Asheville

We left Buford in a heavy rainstorm that brought flood warnings to the Southeast.  We headed to Asheville, NC.   When Cheryl was at Duke University and worked in Raleigh, we spent several vacations touring this beautiful state but the one place we had not visited is Asheville.

The cool air and grey sky failed to stop us from a walk through the small botanical garden on the campus of UNC Asheville. 

 These hands now hold a rusty pail in an untended pond.

Then we walked along Main Street where the building facades remain as they were in the early 1900s.   This one had grapevines growing basketballs.
 

Occupying these buildings are galleries, pubs, shops and restaurants.  We went into Blue Spiral Gallery whose outstanding quilts and indescribable aluminum paintings made us wish we had won the lottery (Jerry keeps saying we need to buy a ticket to win).  There was street art all around us.

We warmed our chilled bodies with Asian soup at Doc Chey’s Noodle House.  After dinner we continued our walk going by Melow Mushroom whose patio art made us curious about what the “mellow” product might be.

Heavy rain kept us indoors most of the next day.  Happily, friends Carol and Paul, who we last saw in Austin, are in the same campground.  We all braved the weather and went out for a wonderful dinner at Nine Mile, an eclectic Carribean, seafood, and vegetarian restaurant frequented by locals and those lucky enough to find it on Trip Advisor.

The next morning out came the sun and off went our connected electrical power.  After a sidetrip to Camping World, we went to the biggest privately owned house in the US, the Biltmore.

It is still owned by the descendants of George Washington Vanderbilt II and now open for touring.  This 250 room house once welcomed the ultra-rich and famous of the early 20th century.  Today we tourists enjoy an audio tour that tells of the life of a Vanderbilt.  We have been to the homes at Newport, RI but this one makes them look like little cabins.  Vanderbilt collected and read thousands of books.  He traveled the world collecting art objects.  What he didn’t collect he commissioned to be made for his home.  He started doing all this as a bachelor but later married and raised a daughter in the home.  Two more generations lived here until the current heir made it into an elegant tourist attraction.  Again, no photos inside allowed.

George hired Richard Morris Hunt as architect and Frederick Law Olmsted as landscape architect.  Their results must have pleased him since he commissioned life-sized portraits of the two men, Olmstead’s by John Singer Sargent. 

After a quick lunch, we took a 6K volksmarch through the gardens and onto trails leading to Bass Lake.  The heavy rains have flooded some of the area restricting our wanderings.

We next went wine tasting at Antler Village where the wines where surprisingly pleasant.  A couple have now been added to our “cellar.”

Our lovely day ended in a puff of smoke.  We entered the motor home and turned on something that made a loud pop.  The result was a total lack of external power, a day with several calls and visits by an RV electrical repair company, and a wait for next day delivery of a new invertor that we hope solves the problem and lets us continue on our way.