The Summer of 1993: They Put Baby in a Corner

Intense heat and its silence filled the hazy daylight. Scorching the trees, roofs, and concrete, the sun glared mercilessly. No creaking sounds of rocking chairs on front porches, no squealing children punctuated the thick air prior to the splash of a cannonball. The quiet was deathly and pervasive, as was the heat.

This heat in an area that boasts of mountain breezes through open windows is record-setting. Everyone alive that summer remembers when there were few Gulf breezes and no cool mountain air. That ugly Bermuda High positioned itself on top of the already hot enough South.

Lake Junaluska in North Carolina is a quaint mountain retreat, built in the olden days, retaining the charm of a mountain lodge with cabins and lake houses. It boasts “no need for air conditioning” due to perpetually cooling mountain air and refreshing breezes. Our packing lists included a sweater for cool evenings, a light blanket for chilly nights.

Fantasy...only in the movies

My fanciful romanticism kicked in. I pictured the lodge at Lake Lure as in the movie Dirty Dancing (1987).How green, how lush and gorgeous. A full week at a mountain retreat. I'd looked forward to this family vacation for months. 

In our Ford Taurus wagon with the AC cranked wide-open, we crossed out of sweltering Tennessee and drove up into the mountains outside of Asheville and Maggie Valley.

We exclaimed,"Hey, look at that. What fun!" It was a nature-made,  water slide, a shady area where we’d wade in the swift, cold streams and picnic. I could not wait for this mountain adventure, a chance to relax, refresh, and cool off, escape the Memphis Delta air.

The kids and I opened our car doors at our assigned lake house and were slapped in the face with heat.  Suffocating heat. Shocking heat, worse-than-Memphis heat.  Are you kidding me? We entered our lake house that was nowhere near the lake, the house that we shared with another couple.The heat became claustrophobic. “This is the worst summer on record,” the other couple shared. “Not a breath of air moving.  Can you believe it?” she commented. 

Our bedrooms were at the front of the house.  I did not know whether to open the windows to let the hot air in or keep them closed and die of oxygen deprivation. 

I thought about opening the refrigerator and standing in front of it until the moment we left to go home. I suggested we do that immediately.  “Oh, don’t be ridiculous,” he retorted.  “This will be fun.”  Fun, like a lobster in a pot has fun, I thought.

Night fell.  David decided to sleep on the couch in the living room area.  Richard slept with his dad. I slept alone, with all the windows open, on top of the sheet, naked.  Or, “nekkid” as it’s called in the mountains of North Carolina. I think it was about 3 AM before there was enough cool in the room for me to sleep.  The sun rose, the roosters crowed, and feet padded upon the floor.  Time to “rise and shine.” I saved energy by refusing to shine, as the sun was doing enough of that already.

The seminar called for the men to attend meetings, at the big lodge that had fans. The kids and I went to the swimming pool…which had been closed for repairs. Are you kidding me?  Back to the house that had no TV. We decided to go bicycle riding. When the husbands returned from their meetings, we found a restaurant for supper…not caring what they served, but was there a block of ice anywhere around?

   We found that mountain stream and the natural water slide which David loved and Rich was too little to fully enjoy.  It was great to sink our feet in the cold stream and wade in that swift stream, holding onto a rope so we wouldn't fall to our deaths. Still, not a good sport, I counted down the days until our escape…to civilized, conditioned air.

Not once did I pass an evening on the front porch enjoying a mosquito-free, breezy evening with a light sweater around my shoulders.  Not once did I sleep without sweating. 

                                          And, not once did Patrick Swayze ask me to dance!

Telling Your Own Stories:  Is there a Vacation you'd just as soon never take again?