2015 TKL Getaway Weekend at Roan Mountain
Once again, we had a fantastic time at our third annual Getaway Weekend! After two great years in the historic town of Jonesborough, Tennessee we decided to make it a true getaway for everyone and move it to beautiful Roan Mountain State Park. There we had a nice big conference center with a fireplace and kitchen, and cabins to stay in with all the amenities. It was almost like summer camp as we arrived settled into our cabins. The weather was great, cool enough to have a fire at night, and perfect for pot luck suppers with chili and soup.
One of my favorite parts of this weekend is thinking about the web of connections between the people who come share the weekend with us. Pam and I met Heather, Diane and Christine at a Yarn Camp put on by A Likely Yarn in Abingdon, Virginia in May of 2013. We thought it would be fun to try to have an event in our town of Jonesborough, so we got their contact information. As we began to gather people for our weekend, Pam contacted the guild she belonged to when she lived in Lynchburg. From there, we met Dorothea, LeMoyne, Sheila, Kate and Teri. We started going to the Hawks Nest spinning retreat in West Virginia, and met Joanne, Liz and Lawre there. Meanwhile, I began gathering 'the goat people,' that we have come to know through owning Angora Goats, and our little circle of locals from Jonesborough Yarn Party grew along with friends from Limestone Fiber Guild.
The result of this convergence meant all our friends from all our various groups got to be in one place at the same time. It gave me the proverbial warm and fuzzy to look around the room to see Ann, of Out in Jupiter farm sitting next to Liz, Joanne and Lawre of Strauch Fiber, sitting next to the Lynchburg Guild folks. Sheila and her friend Pam, from Maine, were sitting with our locals Melissa, Jennifer and Christine. Pat, our friend from Elizabethton spends the weekend with her daughter, Kellie; and they are joined by another mother-daughter team from West Virginia, Heather & Diane.
We even get to meet people that we've only 'met' online before. I was delighted to get to finally meet Pat, and her friends Paula and Amber in real life. We've been talking online for almost a year - and THIS event brings us all together.
It makes me proud that I've been able to orchestrate this event, and that people enjoy themselves enough to come along for the ride every year. I will be forever grateful for my husband and my friends who help make it all come together.