Can we say "phew"!!

Our excitement - and relief - was growing with each turn of the winding mountain roads. "We made it to North Carolina!" I kept saying to Timo. And then, finally, we exited the highway, drove through the little village of Dillsboro, crossed the Tuckaseegee River and turned onto Macktown Rd (next to the big Rafting sign), and wound our way up to the Woody's house.

We were exhausted and relieved and thankful to arrive in Sylva on Jan 6th. And what a great feeling it was to be able to pull up the driveway of "the mountain house" (as we called it, to help Timo remember it from our family reunion there this past July) and be greeted by Phil and Gayle Woody's friendly faces. They graciously hosted us upon arrival; it turned out to be an open-ended invitation that stretched into a 11 day stay (for me and the boys) and a 4 week stay (for Jim)!! 

Once we arrived we were able to start looking for a rental house and getting acclimated. In the middle of trying to rest up from the trip and start in on all the logistics of moving to a new town, we spent a lot of time hanging out at the house and exploring the woods around the property. I quickly realized that we all now need big mud boots/rain boots/wellies/rubber boots/gum boots! Hurray!

one of the best things about the house is this play area, loaded with trains and Fisher-Price toys

Most evenings were spent around the cozy wood stove. One night we had a little sing-along, thanks to Gayle. (Don't look at my face to judge; in fact I really enjoyed it too!)

Timo loved helping Mr Woody gather some branches to bring in for kindling

A barn and mud and tools. Heaven for a little boy like this one!

We all spent a week together at the Woodys until we found a house to rent and Jim started his new job at Western, and then I drove with the boys and Mom back to Durham. The house wasn't available until Feb 3rd, so we ended up staying in Durham for 2 weeks - while Jim began at his new role as the study abroad advisor. The first two weeks were spent alongside the outgoing/retiring advisor and trying to get his mind around a lot of new information and procedures for the position.


One morning we went for a little walk around Sylva, getting to know this mountain town. (Colorado Springs is at a high altitude and is right on the front of the Rockies, but now we really are in the mountains!) It's a town of about 2,500 people and the county has a population of 40,000; a few miles down the road is the campus of Western Carolina and the 'town' of Cullowhee. So, yep, small town mountain life for sure!! More details on this coming in future posts! We're still learning...


One of the best parts of Sylva and the county is this incredible, historic courthouse, which now houses the public library. 

And here's Jim, on campus for the first time on a day when he filled out some paperwork at Human Resources and got his ID card (and gym access, of course). Okay, Jim, your turn to write a post about your new job.