it's kinda pretty here

So yeah, it is freaking gorgeous here. The fall color is outstanding and the drives and mountains have been unbelievable. So let's see... what should I fill you in on...Yesterday we flew into Nashville, rented a car and drove down to Soddy Daisy to meet up with my buddies Nan and Mason and their amazing backwoods retreat. These two used to work at the paper with me, but they escaped took buyouts, sold their house and moved down to Tennessee, where they bought a cabin with no water or electricity or actual address which they are quickly converting into an amazing retreat. They dug a well into the mountain (um, yeah) and set up propane generators to power marine batteries that feed the house electricity and cleaned it all up and just redid the bathroom. And I mean, like redid the bathroom so that it's like a freaking modern spa bathroom with a rainfall showerhead and beautiful glass tile.They have a lot more projects down the line (new kitchen, guest house, pole barn, etc), but man is it fun to see how far they have come. You can follow the progress as well, if you're interested, over on Nan's blog here.So we stayed there last night, woke up to a delicious southern breakfast (homemade biscuits!) and then started the drive to Asheville. This drive wound through the Smokey Mountains which were stunning after you passed the various tourist traps on the way.Then tonight, we settled into Asheville and met up with our good friend Eric from Brains on Fire (and his lovely lady) and had an amazing dinner at Tupelo Honey.To see photos from both days, I posted them over here (including lots of cabin photos so you can see how great Nan and Mason's place is). Enjoy!