Summer Progress-part 3

We had the Day of Caring this past week where United Way partners businesses with local non-profits to come and do projects for a day. The Asheville Metro Sewer's Facilities Maintenance Department came out for the day and built us a beautiful amphitheater in the woods and stained the addition to the back deck of the Mountain View Lodge.

We picked out the location for the amphitheater about a year ago, but with no maintenance help I was not sure we would be able to get it finished. There was only 5 of them but they got more done in one day then I could have ever imagined. They cleared the area, built a fire ring, built a stage and built 9-10 benches. Once they finished that, they stained the back deck in less than an hour!!! We are SO impressed with these guys and are go appreciative of their generosity!

The lighting was not the best when I was taking pictures so it may be hard to see the amphitheater, I will try to get some one on a cloudier day.

Summer Progress-part 2

Our big project is our Main Lodge...thinking of calling the the Chestnut Lodge once we re-open it. It would give us an opportunity to use Chestnut from the "Wormy Chestnut" in the Lounge side but not have wormy in there. There has been alot of progress over the summer. They have the supports for the new wrap around porch done. It is huge! And it is going to be great. The front entrance now has double doors and the gable is twice the size. The porch will wrap around the building to the right and go to another deck in the back right corner leading up to the Rec Hall.





The siding is going up right now. They are using a "concrete" siding so that it will not deteriorate over time. It will be stained the same color as before so that it matches the cabins also.






The roofing is going on right now too. It is a metal roof in a champagne color. They voted me out of the green roof and I agree that it will accent the trees and make it cooler in the summer. It is the same color as the trim on the building, as well as, the trim on the new cabins and the benches on the existing cabins.






The interior of the lodge is taking shape also. I can see where everything is going to go and how it is going to come together once done. The kitchen is huge! and it is switched from before so that the cooking side is on the left and the cleaning side is on the right. We are gaining 2 large bathrooms and the offices we have decided will become the camp store. We think it will be a good place to offer cantina every day, it will also be in a good location to have it open during some events for people to purchase shirts, coffee mugs, snacks, etc during their event.

Summer Progress-part 1

Cabins Complete! This summer was our first summer using our new cabins. They are beautiful! The porch gives a wonderful place for campers to congregate and the facilities are a big improvement from the rustic seasonal ones. The only down fall of them is that they are sort of hot in the summer. They are insulated for year round use and that insulation works very well! The sky lights are beautiful and work very well, the light they let in makes it so we do not needs lights most of the day. That light also comes with heat though and that heat gets trapped in there. We will be brainstorming ideas for next summer to help keep it cooler in there...thin shades that pull over the sky light from the inside that let in indirect light, window fans, etc. Any ideas are greatly appreciated!