Carol and I arrived on Saturday night, October 15, and checked into the Marriott Residence Inn on Biltmore Ave. south of downtown. On Sunday morning we joined the three couples (who had arrived earlier on Saturday) for breakfast and planned the day. We visited the Botanical Gardens in north Asheville, which is bounded by the University campus and spent a couple of hours wandering in the woods an along a creek. It was a pleasantly warm day, and afterwards we drove into downtown Asheville and parked in front of one of the many Asheville brewpubs and had lunch (shrimp and grits, a first for me and excellent). After lunch the ladies entered Topp's shoe store and were lost for the next hour or so. The guys wandered around the downtown area for a few blocks and then walked through an old, restored arcade. There was an interesting church (St. Lawrence Basilica) that was designed by the same architect who designed the underground swimming pool at the Biltmore Estate.
We met the wives back at Topp's and after a bit more wandering drove back to the Marriott. We decided to walk down to Biltmore Village, about a half mile from the hotel, where we eventually decided on a restaurant for dinner.
(Monday, October 17) After breakfast at the Marriott we all walked down to Biltmore Village where we checked out an interesting craft store that we had noticed the previous evening. After an hour of admiring the jewelry, woodworks, and fabrics, we went back to the hotel and then drove to the Asheville Arboretum, which features a large wooded area with trails as well as gardens, including a Bonsai garden. Geo and Annette, who live on 50 acres in Wisconsin, are knowledgeable about plants and so were good trail guides.
Scattered around the grounds were several animal sculptures made of Lego blocks, and in the visitor's center there was an animated exhibit of giant insects.
Heading back to Asheville one group stopped at a farmers' market while the rest went back to the hotel to welcome the fifth and final couple, who drove up from Orlando. That evening we all walked down to Biltmore Village for dinner at Rezaz, a Mediterranean restaurant. We were joined by another couple, old friends, who live in the Smoky Mountains about an hour away. Since this was my birthday there was a little extra celebration. On the way back to the hotel after dinner we stopped at Hi-Wire, a brewery with a small bar and half a dozen picnic tables in the corner of the building.
(Tuesday, October 18) After breakfast at the hotel we loaded up three cars and drove the few miles to the Blue Ridge Parkway where we stopped first at the Visitors' Center and then at the Crafts Center a few miles away. The Crafts Center has a very interesting museum on the upper level that features local artists - sculptures, wood works, fabrics, and a few paintings.
It was a beautiful Autumn day and we drove north for 20 miles and stopped at Craggy Peak, where we walked through the woods for about a mile to a knoll that provided an overlook to the east and west. The leaves were changing colors and the cool weather and beautiful scenery made for a delightful hike.
Back on the Blue Ridge Parkway we went north and stopped at a view area to admire the colorful valley on the east side of the Appalachian watershed. On the Parkway we soon became stuck behind the Love Valley Babtist Church bus, which was doing about 20 miles under the speed limit, and which belched black diesel smoke on the hills, and which declined to pull over at any of the numerous turnouts. The good news is that the slow speed gave us ample opportunity to enjoy the scenery. After 20 miles we went east (and so did the bus) on a small and winding mountain road (80) which we followed to SC 74 and eventually the town of Black Mountain. After an early dinner at the Bistro restaurant next door to the Visitors' Center we walked a couple of blocks to Cherry Street, the old downtown of Black Mountain, where there were cafes, restaurants, crafts stores, gift shops, and an old railroad station, most of which were closed on a weekday evening.
In a small side lot was an old Mack truck.
Back in Asheville (about 20 minutes away) a few of the crew walked down to the Hi-Wire to sample the brews.
(Wednesday, October 19) I'd purchased Biltmore tickets the day before and after breakfast we all drove onto the Biltmore Estate. It is only a few miles, but with the slow speed through the forest surrounding the estate, and then parking and the shuttle bus it was almost an hour before we were standing in front of the house. We decided to do the gardens first and walked through the gardens to the greenhouses, and then on a path to the bass pond. The green houses are filled with many varieties of colorful plants, including orchids, and on the way to the bass pond we passed a Bald Cypress tree with its distinctive "knees" poking up in the surrounding ground.
We had split up into couples, but Carol and I ran into Howard and he and I walked around the bass pond while Carol went back towards the gardens. We all eventually joined up at a patio behind the greenhouses, and made our way to the Stable cafe, where we had an excellent lunch followed by dessert, one of which was a delicious key lime pie. The stable building has several gift shops as well as the cafe, and a bit of shopping went on before and after lunch.
We walked a hundred yards or so down to the village, which originally contained workshops, houses, and a small farm that supported the estate. Most of the village is a walking museum with exhibits of equipment and other items in the buildings, although there is also a large gift shop and a tavern nearby. There's also a statue of Cornelia Vanderbilt and her dog Cedric, a St. Bernard.
Near the village are two large hotels. Visitors come to the Biltmore Estate for several days and enjoy the running and walking paths, horseback riding, and there is also, predictably, a golf course. We took the shuttle back to the parking lot and drove back to the hotel. Later we walked down to Hi-Wire and had hot dogs at the food truck which is permanently parked outside the entrance.
(Thursday, October 20) We'd all purchased tickets for the Biltmore rooftop tour the previous day and after breakfast we drove up to the parking lot, took the shuttle to the house, and embarked on the tour. There were a dozen people on the tour and the guide took us to behind the scenes areas of the house, including the roof.
Briefly: The house was built between 1889 and 1895, and contains some 250 rooms. George Vanderbilt was very well educated and embraced the latest technology for his house, including some 40 indoor bathrooms, and a coal powered dynamo in the sub-basement that generated electricity for the Otis elevator and the interior lighting. The area on the hill where the house was being built had been denuded by clear cutting, and the landscape architect, Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park in New York, supervised the planting of thousands of trees as well as designing the extensive gardens. The architect, Richard Hunt, was nearing the end of his career and considered the Biltmore Estate to be his masterwork. He and George Vanderbilt toured Europe and purchased tapestries, whole ceiling paintings, sculptures, and furnishings for the house. The house was opened with a large Christmas party in 1895 and for the next 20 years the Vanderbilts frequently entertained as many as 60 guests, many of whom stayed for weeks at a time. Unfortunately, George died young in 1914 following an emergency appendectomy. His wife, Edith, carried on for a decade, but by 1924 the expense and work of running the estate became too much. In 1930 the city of Asheville suggested that the estate be opened up for tours as a way of supporting the house and also to bring tourism to the area. Today the estate business is run by descendants of the Vanderbilt family and seems to be very successful with 2500 employees and over a million visitors per year. There's a large (one inch equals four feet) architect's model of the house on display in one of the rooms.
After lunch at the Stable Cafe we all followed the general tour through the house - the banquet hall, the music room, the pipe organ, the suites, bedrooms, guest rooms, billiard room, etc. ending up in the kitchens, laundry, and a few servants rooms in the basement. By this time it was getting to be late in the afternoon, so we returned to the parking lot and drove back to the Marriott in Asheville, where we picked up pizzas and beer nearby and ate at the hotel patio.
(Friday, October 21) Deena and Howard, our friends from Orlando left in the morning and the rest of us split up into boys and girls - the girls going into Asheville to visit the Craft Fair of the Southern Highlands, and the boys driving to Cherokee to visit the Cherokee museum there. The weather had turned cold and wet overnight, but it was a very pleasant drive to Cherokee, the last half of which was on a two-lane road through Maggie Valley and up and over a ridge. I'd been on the same road three years ago on the motorcycle, but this time we moved along slowly and enjoyed the fall colors and the scenic views. There is a large Harrah's Casino in Cherokee as well as numerous tourist spots, including, strangely, a place called Santa Land. This is a big tourist area and during the recent Hurricane Mathew all the rooms, including the casino, were filled with people who had evacuated the low-lying areas to the east.
The Cherokee Museum is fairly new and well laid out and gives the visitor a good history of the Cherokee Nation beginning in pre-historic times and continuing into the reconciliation of the eastern and western Cherokee just a couple of decades ago. Unfortunately, it is another sad tale of broken promises and broken treaties, ending in displacement, which saw most of the Cherokee Nation forced to relocate (the Trail of Tears) to Oklahoma. We
spent a couple of hours at the museum and then drove back to Maggie Valley where we ate a late lunch at the Maggie Valley Restaurant.
We'd arranged to meet the ladies back in Black Mountain for dinner and we all arrived at the same time under a light rain. After some time spent in a great hardware store, we went to Cherry Street and wandered around in several gift stores, crafts stores, and a bookstore before going into the Dark City Cafe for dinner. The place looks like it was an old tavern at one time with a funky pub in a back room and a dining area in the front. The food was good, but the service was very slow (not used to ten people at a time, I guess) and we hadn't been served when the open mike entertainment began. Fortunately, the singer was quiet and we were able to ignore him. We had to stop at the ice-cream store for dessert, and after that we drove back to the hotel in a light rain. Emily grew up in Yanceyville, NC, and her family had a cabin near Black Mountain, so she remembers when the town was a sleepy little country town. Somewhere along the way it became gentrified, with antique stores, crafts stores, bars, and a couple of parking lots. I asked Richard, Emaly's husband, if the town was fading or still a very popular place to visit. He said that he thought that is was more bustling and active 20 years ago when he last visited the place.
(Saturday, October 22, Sunday October 23) Departure day. After breakfast at the hotel, we all went our separate ways - Rich and Em to Virginia, where they were spending the night before going to Washington to visit their son, Geo and Annette and Doris back to Wisconsin, and Carol and I south and east to Okatie, South Carolina. Bill was staying Asheville for a few hours before flying back to San Francisco.
The drive to Okatie (on Callawassie Island near Hilton Head and Beaufort) was on I-26 and then I-95. There was more traffic than I expected early on a Saturday in October, but then that area of the country has grown a lot in the last 20 years. Carol's sister and her husband live in a community on a marsh by a river. The houses are surrounded by oaks, hickory trees, and palms, and hurricane Mathew toppled many of them. Fortunately, Trilla and Steve's house was mostly spared - a large tree fell on one part of the roof, but didn't do any structural or interior damage, and the tree had been removed and the roof repaired by the time we arrived. On Sunday morning we walked around the neighborhood and looked at the piles of broken branches and trees alongside the road and watched a tree service lifting the top of a huge pine over a house. If you look very closely you can see a yellow dot in the center top of the tree - that's a worker in the tree.
In this part of the country many of the trees are covered with Spanish Moss.
Driving past the golf course yesterday, I saw a large alligator sunning itself by a water hazard. Carol thought that it was a statue, but Trilla and Steve confirmed that alligators were often seen on the golf course and in the many ponds in the area, all of which are connected by drainage pipes. Driving around on Sunday morning we saw an alligator in the sun, and two others in the water. We had brunch at the country club and will watch football and eat pizza this evening.
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