Cataloochee Guest Ranch, Maggie Valley- A Mountain Afar, But Close To So Many Hearts
American Press Travel News- June 27th,-Maggie Valley, Haywood County, North Carolina—Cataloochee Guest Ranch was opened in 1934 by Mr. Tom and Miss Judy Alexander. It was moved to its present location in 1938. The Ranch is still run by the third generation descendants of Mr. Tom and Miss Judy. As their brochure rightly proclaims “The Ranch is “where the march of time slows down to a walk.” the high mountains here really do have deep roots! Barb and I relaxed, enjoyed country buffet cookouts for dinner of steaks and taters along with all the country fixin’s you’d also love. We also sampled their country breakfast which included their wonderful homemade syrups, jams and biscuits. that you will savor in your mouth and on your mind for a very long time.
This is a wonderful place for your whole family. We watched a small boy catch his first fish in their stocked pond, which the ranch then cooked for his dinner. They have all sorts of planned activities for children as well for adults. There are so many outdoor recreational opportunities in and around this 5000 foot elevation, cool, over 1000 acre ranch. We hiked, found and identified numerous edible mushrooms, plants and trees with a professional field guide. Their garden, becomes your garden each and every meal! Every day you can take take trail rides. When you arrive you feel like you are a member of their family with their rich local heritage. Every night their local admiring neighbors, were scheduled to come and meet the guests. We listened to local musicians and were even able to pet a real friendly wolf.
Perhaps due to the history of several generations of the Tom and Judy Alexander family, there was a feeling here that we were home, really at home again! It’s really hard to say just how comfortable we were at this ranch. It was very hard to leave and we actually stayed a bit longer than usual before we left the cool mountain air, the friendliness of our hosts and the truly serene nature of this fine resort. So, I guess one way to say it was, we had a very hard time saying goodbye!
Call 1 (800) 868-1401 119 or local 828-926-1401 cataloocheeranch.com located on Ranch Road., Maggie Valley, NC 28751 Cataloochee Ranch.com
Also, we will review so many fine restaurants in the coming days on aptravelnews.com. We will be posting these and many more opportunities for visitors in the next day or so. We took part in visiting the Cataloochee Valley area full of transplanted elk. The bulls were bugling their dominancy over their herd of cows-quite a display! The people we met, the dinner with the Mayor of Waynesville and his wife, the fine other folks we learned so much about them and from them, their Agri-tourism lifestyle and businesses offerings, and their goals, as well as their already fruitful successes will be portrayed as well.
Florence, SC, So Many Ways To Enjoy a Visit and So Many Venues For Tourists and Others!
—
APtravelnews-November 16th—Florence, S.C.—We met Holly Beaumier on a drive up I-95 towards our ultimate goal of visiting Vermont again. We stayed and played in her dog-friendly city enjoying great foods and fine accommodations, but most importantly: very friendly caring locals.
Last week, we had occasion to meet up with her again at the 5oth Anniversary of SEOPA held at Fontana Lake in N.C. She was in attendance to assist in spreading the word, along with other Counties CVB’s from all around the South about their respective excellent travel opportunities for tourists and other visitors.
Holly is a true professional and very passionate about Florence, S.C. and surrounding locals ability to offer great travel opportunities to everyone and anyone “stopping to smell the roses” off I-95 and from all around the USA and the world!
She introduced us to a whole set of opportunities that should encourage us all to make a reservation and head to Florence when possible. Here are some of them:
- Farm to table and what’s in season? The SC climate lends itself to agricultural produce year round. Local restaurants (we agree having enjoyed many of them) often change menus to serve locally sourced, in season foods.
- Middle Sparrow Ranch, SC’s only producer of farmstead cheese. Crafted on site from grass fed cows. The cheese has its own unique flavor. Other products are dairy and whey-fed pork.
- U-Pick farms offer strawberry, muscadine grapes, blueberries are ready from April through October.
- Tours are available at Ovis Hill Farm where they graze 250 sheep and provide high quality, natural foods.
- Fishing in local rivers how about giant catfish? Shad are caught in Hoop nets and even drop lines for “cats.”
- Hog Hunting on horseback? Inquire and Give it a go in SC.
- Cooper Black Recreation Area has National Sporting Dog field trials: there are equestrian trials in endurance and runs in this 7000 rolling acres of longleaf pine forests and the fields provide the ultimate venue for these and much more events.
- Birding: More than 100 species of migratory birds to spot at. Take your binocular to Woods Bay State Natural Area.
- There are so many other things to see and do: Camp, be an Archeologist, check out enigmatic Carolina Bays, the Darlington Marathon races, Marsh Tacky Horses, a South Carolina Horse with stripes dating to Revolutionary times, Heart of Carolina’s 3-day horse competitions, The Kings Three Trails with great jockeys, Lancing tournament on horseback started in 1899. These opportunities and too many others are in and around Florence, SC. For more info. Go: visitflo.com 843-664-0330
As pet friendly a city as you can find! 
Lamb Chops from Colorado, Risotto, goats cheese. Unreal tastes! 
New York Cheesecake and local strawberries. Terrific!
Goose Holler Farm When We Stop to Smell the Roses After Being on the Road Again
AmericanPressTravelNews-Oct 10th, Goose Holler Farm, TN.- Bob and Barb getting some images for holiday cards! Meet Miss Kitty, she and her owner Marsha Mae Markes lives at the farm and we love them both! Now that Terry, my beloved little dog of 11-years is gone, we are spending a bit more time with Miss Kitty. She is helping mitigate the pain of our loss! My neighbors like me they get as much of the 80-pounds of manure Miss Kitty Makes every day!