation (the rain storm was much too loud to hear while driving). I anxiously waited, listening to this strange phone call from a one sided perspective trying to figure out what was going on. Then I hear, "You have a cabin in Maggie Valley? Where is that?" Just then I look out the window and realize that we are literally sitting under a sign that said, "Welcome to Maggie Valley". I pointed to it with a confused and concerned face.

My husband finally got off the phone. "Wellll....who was that? What was that all about?!" I asked. He looked at me as if he was trying to rationalize the conversation and absorb it further. "Whattttt?! Tell me! It wasn't your work, so who was it?" I asked again. With a mono-toned voice filled with disbelief, he answers, "That was the strangest phone call! This woman says she has a cabin right up the road for us. And that it would be worth our time to stay there. That she would actually allow us to stay there for free if it weren't for the utilities, but that she would charge us very little." "What?! Did you give that number to anyone in the hotels we stopped at?" I asked. "No....I'm sure I didn't." he answered.

Given our situation and everyone on the verge of tears or already crying and the alternative sleeping option, we decided to check it out - cautiously! After all, it was incredibly strange. And...stranger things have happened - I thought, "Maybe this is just someone looking out for us?"

It appeared to be perfectly fine upon arrival to this mysterious cabin - although we were extremely exhausted, hungry and tired. It was already very late at night - pitch black outside, in fact. We had no concept of where we were other than the address to get there and that we had landed in Maggie Valley! We fed everyone with the food we brought in the cooler and then got some much needed sleep.

The next morning, we could see that it was a pretty cool cabin! Almost like it was stuck in a time capsule from the 70's - but tastefully decorated and clean.

Mid morning, the landlord came over to visit. She was an interesting older woman with long, white grayed hair. Quite beautiful. She had an air of refinement and grace to her that made her seem to hold a great deal of life experience and history behind her blue eyes. She was very well-spoken and very kind with an elder-wise, intelligent voice that projected outward as she spoke. Yet, there also seemed to be an independent and very reserved aspect to her personality. Loner. I remember thinking to myself, "Wow, I bet this woman has quite a story to tell." As if, by some strange coincidence of thought reading, she smiled at me and then turned her eyes to our children now running back and forth across the expansive floor giggling. Then she said, (as if in deep thought herself) "You know...this isn't just any ordinary cabin. It has a history. It's very special to me and I've had it for a very long time." She paused between thoughts as if reflecting back to another time with affection, "This was John Denver's secret place where he came and spent much of his time relaxing and writing songs." Her face now glowing with happy memories, her eyes reliving what her heart cherished.

John Denver ??

Suddenly, the magic that became the theme of this trip, just took an additional dimension of an even stranger 'something more' with this mind blowing information. We had planned on asking the landlord how she got the number to call us, but somehow this question quickly became insignificant. In fact, our minds were spinning and tripping over themselves at this point.

I grew up on John Denver songs and loved each one! They always brought me a wonderful, warm and comforting feeling. To think that he may have written and sang some of these same songs in THIS VERY CABIN was beyond my comprehension. I felt like joining the boys in running around and giggling in that moment!

"Anyway...." she concluded, "stay as long as you like and enjoy this cabin. You might like to visit John's bio-dome that he built by hand." She walked to the window and pointed out its location with pride and then laughed, "It took him ten years to build it, but he was determined to build it himself."

At this point, now later morning, we were all so hungry and had depleted the food we brought with us in the cooler. We decided to find a place to have some breakfast. However, the only restaurant for miles was this charming little country place sitting on the side of a mountain in a hand-hewed log cabin. Our first experience in the North Carolina mountains!
The window at our table over-looked a picture too beautiful to be real. Kind of like those photos I saw online that made me fall in love with Maggie Valley. Each of the surrounding mountain peaks were swirling in the movement of mist cascading down like a waterfall into the valley below then rising up again. How could this be real?! It was so breath-takingly beautiful! "Must be heaven....." ;)

The bio-dome that John built

By the time we got back on the road to John Denver's secret cabin, the boys had fallen asleep (it was their normal nap time) and we carried them to their bed and tucked them in, grabbed the dogs and headed out back like two excited little kids ready to explore the BIO-DOME!

Stepping through and around over-grown gardens, water pales and displaced remnants of what used to be a pathway of stones leading to the bio-dome, we arrived at this marvel of hand-created history. The whole property was like a time capsule, not just the 'not so ordinary cabin'. "Can you believe it? John Denver built this himself!" I said, as I touched each weathered and clouded panel of triangular glass.

Then, finally we made our way around the dome and arrived at the entrance. "Do you think it would be okay to go inside?" I asked. We were both so curious and excited...hearts pounding in anticipation. "Well, the door is open...it's open!" My husband groaned as he nudged the door a little more ;) LOL I was feeling a little cautious about invading such a sacred space, so I lagged behind waiting for him to report back on what he saw beyond the threshold. However, he disappeared inside without saying a word. "What? What do you see?!", I asked. No answer. I took a few more steps closer to the entrance and pushed past the old door to see what happened to my husband. I could feel the sudden temperature change as I peered my head in along with the sight of my husband standing still, like a statue, in the middle of a forest of wild and untamed plants. I found my way to the center where he stood and then he said, "Look!" I followed his eyes with mine and there in the center, directly in front of us was a massive marijuana TREE. "Is that?..." My husband finishing my sentence, "Yes...it's a giant pot tree." "Do you think..." Again my husband finished my sentence, "Yes, I think that's his tree." We laughed hysterically at the thought of an almost 50 year old pot plant (John Denver's pot plant - is this why he built that bio-dome?) and then I noticed what looked to be a 50 year old, small, rusty metal watering can sitting right beside it. "Oh wow, I think his plant has grown a bit since it's last watering."

Standing in the center of this bio-dome that had become it's own self-sustaining eco-system was the most amazing experience to take in and we tried to take in every single morsel of visual history we could.

We stayed an additional day and played on the land that John Denver once played on.

So, in a way, strangely enough, our dream did come true. Just not exactly in the way we imagined. And of course, it took a local disaster to get us there.

"I had come across a sweet little place called, "Maggie Valley". The name itself conjures up thoughts and feelings of 'sweet and simple'. It was a picturesque place.....with misty covered mountain tops, lush green valleys...where our children could run and play and have all the childhood experiences that we did."

The drive home from this far away place left us filled with such happiness...life sure does bring the most unexpected surprises.

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No matter what life hands you in the way of storms...there may just be a silver lining.

“Perhaps love is like a resting place, a shelter from the storm. It exists to give you comfort, it is there to keep you warm, and in those times of trouble when you are most alone, the memory of love will bring you home.”
― John Denver, Take Me Home: An Autobiography

RIP John Denver (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997). Thank you for your songs that have touched so many hearts. And thank you for giving our children a place to play along with making a girl's dream come true.

"SUNSHINE ON MY SHOULDER - JOHN DENVER"
SONGWRITERS - DENVER, JOHN / TAYLOR, MICHAEL C. / KNISS, DICK / TAYLOR, MICHAEL C. / DENVER, JOHN / KNISS, DICK

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"If I had a tale that I could tell you

I'd tell a tale sure to make you smile

If I had a wish that I could wish for you

I'd make a wish for sunshine all the while"

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Always remember that ~"You Have Wings" ~

All photos, unless otherwise stated, are my original photos from our trip to Maggy Valley.

Thank you for reading my story. I hope it put a little sparkle in your day.

I love reading your comments and feedback. Let me know how this story made you feel and share a little sparkle you may have experienced in your own life.