Yesterday and Today

Monday, June 29, 2015

Biltmore Estate

Yesterday we visited the Biltmore Estate located in Asheville, NC and set on 8,000 acres of land.    The entrance to the Estate is through a gatehouse archway and then down a several mile windy road through forests and farmland to the parking lots where you board a shuttle which takes you to the house and gardens.  The back windows of the home overlook the hills and woods while the front has a grass area with a fountain.

We chose to take the self guided with a booklet explaining each room.    We arrived around 10:30 a.m. and were able to enter the house right away and proceed at our own pace.  It took us about two hours to cover the house which also entailed going up and down several staircases since there were rooms on the main, second, and third levels as well as the basement.  We got our exercise with that and my knee did well with all the ups and downs.  No inside pictures are allowed so our pictures are all outdoors.

The Biltmore House was designed and construction was supervised by George Washington Vanderbilt (the grandson of railroad magnate, Cornelius Vanderbilt).  George Vanderbilt opened the home on Christmas Day in 1895 after six years of construction.  It was the family home for George and his wife Edith and their daughter Cornelia   Today the home is still owned by the great grandson and granddaughter of George Vanderbilt and is a working estate.  The home was opened to the public in 1930 to help tourism in the area during the Depression.

The house has 250 rooms and is 175,000 square feet (yes, that’s right, 175,000).  What do you do with all that square footage?  Well, you have 2 master bedrooms (one for him and one for her) with a sitting room between, 13 guest bedrooms with attached baths (they each had a claw footed tub and commode with running water but no sinks but rather a pitcher and bowl on a table in the room) and each in a different style, 43 bathrooms (I’m glad I don’t have to clean them),  a banquet hall with a seven story high ceiling and organ loft, a basement with servants bedrooms and dining room, kitchen, pantry, pastry kitchen, rotisserie kitchen, vegetable pantry, walk in refrigerators, laundry, iron rooms and dry rooms.  In addition, the basement also houses a gym, indoor swimming pool, men's and ladies changing rooms, and a bowling alley.

The house is absolutely fabulous with beautiful wood floors and elaborate woodwork everywhere, intricate designed or carved ceilings, plus all the artwork, sculptures, and tapestries, with a library of 23,000 books which includes a large selection of first additions.  It is hard to describe how elaborate and decorative this home is.  You have to see it to appreciate it.

Just to the right of the house is the area that was once the stables which not contains a number of small restaurants, restrooms and gift shops with an outdoor eating area. 

Leaving the house area, we returned to the parking lot and followed the roadway through the estate to the formal gardens and conservatory.  The garden is terraced on three levels above the conservatory and the flowers all in bloom.  About 2,000 people work on this estate to maintain the house and the grounds. 

Driving further into the estate we come across cultivated farmland, cattle, a private lake and a cute waterfall arriving at the Antler Hill Village which includes a creamery, several restaurants,  gifts shops, a playground, the winery, a hotel still being built and a museum about the Vanderbilts.   Interestingly, the Vanderbilts were supposed to be on the fateful Titanic but changed their reservations at the last minute to travel on another ship with friends. 

We returned home tired having experienced another wonderful day.

Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Waynesville, NC

Today we took a short drive to Waynesville to walk the historic downtown and take in the cute shops and restaurants along the main street and to do a bit of grocery shopping at the local Walmart store. 

We did stop in at the Mast General Store which opened in 1883 in Valle Crucis, NC and quickly grew in reputation for carrying everything from “cradles to caskets.”    The mountain mercantile of the same name in Waynesville opened in 1930 and today still contains its antique cabinetry, well-oiled floors and original mezzanine with provisions for the entire family from clothing to camping supplies to kitchen items to books and old fashioned candy and timeless toys.

Tomorrow we hope to go back to Asheville and take in the sights there before heading to Virginia on Thursday.

Cherokee and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

We awoke today to sunny skies, 60 degree temperature and low, low humidity.   How nice to feel dry instead of wet, wet,wet.  A great day to be outdoors.

Today we take a trip to Cherokee and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park via a narrow two lane windy (is there any other kind in the mountains here?) road that on the passenger side is very very close to the mountain to the right.

Speed here is 45 miles per hour but with the curves going one way and then another, it is hard to keep that rate.

 The forest is so dense and at times shade covers the entire roadway.

This is a very big tourist area with lots and lots of motels, cabins, and campgrounds and lots of tourist shops.  One thing you do not see are large RV's, such as ours, on the roadway (can't imagine why not),  but lots of small trailers.

The town of Cherokee is a town given over to the Cherokee Indian culture with museums, shops, etc.  It being Sunday, only the tourist shops, outlet malls and restaurants were open so we were unable to learn more about the Cherokee and the Trail of Tears so proceeded through town and into the mountains.

What we did learn was that the Cherokee described these mountains as "shaconage"  meaning blue, like smoke.  Here they farmed the land, built log homes and tried to adapt to the European newcomers who were encroaching on their land.  Today Eastern Cherokees who are  not descendants of those forced to leave on the Trail of Tears live on a reservation next to the national park.

Congress authorized this Park in 1926 but it was not established until 1934 and was established through the use of private lands.  The Park is divided between Tennessee and North Carolina and the Newfound Gap Road bisects the Park and is 53 miles long and 18 miles wide.  In the Park are more tree species than in northern Europe, 1500 flowering plants, dozens of native fish and over 200 species of birds and 60 of mammals.  Wow!  Most of the park is managed as wilderness and when you see all the foliage and the mountains which seem to go on forever, it is no wonder.

We stopped at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center at the start of the Park road and enjoyed learning more about the development of the Park, the people who lived in the area at the time and taking in the Oconaluftee Mountain Farm Museum behind the Visitor Center.

Further along the road, we stop at the Mingus Mill

The road runs along the Oconaluftee River for quite a distance but looks more like a creek compared to the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers which we have seen recently. However, it is swiftly moving water as it moves down the mountains and over the rocks making for a tranquil scene.

Arriving at the dividing line (actually the Appalachian Trail) between North Carolina and Tennessee, we find a place to park and take a few pictures from the view points.   You will notice from the picture below why we do not usually go to tourist areas on Saturday and Sunday.

Returning the way we came, we stop in Cherokee for a late lunch and have an opportunity to sample a local dessert - a sweet potato wrapped in filo dough.  It looks like a pig in a blanket.  We have seen whole pies with sweet potato filling but have not yet had a chance to sample this.  As to the " potato in a blanket", we would pass next time.

We turn off at the Southern Entrance to the Blue Ridge Parkway following it for several miles to the turnoff to Maggie Valley which takes us back the way we started this morning.  When we return to Waynesboro, VA  in another week, we plan to take the last part of the Parkway (the Northern End) which leads into the Shenandoah National Park.

Black Mountain

Last  night we had a short but heavy rainfall and this morning it is overcast with on and off light and heavy rainfall so we revert to a Plan C due to weather conditions.

Plan C is to visit Black Mountain which is off I-40 about 10 miles east of Asheville and touted as a scaled down version of Asheville with a historic downtown area full of galleries, studios, antique shops, bookstores, boutiques and restaurants.  We find  a place to park along one of the streets joining many other tourists walking up and down the streets poking in the different shops.

Black Mountain is said to be "the Little Town that Rocks" and that is because along the sidewalks here and there are rocking chairs for you to relax in.  I think they are there for the many men (like Ron) who hate to shop and need a place to wait for their wives and girlfriends.  Unfortunately, we did not think about taking a picture of some of the rockers.  The backs of the rockers have pictures painted on them by local artists and we are told that later in the summer they will auction them off.  Unfortunately, we did not find out what the money is used for.

As usual we stopd for lunch at a local restaurant and are very pleased with our choice.  The Veranda Cafe is located on Cherry Street and sits among a number of other shops in old building.  The south wall of the cafe is exposed red brick and the ceilings are probably 15 feet high.  I have  a daily special which is a Greek Gyro Plate and Ron has a turkey sandwich served with cranberry chutney on fresh cranberry/walnut bread with a cup of creamy potato soup.  Both are delicious.

Our last stop in Black Mountain is at the Town Hardware and General Store which is listed as an old fashioned hardware and general store which has a little bit of everything from hardware and general store items to gardening, toys, gifts and practical houseware items.  Quite an assortment.  The store has its original brick facade with high arched windows, tin ceilings and wood floors and has been in this same location since 1928.

It is late in the afternoon when we leave deciding  we will take another part of the Blue Ridge back to our campground.  The Blue Ridge Parkway actually begins at the edge of the Smoky Mountains about 50 miles west of where we enter just outside Asheville.   Stopping at the Visitor Center and Headquarters, we watch a 15 minute video about the parkway and how it was built.  The skies are still partly cloudy and partly sunny as we begin our drive.  Along this portion, we find the French Broad River, which winds through the rugged North Carolina mountains and was once used to transport good, as well as at least 10 tunnels, some long and windy and others short and straight.

 We stop at many overlooks and wish we could be here to see the autumn colors along this road.  They will be gorgeous.  Here we also climb to a height of about 4,000 + feet with temperature about 10 degrees cooler than at lower levels.

 At one point we can see we truly are on a ridge as we see the valleys and mountains on both sides of the ridge road.

Leaving the Parkway we take Highway 276 to Waynesville (aabout 22 miles) which is a long, long windy descent through dense forest and finally through a couple of mountain towns.

A nice day.

Sylva and Dillsboro

Our adventure today did not start off looking like we were going to get to either place easily.  My experience with maps whether AAA or state issued is that they are not always as detailed as you would like and most of the local roads are not shown at all.  Today was one of those days.

Driving down one of the many two lane business routes looking for the right road, we noticed this huge well maintained cemetery (Green Hill Cemetery in Waynesville) with all the headstones facing east, many with Confederate flags and headstones lining the sides of the rather steep hills.  It seemed rather unusual to us as you usually do not see headstones up and down hills.  More about southern cemeteries at a later time.

We finally found the correct road leading out of Waynesville where we are staying and enjoyed the four lane divided highway through the dense green forested land that is the Smoky Mountains.  Sylva is located south and west of Asheville in the Tuckasegee River Basin, was incorporated in 1889 and its growth was stimulated by logging, mining and tourism after the railroad arrived.  This community reminded us very much of Lead, SD with its homes hanging along the sides of the many hills.

What stands out in the town of Sylva is the large white stuccoed courthouse sitting atop the hill at the far end of the city.

Lots of old buildings line the historic downtown main street and the large old home (pictured below) which was once owned by a doctor who saw patients in the upstairs rooms.

Driving further south, we drove into Dillsbooro which was begun in the late 1800's and was the largest non-county seat town west of Asheville with about 750 residents.  It grew up around the railroad  and became an important transportation center for local industry.  Tourists were attracted to the cool summer and beautiful mountain scenery.

We stopped for lunch at Riverwood Shops (three former homes now containing commercial businesses and sitting above the Tuckasegee River) where we found a pretty spillway.

We ate in The Well House Deli, a building that was built around a well on the property which is still providing water for the plants in the restaurant.    Unique.

The remainder of the community is quaint with lots of small old commercial buildings and homes now containing shops, galleries and studios specializing in mountain crafts and the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad which takes visitors on a 4 hour tour through the Smoky Mountains.

Returning home was easier than getting to the communities and we now understand where we are located in relation to the many roads which zig and zag through the area.

Arrival in North Carolina

We had a nice leisurely trip to Waynesville, NC today though it was not without construction zones and highway accidents.  We wanted to take the scenic route; however, after talking with two truckers, we decided that taking the interstates was the better choice.  As it is, I-40 is fairly narrow and quite windy  in places once you turn south toward North Carolina from Tennessee.  There are even a couple of tunnels along the way.

The Smoky Mountains really are quite smoky in appearance, but beautiful and lush green.

We are staying in a large campground near a creek and about 30 miles from Asheville as we could get a Passport rate (50% off the regular rate) for the entire week which is not always the case.  This is a significant savings and worth driving a bit.   Since we want to see more than just Asheville, this gives us a central point to take in Smoky Mountain National Park and other areas as well as visit Asheville and the Biltmore Estate which was our main reason for coming.  

I have not commented about the weather lately, but suffice it to say, we have had a few rain storms, some more fierce than others, but for the most part our last two weeks have been sun shine with clouds, low 90's temperatures, but high humidity.  So what else is new in this part of the country.

This evening we took a drive to Maggie Valley for some ice cream.  This is definitely a tourist area with lots of RV parks, campgrounds, motels, cabins, and lots of gift and other tourist type shops.  It reminded us of Ruidoso in New Mexico and other summer and winter winter resorts like Chama, Angel Fire, Red River, etc.

Finishing up in Red Bay

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Yesterday we had the new refrigerator installed in the RV.  Quite a chore as they had to remove the old one, take out one of the side windows, move the sofa beneath it,and take down the shade and cover in order to take the old one out and bring in the new refrigerator.  Then of course, they had to reverse the process.

Unfortunately, the door on the  freezer was dented and needed to be replaced and there was not another in town until delivery today.  Soooo, we are still here in Red Bay awaiting the new freezer door and of course, there was a problem with that as well.  The wrong door was brought from town to the shop so we wait further.  Hopefully, we can still make it to Chattanooga by later today.

We have really enjoyed our wait here in Red Bay and saw a great many sights  (we wrote about these earlier) we would not have seen had we not had to wait for our refrigerator appointment.  While in the shop at the Tiffin Service Center, you cannot go anywhere but right in town while work is being done as you never know how long your RV will be in a bay during the day.  Sometimes it is all day and others, only part of the day, depending on what work is needed.  Then you have to move your RV back to your campsite.

I have already reported on a number of places we visited, but we found some interesting murals on the walls here in Red Bay that we thought we would share with you our reader.