Aug 14 2012: Returning to New Bern

Okay, everyone hum along....'from the mountains, through the prairies, to the oceans....' that was our travel today. From the foothills of the Smoky Mountains and Blue Ridge Parkway, passing the cities of Winston-Salem, Raleigh-Durham and following the rural farmlands growing of tobacco, soy beans, peanuts and corn we arrived home in New Bern this afternoon safely and with 805 miles tacked onto the motorhome. We had a great time discovering the mountainous region of western North Carolina, especially enjoyed our tour of Biltmore House and learning of its heritage and traveling the southern part of the Blue Ridge Parkway. We only took 521 photos. Thank goodness for digital!

Aug 13 2012: Travel day from Asheville to Marion to Hickory NC

Today was our 'head 'em up n' movem' out day. Having an hour's travel eastward to Marion NC from Asheville gave us the morning to take our time packing up and seeing several class A's also checking out of Bear Creek. We got on I-40 about 10:30 a.m. and arrived at Tom Johnson's at 11:15. We had a two o'clock appointment and we were keeping our fingers crossed that they could get us in earlier to have Dish Network installed. However, during the scheduling of the appointment the service rep failed to tell us that we needed to have the receiver in hand. Since this arrangement fell through the proverbial Grand Canyon cracks we concluded our time at Tom Johnson's with acquiring an extended warranty contract on our rig. We hit the road again working our way east on I-40 to Indian Creek Campground at exit 119 in Hickory, where we had stayed early on in our trip. Tomorrow we have about a five-hour return home trip, so we expect to hit the road early to avoid traffic congestion around Winston-Salem, Greensboro, and Raleigh.

Aug 12 2012: Asheville NC, Bear Creek Campground, Grove Arcade, Downtown Asheville

Grove Arcade Upper Floors

Grove Arcade Stairway

View of Biltmore House from Campground Entrance

With cool temperatures and a nice breeze, we began our day at Panera Bread Co., and then headed to downtown Asheville, peeking into artsy stores displaying local artisan work including pottery, watercolors, glassworks, weaving, and sculptured wire art. We  walked through Grove Arcade, which was originally to be a five-story base with a fourteen-story tower that was to be filled with shops, offices and living space, but only the base had been completed. During World War II, the government took over the building and after several years after the war efforts ended the property was saved by a group of concerned citizens and has since been restored and upscale shopowners and restaurants have claimed space. We continued our walk along the streets of downtown, which were active with tourists and locals. We found Suwana Thai Orchid restaurant on Broadway, and thoroughly enjoyed a lunch of Spicy Fried Rice and Chicken for Dave (who made it even more spicy thanks to Sam's special blend of hot stuff!) and Drunken Noodle for Karen (sans spice). Dave drank nearly four glasses of water to put out the fire on his tongue! We recommend this restaurant for its wonderful food and hospitable host, Sam. We continued our walk amid the streets of downtown Asheville and returned to camp. And the crazy thing is that for these days we have been here we did not realize that at the entrance/exit of the campground you can look across the valley and see Biltmore House in its splendor, as well as Antler Hill Village and its vineyards. Tomorrow we head eastward to an afternoon appointment at Tom Johnson's in Marion and then continue onto Indian Creek Campground in Hickory for the night.

Aug 11 2012: Asheville, Bear Creek Campground, Western Nature Center, Trolley Re-Trip

Red Wolf

Bobcat

Grey Wolves

Grey Wolf

Biltmore Butterfly

After spending Friday as veggie (no vegan!) day, we spent today visiting the Western Nature Center and our second day on the White Trolley Tour.  The Nature Center is specific to the animals and plants of the Southern Appalachian Mountains. We were greeted by some humoungous snakes (enclosed in their own glassed-in environments), some cool looking turtles and frogs, and then followed a pathway outdoors to fenced-in enclosures of fox, wolves, cougars, bobcats, deer, black bears and some barn animals. Most of the animals seemed to be in their nap time mode so they were not very ambitious when we pssst at them, but one of the cougars decided to give us a floor show and climbed one of the trees and posed for a photo shoot.  After getting our taste of mountain animals and birds we returned to Luella's for another taste of great barbeque. Our day concluded at the Asheville Visitor Center to climb aboard the White Trolley for our second day of touring Asheville. It was the same route as our first day, but we had a different tour guide, who was very informative and had a great sense of humor. We returned to camp after drooling over some estates in the Biltmore Forest.

Aug 9 2012: Asheville, Bear Creek Campground, Chimney Rock and Blue Ridge Parkway

...stars and stripes

Lake Lure

..purple mountains majesty...

On this ninth day of August Asheville weather began in the mid 80s and clear skies. By the end of our day the skies were overcast with scattered showers. And during the day we walked through the clouds at over 5000 feet above sea level. Mid-morning we headed south on NC 74 for about a half hour drive to Chimney Rock near Lake Lure. The drive was interesting; we went on several switchbacks and through some hollers and even a town named Bat Cave.

 We arrived at the secluded town of Chimney Rock and went directly to the Park. We took the elevator to the top of the mountain, where there is a snack area and gift shop, with very reasonable prices.

Chimney Rock

Hickory Nut Grove Trail

 Chimney Rock is a monolith, and is a mere 535 million years old (and doesn't look a day over 534 million years!). We had a view of about 50 miles; on a clearer day it is said that one can see 75 mile range. We began our 315 foot downward climb (rock and stairs) back to the elevator and considered the mile trail to the waterfall. We voted for air conditioning in the car, temps pushing 90 and humidity pushing 300!

Chrysler Prowlers

 In the parking area were about 30 Chrysler Prowlers, which is a retro-hot rod type car, and a group that we had also seen at Biltmore.  We began our return to camp driving westward toward the foothills of the Smoky Mountains and aiming for the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Hickory Nut Gorge

We drove along 276 into the mountains where we passed several waterfalls that seemed to be popular places to swim at their bases.

Looking Glass Waterfall

 One in particular was Looking Glass waterfall that reflected the clear water falling against the granite boulders.

GPS elevation on Parkway

Blue Ridge Parkway Overlook

We got onto the Parkway  near mile marker 417 and continued our drive north along the Pisgah Ridge. Temperatures dropped to 66, and stopping at several overlooks (until the rains came) we found ourselves above the clouds and at elevations above five thousand feet. Needless to say, our descent back down to our campsite caused quite the ear-popping!

Aug 8 2012: Asheville, Bear Creek Campground

The mountains greeted us with cool temperatures in the mid-70s, robin's egg blue skies and a slight breeze. After some hemming n' hawwing (I think we have been in the mountains too long! LOL) we decided to stay at our campsite and relax. That sounds like an oxymoron - to take a day off to relax - but we are enjoying the breeze, the sunlight filtering through the trees and will be enjoying a picnic lunch under our canopy and then grilling chicken and having fresh veggies from the farmer's market. Today we will be adding overviews and photos of other trips we have made this past year. Does not seem possible that we have had our motorhome for a year this month.  We are enjoying every mile with a smile!

Aug 7 2012: Asheville, Bear Creek Campground, Biltmore Gardens and Estate

Butterfly and zinnia

Morning began in the cool lower 70s. Today we stopped to smell the roses, the zinnias, the daisies, and so many more flora and fauna at Biltmore's Conservatory and Walled Gardens. The abundance of green plants and flowering plants in this beautiful surrounding of Biltmore is awesome.

Latticed Frame of Walled Garden

Conservatory Entrance

There are about 75 gardeners and landscapers who work year-round on Biltmore's grounds. It would be nice if we could get one to come to our house and make suggestions! The four acres in the walled gardens have over two hundred kinds of perennials and over two thousand roses and a fruit-filled grape arbor. After taking nearly a hundred photos of flowers we walked back through the pergola on the southern patio to stroll through the house one more time.

Biltmore Conservatory 

Pergola

This time it was more crowded and we sat on the portico facing the mountain range and wondered what it would have been like to live in such a home in the early part of the century.

One of the things we learned was that the wealthy were guided by what seemed to be a certain expectation level; for instance, one did not wear the same clothing all day. There were up to eight clothing changes, per day, depending on your activity, including but not limited to horseback riding, afternoon tea, formal dinner every evening at 8 o'clock, where six to eight courses would be served.

 The Vanderbilts entertained twenty to thirty guests at any given time, where the guests would stay at "the mountain cottage" for a week or two. We also learned that during the nearly twenty years of entertaining guests there was never a duplicate meal served. You might wonder, as we did, 'were they happy?' By all accounts, the Vanderbilts were a devoted and loving couple and their legacy continues.

After leaving the estate grounds we went to McDonald's for lunch at Biltmore Village.

McDonald's Baby Grand

It is the only McD's in the world that has a baby grand piano. Another fun-filled day and we headed back to camp to plan our excursion for tomorrow. Which direction will that be?

Aug 6 2012: Asheville NC, Bear Creek Campground: Biltmore House Estate

Waking up at the foothills of the Smokey Mountains on this Monday morning we realized that we have so much to see and so little time....so, we have extended our days here at Bear Creek. After rescheduling our visit to Tom Johnson's in Marion and reserving a few days at Indian Springs in Hickory we got to the major event of the day: Biltmore. We had purchased a two-day pass from the campground and have done some research on line. Our approach to Biltmore was a nearly 6 mile drive to a parking area where shuttles are provided to "the house". For those who ever ponder whether they should take the time to visit this home, by all means, do so. It is absolutely incredible. Walking through Biltmore is at your leisure. We highly recommend the audio tour, which allows you to hear information about each stop along the tour. Although photographs are not allowed within Biltmore there are many opportunities for outside 'Kodak moments'.  We spent nearly three hours in the house and learned so much about the gilded age and the aristocrats of that era. After touring the home we found ourselves at what was, at one time, the stables, which is a nice area where casual dining and of course shopping is. Once refreshed we strolled the closer grounds of Biltmore including the South Terrace, where they were setting up for a Steve Miller Band event, and the Italian Garden, that has three very large water lily ponds and statuary. Since we have a two-day pass we will be taking in the gardens and the conservatory first thing Tuesday morning while it is cooler. We drove to Antler Hill Village, which at one time was the Biltmore Dairy, and did some wine tasting and visiting a museum about the Vanderbilts. Our day ended with rain showers so we headed back to camp to put our feet up..and start again tomorrow!

Aug 5 2012: Asheville NC; Bear Creek Campground; White Trolley Tour

Smoky Mountains

We woke to a pleasant Sunday morning with temperatures in the mid 70s and a mist over the Smokey Mountains. We boarded the White Trolley Line for two-hour tour of historic areas of Asheville, which included Montford, Haywood Park, Pack Square, Biltmore Village, River Arts, Grove Park and downtown Asheville. This was a good way to get an overview of the area and see where we wanted to re-visit. Our tour escort, John Paul, recommended Luella's BBQ and after lunching there, we also recommend. After lunch we returned to Grove Park Inn, which was modeled after the grand railway hotels of the Old West, the Inn was built by a crew of 400 men in less than 12 months, dragging hundreds of tons of boulders up the mountainside with mules, wagons, ropes and pulleys, and a lone steam shovel. We then went to Grovewood where we spent time in the Estes-Winn Automobile Museum and artist's galleries. Some incredible sculptures are displayed in the outdoor areas. Returning back to camp we traveled some of the surrounding neighborhoods and ooo'd and aaaa'd at the homes and their views of the mountains.

Aug 4 2012: Asheville NC, Bear Creek Campground; Farmers Market, Downtown Asheville

Today, Saturday, August 4th we explored the outskirts of Asheville North Carolina, beginning with the NC Farm Market on Brevard Road, just a mile south of our campsite at Bear Creek. Fresh corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, peaches, potatoes, brioche, baguettes and Farmer's cheese will be served up for the next week or so. Also found some New Hope Mills pancake mixes that are from our hometown area of Upstate New York. We decided to check out the city of Asheville and found a busy city center. We got tickets for the trolley tour at a very nice visitor's center and then browsed around Mast General Store, which has a history that dates back to the late 1880s. After getting our bearings of the city we headed to our very favorite, P.F. Chang in Biltmore Park for a late lunch-early dinner. And, as always, enjoyed a delicious meal while we studied our handfuls of brochures. Biltmore Park is a neat area because it is similar to the Main Street of the 1950s era: a residential area with shops and restaurants all within walking blocks. Great concept. Then we ventured into the nearby neighborhood with mere price tags starting at 1.5 mil!!! Oh Yuh...awesome homes! Very craftsman-style. We checked out Lake Powhatan from the Blue Ridge Parkway and ventured back to our campsite. Tomorrow: the trolley tour!