Tangy Gobblers

I kidnapped Chris on Thursday morning. Put him in the car. Blindfolded him. And squealed off on 2 wheels.

Well, ok that's mostly true, minus the blindfold part and the 2 wheels part. Plus he ended up pulling details out of me late Wednesday night. See, this is why we never even make it past December 20th before we tell each other about ALL of our Christmas presents.

Regardless, we loaded up (translation: Chris threw in a pair of clean underwear and his toothbrush; I meticulously packed 3--yes, 3--bags complete with entire night/morning skin care products, 3 outfits to choose from, 2 pairs of shoes, 2 sets of pajamas, 5 pairs of clean undies--something mom taught me to do when I was little, and snacks for the hour and a half drive up) and drove up to the mountains.

Our main motivation? Tangy Gobblers at the Cottage Deli in Hayesville, NC. What is this "Tangy Gobbler" you ask? How good does a sandwich have to be to create the urge to drive 2 hours just to take that first savory bite of one?

Heavens to Betsy. It starts with 2 slices of toasted panella bread. Pile on approximately 8 slices of Boar's Head Cajun Turkey, cheddar cheese, lettuce, and sweet pickles. (We 86 the tomato because its just creepy to eat warm tomatoes on sandwiches, but you do as you like...) The absolute kicker...the spicy cream sauce they slather on after warming the entire sandwich. It's like heaven on a plate. All for $6.95. It's crazy.

The sweet family who owns the Cottage have been feeding us both since our early college days up at Young Harris. We have been known to jump in the car, drive 2 hours up to the Cottage, eat, and turn around and drive 2 hours back home. All in the same lazy Saturday afternoon.

Back in our active: "Let's-go-climb-a-mountain" days,

we would hike Blood Mountain all day and then head over to build back up our strength before climbing another mountain. So many memories at that place.

This year, in my sneakiness, I booked one night's stay at The Ridges Resort and Club. We had decided to save our Christmas money for lawyers fees and whatnot, but I just snapped and decided that we needed one little night away, just to melt away some of the stress that comes along with having to entertain the thought of "lawyer fees". It was SO worth it.

The room was beautiful and cozy. The lobby had dual fireplaces and hot apple cider and homemade Otis Spunkmeyer cookies ALL NIGHT long. The huge picture windows overlooked God's majestic landscape of rolling mountains and Lake Chatuge. We were happy. So happy.

We spotted an old copy of "Scrabble" in the lobby early in the afternoon and despite Chris' grumbling, decided we would spend the evening cuddling by the fire, watching TV and playing cheesy board games.

Luckily, as we sat eating our Tangy Gobblers on New Years Eve, we learned of the annual NYE mountain celebration. Brace yourself.

The annual Possum Drop was to take place at midnight in Hayesville. At the local gas station. Complete with bleachers, watered down hot chocolate, and a drag show. Chris assumed they meant drag show as in cars racing around. Oh no. The local boys indeed put on their very own version of a drag queen show.

We were beside ourselves and instantly knew that was where we would be saying goodbye to 2009 and hello to 2010. Scrabble would just have to wait.

Sadly, as we cuddled and waited for the clock to roll around to 10 or 11pm so we could bundle up and go marvel at the sweet little possum falling from the crane at the gas station, I fell asleep. And then it started to rain. And sleet.

And we chickened right out of the Annual Possum Drop. Tragedy. It just gives us a reason to go back next year. You should make plans to come too.