Isn’t this one of the smoothest winter roads you have seen? We passed it on our way down from Neel’s Gap this past weekend. I could have gone down it with the four-wheel drive but decided just to photograph it instead.

I really wanted to drop down to another level to take this photo, but I couldn’t. A small deer had fallen from the top of the falls and died. “He probably slipped on the ice,” one lady told me. Cocoa was at my side and immediately knew something was very wrong. She is such a sweet dog. I grabbed this photo and left vowing to come back in the summer under happier circumstances. There are several really nice waterfalls in the  Pisgah National Forrest. Most of the hikes are short and not extreme. Beautiful four paws trek.

We didn’t even have to inch along this road though it looks like that is what we had to do. But when you are with someone who knows how to drive on snow and ice, you just travel along. Denny knew what he was doing, and he never complained about having to stop repeatedly for me and others to take photos.

Basically, we just had lots of fun over vacation in PA. The first day that we were back from Lake Erie, Joy took us to Wendell August Forge. The company is America’s oldest and largest forge, producing hand-wrought ornamental metalware and elegant giftware in aluminum and other metals since 1923. The furnace in this photo dates back to the 1930′s when the founder Wendell McMinn August. who was in the coal industry asked, Ottone “Tony” Pisoni, a blacksmith in his coal mine, to hand-forge door latches for his home.

“Admiring the low cost and high quality of Pisoni’s work, August was inspired to start a decorative ironware business. Pisoni was joined by three more blacksmiths who handcrafted the first product line, including one-of- a-kind fireplace andirons, candlesticks, lighting standards, doorknockers, latches, railings, and grilles for windows and doors.”

Two designers currently work on all the designs created at the forge. This is one of their offices.

A really cool clock from the past.

The last morning we were in western PA, we woke to freshly fallen snow, and as I drank a cup of coffee and gazed out the windows at the sight before me, I couldn’t help but wish that I could stay. The week had been relaxing, fun, and energizing. I even said (out loud), “I could stay another day or two. After all, I don’t need to be back in the office for another three days.” Reluctantly, I got up and finished packing my suitcase. We drove to the airport in near silence. Everyone was rethinking all we had seen—the meals we had shared and the photos that we had taken with our hearts.

Later, at the Pittsburg airport, I watched a parade of snow plows race down a nearby runway and listened to the person next to me talk about the “major snow storm” that was bearing down on the part of the state where I had vacationed. “Maybe, it is best that I’m leaving,” I mused.

Then yesterday, I received an email from the friends that had journeyed with me around Lake Erie saying they had not been able to venture out of their home since I left due to the amount of snow that had fallen. “It is a good thing you came when you did and left, ” they said. “Otherwise, we would have been stuck.

“Stuck,”  I wondered . . . “Stuck in Vermilion or Fairport, or maybe some place overlooking the Allegheny River?” . . . .  No, I really don’t think we would have been stuck at all.