The Price of a View

Kallista Wiseman (she/her)

Editorial Team Member

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be able to spend a week in the mountains with my family. The Great Smoky Mountains, to be specific, and it was beautiful; high-elevation landscapes, greenery covering every bump and hill, vistas around every corner and back street road. It was an amazing trip, and I’m grateful that I was able to go on it. However, something came to my attention. Something you might not know about me is that I come from the suburbs. Straight-cut neighborhoods, perfectly placed trees, and no more than a two-minute drive to anywhere suburbs. It made living in the mountains for a week a new experience for me. Things that I had never thought about in my own day-to-day life coming to life in differences I never realized people had to live with, namely, the price of a view.

Long story short, the house that my family had rented for the week had a beautiful view. Like jaw-dropping, breathtaking, the type of view you could only dream of. It was why we had chosen the house. It had an amazing view and was between the two small, smoky mountain tourist towns on the map. It was perfect. Or, it should have been. When you live in the suburbs it's a pretty straight shot to wherever you want to go. The thing is, it’s different up in the mountains. Roads are built where there are purchases on the mountain, winding through ravines and up and down hills. It makes any drive turn from a simple, ten-minute, three-mile trip to about an hour to get anyplace worth going. Taking this into consideration, our house with the dreamy view was on top of a mountain. Meaning whenever we wanted to drive to the top, it was a stress-induced journey on small two-way roads barely wide enough for a car and a half, looking over the edge into ravines that could surely kill you, and terrifying one hundred eighty degree turns at a forty-five degree upward angle. Long story short, driving in the mountains is a different beast entirely than typical driving, and that’s not without even mentioning that the majority of these routes lack both internet and wifi connection. 

Of course, despite these differences, this vacation was an amazing experience. The nature and activities were amazing, and I can see mountain living being particularly attractive to those who enjoy the stillness and quiet the mountains may provide. It’s not for the faint of heart, though; I can say that for sure. Yet, this trip has taught me that a beautiful view comes with a price. Something I’d never really thought about before, because sometimes a view costs more than money. It costs your time and energy getting there.

The View: