Friday
We also saw a street performer. Hey California family - check it out. This would rival the performers at San Francisco!
Saturday we took a 20-mile road trip to Chimney Rock State Park and Lake Lure. On the way to Chimney Rock we took a nice drive through mountain roads and through the town of Bat Cave. We've seen the sign for Bat Cave many times on interstate 26 and now we've been there. It's a small town in the hollows of the mountains and it seemed very shady and a little gloomy in places.
There is an elevator that will take you over 20 stories to the top of Chimney Rock. However, there is a $15 a person charge to enter the park and Saturday in the fall it's very crowded. Plus Ben is the only one of us who would have dared go to the top. There is also a scary staircase and bridge that is another route to the top. Wow. So we hung out in the shops and had a bite to eat and took some pictures instead.
Since Lake Lure was only five miles down the road, we decided to check it out as well. It's a man-made lake and there isn't alot there besides boat tours, a resort and restaurants. But there is a pretty walkway by the lake and a paths for bikes. There were quite a few people there. There was some sort of metal detector contest going on at the beach.
After a busy day out and about, we went back to the camper to freshen up and headed to Grove Park Inn.
There were displays of winners from the pumpkin carving contest from earlier in the day. Again, there was quite a crowd at the Inn, including a wedding party.
Sunday it was on to Biltmore. We had purchased tickets in advance and so we pretty much drove straight through the gate to the parking lot. It was fairly crowded for a rainy, rather cold day. There were already some Christmas decorations up in preparation for the official opening of the Christmas season at Biltmore. All the bedrooms as well as some of the sitting areas had decorated trees on display. New (to us) were displays of clothing worn during the era that the first Vanderbilts occupied the house. There was also a temporary display with additional information about Biltmore on the second floor. It took us about 2 hours to tour the house. After the tour we were starving so we ate lunch at the Stable. Food was great as always. I had a yummy stew and Ben had chicken salad sandwich.
We left the house and headed to the gardens. The mums were really pretty and there were still roses in bloom.
On to the winery and Antler Village. Now the rain was coming down in earnest. We toured the Vanderbilt friends and family display and learned even more about the family and the type of life they lived. They did some really wonderful things for the community. They were really people to be admired. This includes the present family as Biltmore has helped to keep Asheville thriving. My dream retirement job is to work at Biltmore, at least for a few months. I could give tours or help decorate!!
This was the weekend that hurricane Sandy hit the Northeast and it was getting ready to blow snow into Asheville on Monday so we got out of there in the nick of time. We had a pretty calm drive back home. Riding in the big motorhome does take some getting used to but it turns out it's quite fun!
