| The night sky near Morganton, NC [Credit & Copyright: David Cortner] |
Being situated inside a National Forest has its perks, one of which being there are very few man-made lights outside. Instead, the sky is lit by thousands of stars on a dark, clear night, making the Inn on Mill Creek a great place for stargazing.
| Chickadee outside the solarium at the Inn on Mill Creek |
January is a fairly unpredictable month in the mountains of Western North Carolina. One day, we’ll see bright sunshine and temperatures in the 40s or 50s, then blustery temps the following day with snow. So we’re countering the month’s unpredictable nature with a very predictable bird for our latest installment of 12 Months of Birding at the Inn: the Carolina Chickadee.
Since 2007, we have been a part of Kiva, a non-profit that matches microloan lenders with borrowers who are small business entrepreneurs. The vast majority of Kiva borrowers are from developing countries and the success of their businesses positively affects their local economies and helps to lift them and their families out of poverty. Lenders can lend as little as $25, and as the loan is paid, the lender receives his or her money back and can either take it out or relend it to another borrower.
Happy New Year! We hope you’re off to a great start in 2013. Have you made any resolutions? Perhaps you’ve resolved not to make resolutions! But if you have made some, may we suggest adding the resolution to relax more and stress less. We have lots of ways you can accomplish that by coming to the mountains of Western North Carolina, and we’ll be sharing those with you this year.
