Nashville rhymes with Asheville....

Last fall when we were leaving the Richmond KOA, and heading south, the leaves had just begun to change. It was pretty (of course) but I remember thinking, "Thank goodness we won't be around when those leaves come off, I'd hate to have to rake them all up!!"

So, now we're back, and it's spring and apparently those leaves waited for us!! I spent about 6 hours today raking up old dead leaves from last fall and my arms are killing me!!

But my motto is "work hard, play hard" so I thought a good way to top off such a productive day would be to try the Asian restaurant we keep driving by that claims to serve sushi and and boasts a hibachi grill. Plus I thought my sore elbows might feel better with a little therapy (like repeatedly raising a gin and tonic to my mouth!)

Unfortunately it was a little disappointing. I haven't had sushi very often, but when I have, it's been really good. This, unfortunately wasn't. Kinda rubbery and fishy tasting. I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up, this restaurant was really more of a Chinese buffet (and we're in Richmond, Indiana fercryinoutloud!!)

I felt kinda sorry for the owner. His english was difficult to understand, but I think his name was Tony. He was really nice and apparently trying to come up with new ways to drum up business. He's doing this "promotion" where nothing is priced, you eat however much you want, and pay whatever you think is fair. For some reason, it was a tough concept to grasp!! I could tell by some of the conversations I overheard that we weren't the only ones having this trouble. I asked him why he was doing it and he said it's tripled the amount of customers they get. I guess the local paper did a write-up. I asked him if he was getting ripped off, and he said that younger people were usually the ones not paying enough, but most customers were being pretty fair.

He was telling me what all they had at the sushi bar and was naming off the rolls, California roll, Pennsylvania roll, and I asked him, "where's the Indiana roll?" He was quite amused by that and said they'll have to start making one!! I don't know what they'll put in it though, corn?? Soybeans??

Even the hibachi part was a self-serve buffet. There's a variety of uncooked meat and vegetables, you take whatever you want and give it to the hibachi chef who cooks it for you and rings a bell when it's ready. It is a rather intriguing concept, and also a pretty gutsy experiment. I have to admire the ingenuity he's using to battle some tough economic times, but the food just wasn't that great and worst of all, they didn't serve alcohol!! Didn't get my therapy after all.

So, yesterday we spent the day in Brown County, Indiana looking at possible properties to buy for our more permanent abode. Last week we looked at a few, all of which were uninhabitable without a lot of work. There was one last week I liked alot with a little house on 20 acres. It had 2 ponds, some woods, a hayfield and a nice sized garage that would make a great studio with a little work. The house was condemned because the septic system wasn't up to code. It was a foreclosure, so we might put a bid on it, but it will be really low and if we can't get it cheap, we won't do it 'cos the house really does need to be gutted and completely remodeled.

Yesterday the properties were a little nicer. Most of them are at least 5 acres. There was one in particular that I liked. Part of it was an old hunting/vacation cabin that was built in 1934. That part would make a great pottery studio and showroom/gallery area. It has an small, old kitchen area, a woodburning stove, and a loft that you get to by climbing a ladder. Wide plank flooring, and that great, musty, old cabin smell!

This is the exterior, the part behind the tree is the older section. The 2 story part on the right is the post and beam section. Don't you love that huge tree??!

This is the old cabin area. You can see the woodstove and part of the loft area and in the back is the old kitchen.

This is the front half of the room. I think some display shelves and track lighting would make it a great gallery area!

The main living area was added in 1999 and is timber frame. It's a great room, a kitchen and bath and a large loft. The things we don't like about it is there aren't any closets or storage areas. I think it was built as a vacation home. It also doesn't have a bathroom upstairs, which is the master bedroom, actually the only bedroom. But it's a very large loft, I think we could build some closet space pretty easily and maybe someday even put a toilet and sink up there. Going to the bathroom at night is something that we need to do more frequently the last few years and I don't like the thought of negotiating the stairs in the middle of the night!!

This is the loft area, I love the window! They have a porch swing hanging up there, you can see part of it in the picture.

After we finished looking at properties, we went into the little village of Nashville to get something to eat. Nashville is the main town in Brown County and pretty touristy. Fudge on every corner!! It was fairly crowded for a weekday, but I think some of the schools are still on spring break and people were there on a little getaway. I picked up some brochures and last night I got online and did some research on some of the local artists, especially potters. They seem to have a fairly well-organized Arts Alliance that promotes the local artisans. I looked at some of the potters' websites and I think I like Greg Schatz work the best. He does gas and woodfiring and it looks like he has a very nice studio and gallery. I think that next time we're down there looking at property, I'll look him up. I want to talk to him and see if the artists (especially the potters) are friendly and welcome new potters to the area, like they seem to in North Carolina. From what I've seen, it looks like they have a close knit art community, but sometimes in that situation, the people can start to get a little exclusive because they're worried about competition. I hope that's not the case. I may have a pretty high standard in my mind from what I've seen among the potters in western North Carolina, but I figure it can't hurt to check it out and hope for the best.

So I guess this is about as close to North Carolina as I'm gonna get for awhile, at least if I wanna be involved with the new grand-baby.....and I definitely do!! I hope we can find a place soon and that it's in Brown County. I really got some good feelings when we were there, the area's beautiful and hilly, there seems to be a lot of art, a few potters, bluegrass music, and restaurants. And Nashville rhymes with Asheville, what more could I want??? Oh yeah, hippies!! Well, I guess that what Nashville lacks in hippie population, it compensates for with hillbilly population!!

I'm looking forward to the next chapter in the little adventure we've been privelaged to enjoy!!

Farewell to North Carolina!

Tomorrow I'm leaving North Carolina. I'm going to leave a piece of my heart down here. I think there was still a piece here from my very first visit, which occured almost 30 years ago! Steve and I weren't even married yet. We came down here with some friends and camped on top of Mount Hibriten in Lenoir, NC, about an hour and a half northeast of here. That's when I think this area took hold of my heart!

When the kids were fairly young, we came down again. We were visiting Gatlinburg, TN with some friends, and they suggested we come to Asheville for a night. They wanted to visit the Biltmore. We couldn't afford for all of us to go so we let Megan go with them, and Steve, Danny, and I did a little site-seeing in Asheville. We remember eating at a really good Mexican restaurant and walking through a quirky toy store. We also visited the Folk Art Center, which I thought was the neatest place I'd ever seen!!

I finally went there again today! It's still a real treat! We were doing some geocaching on our last day and one of the caches required visting the Folk Art Center and decoding information from some of the plaques to help us determine the GPS reading for a couple of caches. It added a new element of fun to the whole treasure-hunting scenario!

So after a day of hiking and caching, we came back to the campgrounds and fixed dinner and sat at the picnic table on one of the premium campsites that wasn't occupied, and enjoyed the sunset. It was a pretty good one for my last night. I took a picture of it......

I'm going to end today's blog with the lyrics to a song that's become very dear to me. It's written by Steven Curtis Chapman and it's based on the verses in the Bible about Moses and his journeys up and down Mt. Sinai when he was leading the children of Israel to freedom. Exodous 19, I believe.

The Mountain
by Steven Curtis Chapman

I wanna to build a house up on this mountain
Way up high where the peaceful waters flow
To quench my thirsty soul
Up on the mountain

I can see for miles upon this mountain
My troubles seem so small they almost disappear
Lord, I love it here,
Up on the mountain.

My faith is strengthened by all that I see
You make it easy for me to
believe up on the mountain
Oh, up on the mountain

I would love to live up on this mountain
And keep the pain of living life so far away
But I know I can't stay
Up on the mountain

I said I'd go, Lord, wherever You lead
For where You are is where I most want to be
And I can tell we're headed for the valley

My faith is strengthened by all that I've seen
So Lord help me remember what You've shown me
Up on the mountain

You bring me up here on this mountain
For me to rest and learn and grow
I see the truth up on the
mountain And I carry it to the
world far below
So as I go down to the valley
Knowing that You will go with me
This is my prayer, Lord
Help me to remember what You've shown me
Up on the mountain
Up on the mountain

I cherish these times up on the mountain
But I can leave this place because I know
Someday You'll take me home to live forever
Up on the mountain

(You can listen to this song on youtube, click here if you'd like to hear the music.)

Last Sight-seeing trip - Grandfather Mountain

On Wednesday we decided to visit Grandfather Mountain. It's one of the last tourist attractions in the area that I wanted to visit before we leave. It's about an hour and a half from Asheville. I would say it was definitely worth the drive and (almost) worth the admission price ($14/apiece.) Surprisingly enough, it's privately owned (as opposed to a state or national park.) For some reason, I don't mind the fee so much if it's privately owned. Must be the capitalist in me!! When we paid $14/apiece to get into Chimney Rock, a state park, it bugged me to think that a state-funded park would be charging such a high admission fee? Whadda I pay my taxes fur?? Guess I should be happy it isn't MORE expensive!! Ok, enough politics.

Let's talk about Grandfather Mountain! It's basically a really tall mountain that's known for it's "mile-high, swinging bridge." I suppose that at this point I could spout off a bunch of statistics and facts that I would blatantly plagiarize from their website, or I could just post some of the pictures we took while we were there. I think people would rather look at pictures than read!

Let me just add a couple more facts to the blog though. When we left Asheville, the temperature was in the lower 60s. When we were arrived at the top of the mountain the temperature had dropped about 15 degrees and the winds were whipping across the mountain at 50 mph!! The lady who took my (grumpily paid) admission money recommended we visit the bridge first (if we didn't need to pee) because if the winds get up to 65 mph, they won't let anyone cross it. Don't worry, I don't think I'd WANT to try crossing it!!! She also recommended that we purchase some obligatory fudge at the tourist shop because her cousins ran the shop and it was homemade fudge!! (It was actually pretty good!)

One other fact, I'm not extremely fond of heights.

OK.......finally, the pictures...........................

Heeeere's yur sign..............

That's just what I needed to read! Very reassuring!

Next sign, stating the elevation of the bridge, let's call it a mile.......

(To be fair, that elevation is "above sea level," the bridge itself is spanning a chasm in the mountain that's actually only 80 feet deep. Of course, when you can see for miles all around, vertigo is an issue!)


I told Steve I had to try crossing it after seeing half-a-dozen snot-nosed kids skipping across! He encouraged me by striding confidently out to the center. His only regret was dressing inappropriately for the altitude! Can you see the goose-bumps on those legs??

Before crossing the bridge, I pause for a moment of prayerful consideration. (OK, I'm actually assuming the fetal position!) Those guy-wires were humming like a choir because of the wind!! It sounded ominous, like a Tibetan funeral chant. Hummmmm.........


Making my way across the bridge...........

.........and I made it!!!!!!

Actually the first shot was taken on my way back across, I was so panicky I didn't want to stop for a photo-op on the way over the first time!!


WOW! It was worth it!!!



to see the rest of my photos, visit my picasa site!
And if you're ever in North Carolina, be sure to visit Grandfather Mountain!

Cloudy Day in Georgia

Today we decided to take a little road trip and put one more state under our geocaching belt. The cache we found today in Georgia means we have cached in 7 states since we began this hobby this past summer: OH, IN, KY, TN, NC, SC, and now GA.

The northern most tip of the state is only a 2 hour drive from here. It was a very scenic drive; unfortunately for our dog with a weak stomach, it was also an extremely curvy drive. Shelby tossed her kibbles in the back seat, much to our dismay. We came home a different route, on the Smoky Mtn Parkway. Still curvy, but not bad enough to upset anyone's stomach. I have to admit, I was feeling a little queasy myself and couldn't much blame her for getting sick to her stomach.

The area we drove through was picturesque, even for this time of year, and would have been even more impressive if the day hadn't been so dreary. It's interesting how the mountains look different depending on the area that you're visiting. The mountains we saw today seemed to have more evergreen trees than the ones in the Asheville area, so they didn't look as brown. They also seemed a little "pointier." I'll include a photo I snapped at a scenic overlook, which is also where we found our geocache.

We were in Rabun County.. According to Wikipedia, it's the rainiest county in GA and one of the rainiest counties east of the Mississippi. (No wonder it was so dreary.) They average 70 inches of rain a year! Sha-ZAM!

Wikipedia goes on to say, "The high elevation along the divide gives Rabun County the most snow of any in Georgia. This also gives it mild weather throughout the warmer months of the year, leading to the county's slogan, Where Spring Spends the Summer." (Ah, that's a pretty catchy slogan!)

"Mountains dominate the topography of Rabun County. The Eastern Continental Divide provides Rabun County with the second and third highest peaks in Georgia: Rabun Bald at 4,696 feet and Dick's Knob at 4,620 feet. The county has eight peaks that are higher than 4,000 feet and over 60 peaks that are between 3,000 and 4,000 feet."

The area also appeared to be fairly affluent. There were cabins and huge houses perched up high on the mountains and many swanky housing developments, golf courses, resorts, campgrounds, and lots of touristy, artsy shops. I think that many of the homes were probably second residences. From what I've gathered from my online research so far, the area is a summer resort community. This time of year, on a Sunday, most of the shops looked like they were closed.

We did stop at a road-side stand to buy some boiled peanuts. Our friend, Matt, here at the campground LOVES boiled peanuts so we got him a bag. He says that the first time someone introduced him to them, he thought there were offering him "bald" peanuts. Must've been a local!!

I tried a few. They were pretty good, but not what I expected. They're boiled in the shell, which of course you have to peel off. The ones we got were still hot, pretty soggy and very salty. The nut itself is soft, the texture makes you think of a bean, and the peanut-y flavor is much more mild than when they're dry-roasted. Apparently they're a popular road-side cuisine down here. I'll probably find myself craving them when we're back up north even though they did have a distintive, somewhat unpleasant odor.

This place also had furniture for sale that looks rustic, part of it;s made with tree branches. I commented about it to the lady who was running the place and she said, "It's Amish furniture.....made in Ohio!" They also had a bunch of canned preserves made, guess where? IN OHIO!!! What are the odds, we drive all the way to Georgia and find products made in Ohio!! Who was it who said, "No matter where ya go, there ya are." Hmmmm, I guess that doesn't really apply to this situation. Who was it who said, "Loretta, you're an idiot?" Probably everyone reading this post!!

Anyways, it was an enjoyable Sunday road trip.

Sunny Day in Tennessee

Today started out foggy and rainy, but soon became warm and sunny. The temperature "soared" up into the high 50s/low 60s so we decided to take a little road trip "up north." We have been wanting to pick up a geocache in Tennessee so we could add that state to our repertoire and decided that today was the perfect day to do it!! Tennesse is only about 20 miles north of here.

We took the dogs along even though Shelby usually gets a little carsick when we're on the curvy back roads. She didn't get sick this time, but spent most of the trip with her face next to ours, licking her lips and swallowing non-stop!! Ah, the sweet smell of dog breath! Twiggy, as usual, fell asleep.

I took my camera along, but the sun goes down behind the mountains so early this time of year that the lighting was never really good enough to warrant a picture so I never even got it out of the case. You'll just have to take my word for it, the scenery was beautiful! Even with the leaves off of the trees, the mountains are still majestic. The silvery trunks of the trees stand out in contrast to the darker branches and every so often patches of towering pines added a hint of green to the gray, reddish-browns of the hillsides. Most of the roads we chose traveled right along beside wide, rocky creek beds with cascading waterfalls and always on the banks were the deep green leaves and twisting trunks of the native azaleas. I am looking forward to traveling these roads in the spring when the flowers come into full bloom. Then I will definitely take pictures!!

We had a great New Year's Eve and Day down here. We spent the evening in one of the cabins with new friends: our boss, Ande, the maintenance man, Matt, and a couple who camp here frequently, Bob and Karen. We had take-out chinese food, which was delicious!

Then, on New Year's Day, we spent the afternoon at a piece of property in Weaverville, north of here, that Bob and Karen own and are planning to build a house on someday soon. It's a lovely hillside property with a beautiful creek running through it. I did take my camera along and took some pictures of our visit.

We also visited with their neighbor, who they had bought the property from. He happens to be the half brother of the man who owns our campgrounds!! He and his wife had us in their home and were extremely gracious hosts! We enjoyed seeing Janice's Christmas decorations, and the guys certainly enjoyed taking a peek at Dave's replica Shelby Cobra kit car. It was a little 2-seater convertable stick shift and looked like it would be a blast to drive on the wind-y roads down here!!!

When we got back to the camper, I fixed pork chops, sauerkraut and smashed potatoes for Steve and I. It was very tasty!

Here's a picture I took of our little party keeping warm beside the campfire on Bob & Karen's property. Ande's on the left, then Karen, Bob and Steve.

Next is a shot of their creek with the little shed they've built up on the hill. They put a covered porch and a swing overlooking the creek. It's very relaxing to hear the sound of the creek babbling over the rocks!

This is a picture of the neighboring farmer's barn that I thought looked old and interesting....

Yesterday was my birthday and after doing a little cleaning in the morning, we took the dogs for a hike at the Arboretum. I think everyone in Asheville who owns a dog or a bike had the same idea!! People around here LOVE the outdoors and never miss an opportunity to enjoy it! The weather started out fairly nice, but we did walk through a little sprinkle the last 2 miles back to the parking lot. We were thankful that it never rained hard because we weren't prepared for it!

For my birthday dinner we went to an old historic place downtown called the Charlotte Street Grill and Pub. I thought it sounded rather interesting and it was. We had good food and good service!! It was a great place for a birthday dinner and we'll probably go back before we leave this area.

So far, 2009 has started out to be a pretty good year! Steve's fortune cookie on New Year's Eve said, "Any day above ground is a good day!" I'd have to agree!

DuPont State Forest

Yesterday we had no cleaning to do and had heard the weather was supposed to be nice, so we decided to do some geocaching in the DuPont State Forest. It's located near Brevard, NC which is about an hour's drive from here.

The weather was absolutely perfect and we had a wonderful day hiking and geocaching. Before we started hiking in Dupont, we made a quick side-trip about 10 more miles south and picked up a geocache in Caesar's Head State Park located in South Carolina. We wanted to log a find in SC to increase the number of states in which we've geocached. That makes 5 so far. We hope to add TN before we leave the area, and maybe even a jaunt to VA.

After making a quick find in SC, we headed back to DuPont. We brought both the dogs with us since we hadn't taken them anywhere for awhile and we thought we'd be gone most of the day. We ended up hiking a good 5 miles!! The trails are really nice and are open to hikers, bycyclists and horseback riders. We saw mostly bikers and hikers, altho there was a group of horses taking off when we arrived. It looked like a fun way to see the scenery.

We found 5 caches in the DuPont forest, which when added to the SC cache we found, brings our total to over 100! I doubt we'll ever accumulate anywhere close to the number of caches found by the 2 ladies who introduced us to this sport when we were working at the KOA in Richmond. They're 2 retired schoolteachers from Cincinnati who Steve struck up a conversation with. Geocaching is their main interest since they retired and they travel all over the country to do it. They have logged well over 2000 finds in about 3 years!! We might be able to catch up to them a little in the next few months since one of them just had double knee surgery!!

We had heard about the DuPont forest from someone we met when we were mountain biking here in Asheville at the Experimental Forest. He gave us a trail map and told us about some of the interesting things to see there. He recommended we visit Bridal Veil Falls, so we made that our target to hike to, finding as many caches along the way as we could. The Falls were pretty spectacular and well worth the hike! I've read that a portion of The Last of the Mohicans was filmed at this location.

This picture was taken standing at the base of the falls. We could hear the water rushing from almost a half a mile away and the temperature was several degrees cooler as we approached.

This picture was taken standing to the left of the rocks pictures above. We talked to some other hikers in the area who said they had visited the falls a few years ago and they were only a trickle at that time. They said they could walk on the rock face. It must have been in the dry season or during a draught!!

I sat the camera on a rock and set the timer to take this picture. I don't think Twiggy or Shelby were very happy about being out there!! It was late afternoon and the sun had gone behind the mountains, so it's a little dark.

We had a wonderful time but were pretty tired and hungry at the end of our hike!! Thank goodness we took some cheese and crackers to munch on! I think even the dogs were worn out, they slept the whole way home. We stopped in Brevard and had dinner at an Irish Pub. It was pretty good food.

When we got back to the campgrounds, they were having a little bonfire with some people who have camped here for several years. We had an enjoyable visit with everyone. And we slept like logs last night!!

Mountain Biking Today

With temperatures today in the mid-60s we decided it would be a great day to try a little mountain biking!! There are MILES of trails in the Asheville area. After doing a little research, we decided to try to combine a little mountain biking and geocaching in the Bent Creek Experimental Forest.

We loaded our bikes into the back of the truck and headed out mid-morning. We had to make a stop at Carolina Fats, the local mountain bike headquarters, to obtain some decent helmets, then we were off on our adventure. They are sure making helmest a lot lighter weight and better ventilated than what we wore "back in the day."

According the to map, I believe we rode a whole 2 miles on our big adventure!!! Let me tell ya, it felt like 10 or 20!! OK, now I know how out of shape I am!! However, we did get some good exercise and we did manage to keep our butts on the bike seats, no crashes or spills!! I do have to admit, I've never used my 1st gear so much in my life!! The bikes didn't do too badly for glorified street bikes. I could see where we might wear the brakes out fairly quickly if we ride these trails on a regular basis.

We did manage to find a couple of geocaches while we out on the trails also. They were a GREAT excuse to get off the bikes and catch our breath!! We talked to a really nice guy in the parking lot who is a local firefighter. He gave us a map of mountaint bike trails in the Dupont State Forest (which is located about an hour from here) and told us some of the trails that go by scenic lakes and waterfalls. Hopefully we'll have the time and some decent weather to make the trip there, it sounds really neat!!

Here's a photo I took of Steve taking one of the little jumps that the trail had to offer........

Obiously NOT!!!!

After getting back and showering, we went into Weaverville for a wine tasting at Maggie B's Wine and Specialty Shop. Ande went with us. We purchased a nice white German Reisling and a couple varieties of cheese to go with it. Then we ate dinner at the North Star Diner. All in all, it was a very enjoyable day!!

Tomorrow is supposed to be unseasonably warm also. I think we're going to try to hide some geocaches of our own around the campgrounds and then post them on a special website for campgrounds. It should be fun!!

On Sunday we're going to have a little carry-in dinner with the other campers who are staying here. There are several of us who are here for extended camping. A really nice couple from Colorado named Krista and Tim organized the carry-in. We're going to use the Cliffhouse, it should be fun. Krista said they don't really celebrate Christmas, they celebrate Solstice, They're kinda new-age-y, crunchy (as in granola eater) type people. They're a super nice couple, and I'm pretty bummed about being away from the family for the holidays, so we're looking forward to having something to do. I'm going to make Mexican soup (including a vegetarian version for Tim.) It will be fun to get to know them a little better. There's another camper whose job brought him here temporarily. He's an electrical contractor I believe. His wife and son are arriving tomorrow to be with him for the holidays and he sounded interested in coming to our little pot-luck. There are also 3 young teen-agers who are tent-camping and Steve invited them too. It will be a different holiday celebration for us, but one I'm sure we'll remember!!

I'll post pictures!

Have a great week-end!!

Weaverville and NC Arboretum

Today was sunny and warmer than it has been (that means it made it up to the 40s, I would guess.) We went out to breakfast in Weaverville with Ande, our boss. First stop was breakfast at the Well-Bred Bakery. Steve and I got strata and I had to get a piece of apricot rugelach for "dessert." Steve had a chocolate chip cookie. Ande had a bagel with "schmear." (Apparently, that's jewish for spread.)

Then we toddled around Weaverville, what a delightful little town! The Miya Gallery has beautiful pottery, fine art, hand-blown glass, wrought iron and jewelry by local artisans. One of the jewelers works there, or maybe is the owner or manager. Her name's Elizabeth Hake, and she was extremely friendly and helpful, and very talented! I purchased a pair of her earrings which I'm sure I'll enjoy for years to come!

There were 2 potters whose work I thoroughly enjoyed! One was Liz Zlot Summerfield who makes sweet little handbuilt boxes and other containers out of earthenware. She calls her work, "small and intimate" and it is!

The other pottery I really liked was by a potter named, Julie Covington. I like her forms, and the designs are bold yet simple with earthy colors. I'll have to visit her studio next time I'm in the River Arts District.

The next stop was Mangum Pottery, maybe 2 doors down from the Miya Gallery. I had seen their website and wanted to visit this place for awhile. It's a family operation, today we met Beth Mangum, whose mother-in-law founded the business. Her daughter was helping out in the shop today. They have some great functional pieces and some nice work that incorporates other mediums, like wood. There was a gorgeous grand-father clock made out of clay and wood! It was 7 feet tall and will cost ya almost 7,000 smackers!! They also make ceramic instruments! There was a banjo hanging on the wall on strung and in tune!! How cool was that?!

After that we visited a little eclectic place called The Shop Around the Corner, the ladies there were so friendly. Then we enjoyed a trip down memory lane looking at all the old stuff at Preservation Hall, which was neat little shop featuring architectural salvage and vintage hardware. They had literally HUNDREDS of old keys!

Finally we stopped at a Maggie B's Wine and Specialty Shop. I purchased some local beer and some stuffed grape leaves and mozarella cheese balls in oil. It was a great morning and afternoon, but it wasn't over yet!!

We dropped Ande off at her condo and decided that after we stopped and let the dogs out for a brief walk, we would go hiking at the NC Arboretum. This is a wonderful, educational nature area just outside of Asheville. They have gardens, nature trails for hiking and biking, and a visitor's center with a gallery, and gift shop and a restaurant. They have various exhibits and activities throughout the year. Their December Events include a photo exhibit inspired by Henry David Thoreau. There's a $6 entry fee per car, we went ahead and purchased a memberhsip for $40 so we can come and go as often as we like! I'm sure we'll return.

Here's a picture we took using the camera's timer of us on a rock next to Bent Creek ............(I didn't think Steve would make it into the shot on time, the camera was sitting on a stone bridge.)

To see more photographs from the Arboretum, visit my picasa site.

That was definitely enough fun for one day! Tomorrow I'm going to Suze Lindsay's studio in Bakersville to see her pottery and her collection of work from other potters. Then we're going to visit a few other studios in the surrounding area! I'm taking my camera, it should be another great day!!

When a Picture is NOT worth a thousand words

I've come to the conclusion that pictures just do not do justice to the beauty we're seeing down here. I'll continue to post some, but keep in mind that it's definitely NOT the same as being here! A better camera might help, but I don't think it would be as impressive unless they could be projected on a huge screen!

Sunday afternoon we took a drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway south of Asheville. I think the leaves must be very close to their peak of color. Since we left somewhat late in the day, we were treated to a different play of light and shadows than we've seen up until now. The lower proximity of the sun shining through the leaves provided an array of beautiful fall colors. As we drove through some of the heavily wooded areas, I felt as if we were in a huge church made up completely of stained glass windows. The colors were breathtaking and seeing such beauty in nature always makes me feel closer to the creator.

Our goal was to hike a trail off the Parkway that is supposed to be somewhat "off the beaten path." It's a place called "Skinny Dip Falls" and we weren't planning on participating in the activity for which the falls was named (and were hoping that the weather was too chilly for us to have to observe anyone else participating in the aforementioned activity! We did come across some teen-agers making out but they were thankfully fully clothed.)

It was worth the possibility of seeing more than we bargained for, and worth the hike to visit this beautiful spot. By the time we arrived, the sun was getting pretty low and we were a little worried that we might not have time to make it down to the falls and and back before darkness set in. We did NOT want to get stranded in the dark. Even though the trail was well-marked and only about a 20 minute hike from the parking lot on the BR Pkwy, we hadn't brought a compass or flashlight, had no phone signal, and the trail itself was a little hard to discern because of all the leaves on the ground. We wouldn't have been able to see the markers once it became dark. So, that added a little air of adventure to our hike!

The trail head for the falls is located at mile marker 417 on the Parkway. There's a small parking lot with an overlook that provides a view of Looking Glass Rock, which is an interesting mountain peak that stands out because of its bald surface.

Here are some shots of the falls.................(I still haven't quite figured out the alignment features of this site and apologize that the pictures don't always end up where I intend for them to be!)

As we drove back to the campgrounds, we were treated to some beautiful views of the mountains being touched by the setting rays of the sun. I know I said pictures don't do it justice, but I have to give you a taste of it.....

If you want to see more of the photos I've taken since we've come down here, you can visit my Picassa Web album at http://picasaweb.google.com/lorettawray The photos on this page are full size, a little better for viewing. I always downsize them to post on this site.

There are also some pictures from my pottery class with Suze Lindsay posted. That's been fun and interesting and I'll post more about it later!

FYI, I'll be heading to Ohio tomorrow for a few days to help get things ready and participate in an exhibit at Bear's Mill on Friday, Nov. 7. My pottery will be on display along with the work of 2 other potters (Julie Clark and Rita Wiley, both good friends of mine) and a talented painter, Evie Mahrt. I'm planning to run over to Indianapolis to visit Megan and Dustin on Wed and Thursday and then will stop at Danny's on the way back to spend the night Sat. It will be a busy week, but I'm looking forward to it!

Day Off...A Little History of the area

After we got the place cleaned up yesterday and Steve met with the electrician, we decided it was time to really get away from the campgrounds for a few hours. We decided to look for a geocache in an area I was wanting to visit. It's a local resort/country club called the Grove Park Inn. Very swank and uppity kinda place. We felt extremely conspicuous as we parked the car and tried to discreetly hike up a little hill to figure out where our GPS was indicating the cache was hidden. We found the cache with no problem. We had some travel bugs we had picked up in Indiana that we wanted to "release" and this cache happened to be a "Travel Bug Hotel" so we sent them on their merry way!

After that we visited a few interesting shops on the grounds of the resort. First stop was the Homespun Museum. The buildings of this complex once housed the famous weaving and woodworking complex of Biltmore Industries. Edith Vanderbilt (wife of George, who built the famous Biltmore mansion) took a particular interest in locally homespun fabrics. This led her to establish a craft education program eventually called Biltmore Indsutries. In 1917 it came under new ownership and was moved to its current location.

The architecture was very interesting and I loved the wood-work and the smell of the old buildings. There were some old looms and samples of the fabric that was made back then. Also, we could see in the windows of a huge old warehouse-like structure that housed huge vats for dying the wool and other equipment. I know some weavers who would have loved visiting this place!

Our tour continued at the Grovewood Gallery. This was a wonderful shop/gallery featuring all kinds of hand-made arts and crafts and beautifully crafted furniture. Many of the artists were local, but they also feature work from all over the US. It was interesting to see how many products they carried that we also featured at Bear's Mill. (Julie Clark has good taste!) The Gardens in front of the Gallery had beautiful garden sculptures and lovely landscaping.

I recognized the work of many potters, some from the Asheville area and others from elsewhere. I was excited to see work by a potter who had taught a class I took in Yellowsprings (OH), Marty Fielding. The furniture we saw was fabulous (and way out of our price range!!) Still, it's fun to look and get ideas. And it was so enjoyable touring another beautiful old building covered with ivy that had gorgeous views out the windows!

Our last stop was the Antique Car Museum. There were many old cars in here. There was an old Eldorado that reminded me of the De Soto we owned when I was a kid. The smell of this place immediately brought back memories of the old filling station where my dad worked, M.F. & D in Troy, Ohio. We didn't spend much time here because they were getting ready to close, but it was a nice end to a very enjoyable afternoon spent learning about some of the local Asheville history.