Day 19 - Biltmore Part Deux and Asheville

Wednesday, May 25, 2022

Weather - Cloudy, with a high of 74F

Steps - Shaun: 17,127, Shannon: 17,090

Varmints - bunnies again, downy woodpecker, turkeys, and a gargantuan gaggle of goats

Such a good day today! We returned to the Biltmore Estate to explore the gardens to their fullest, and then we ventured into Asheville to shop til we dropped! Along the way we had some awesome food, saw some pretty things, and walked A LOT.

We started the day out right, with breakfast at Biscuit Head, a well-known restaurant that serves cat's head biscuits, or drop biscuits so big they are the size of a cat's head! Shaun was really pleased because not only did they have vegan biscuits, but they had vegan gravy and sausage as well. So, she got vegan biscuits and sausage gravy, while Shannon got a breakfast biscuit with egg and cheese and a side of loaded potatoes (potato hash with gravy, bacon, and chives). All were delicious, and we got biscuit donuts (that look like beignets) along with more regular biscuits to go to enjoy later.

It's at this point that we should probably mention that Shaun forgot her wallet after changing purses, so Shannon was playing Miss Moneybags all day. That didn't hinder either of us in the slightest, and we still did our part to support the economy of Asheville.

Leaving Biscuit Head fully fed and watered, we returned to the Biltmore Estate. We were able to bypass the house parking areas and go directly to the gardens, which have their own parking lot. They also have a really nice store, though we didn't end up buying anything there (Shaun thought about buying a beautiful wood, turquoise, and copper lamp, but it was over $300, so....nope). 

Like many botanical gardens, the gardens at the Biltmore are broken up into rooms, with some appearing very formal, while others feel more naturalistic. All were meticulously planned out by Frederick Law Olmsted (who also designed Central Park and the Smith College campus), just as the forests and streams and lake were also placed according to his design. The land on which the estate sits used to be overworked farm land, so Olmsted basically started from scratch. Most everything we saw in the gardens today was planted after the house was built in 1895, and much of it more recently, yet still according to Olmsted's plan. It's incredible what beauty they were able to create almost wholecloth, isn't it?

We visited the Conservatory first, which had cool, hot, and dry rooms. It was a multisensory experience, with the explosion of colors and textures, the sweet smells, and the sounds of water falling into fountains (often drowned out by screaming children). We were amazed at the displays of plants they put together, including an orchid room and a bed with canopy made entirely from plants. The only bad thing was the aforementioned screaming children; there were multiple school groups on the grounds today, so we had to dodge flocks of kids roaming around more than once.

Outside the Conservatory was the Rose Garden, and we timed our visit perfectly because all the rose bushes were in bloom. Boy did it smell wonderful! Every variety of rose you can imagine, including climbing, miniature, old fashioned, and floribunda, were in that garden.

From there we wandered up to the Walled Garden, which is where they put in their seasonal flower displays. We were between plantings, as the spring tulips are gone, but the summer plants aren't established yet. The perennial borders were pretty spectacular, though, mixing purple, chartreuse, and red with pops of white and lots of different textures to make quite a statement.

We continued up the hill toward the house, through part of the Shrub Garden, and found ourselves at the opposite end of the Italian Garden, which we had seen from the house the previous day. This section was cool because it had three large water gardens stocked with water lilies, irises, and koi. We walked the length of the Italian Garden, which borders the huge lawn in front of the Biltmore, and ended up back at the house. Rather than revisit the ground we had covered yesterday, we turned back into the Shrub Garden, but this time found ourselves under a beautiful wisteria-covered pergola. There were statues along the path and a fountain and it looked like it had been there forever.

Cutting through the Shrub Garden toward the Spring and Azalea Gardens, we saw lots of old favorites, such as flowering honeysuckle vines, Japanese maples, and a lilac tree. The Spring Garden was on its way out since North Carolina is much further along in the growing season than we are, but there were still some azaleas and dogwoods blooming. This continued into the Azalea Garden (obviously), with the addition of rhododendrons, mountain laurels, and deutzias. 

These areas were much more naturalistic than the more formal Italian, Walled, and Rose Gardens, and it felt almost like being on a hike. We took a gravel path through the woods along a stream, occasionally going over rock or wooden bridges, and it was a more curated version of going on the nature trail in the national park. 

We ended up going a bit further than we had intended on that gravel path, walking most of the way to the Bass Pond, so we decided to just continue on and check that area out too. It ended up being worth the extra walk, with a very cool rustic boathouse, beautiful reflections in the still water, and a waterfall where the pond spills out and continues its course as a river.

We were tired of walking by that point, and luckily the way back was shorter since we weren't taking a meandering course. We got to our car in good time, and we left the Biltmore Estate, well pleased with our experiences.

The gargantuan gaggle of goats—the Biltmore folks
use them as lawn mowers

From the Biltmore, we once again drove into Asheville, found a place to park, and set out to find a lunch spot. Shannon, our tour guide, found a wonderful Mexican restaurant that had both vegan “meat” and vegan queso! Shaun was in heaven, so we ordered a guacamole/salsa/queso appetizer plate, and then Shannon ordered some empanadas and Shaun ordered avocados stuffed with vegan chorizo. Our favorite of the three appetizers was the salsa. The guac was kind of tasteless, and the queso was made with sweet potato and carrots, and it just didn’t meet the cheesy taste and consistency need. Oh well, the meal still filled us up and got us ready to attack the city.

We really didn’t have anything in particular we needed to shop for except for some gifts for Shannon, but we knew we wanted to get chocolate chip cookies from a store we heard about on a podcast a couple years ago and to visit the Malaprop’s Bookstore, so off we went. Naturally, we got distracted right off the bat and went into an Asheville gifts store called MTN Merch, and it was all downhill from there. We found all kinds of cool stuff in there including some gifts that Shannon bought, some food items (including the peach rosemary jam Shaun had wanted from Biscuit Head at breakfast but forgot to buy), a t-shirt for Shan, and a bunch of stickers.

The biggest (and certainly most important thing) we bought, however, was a glorious picture of the Smokies at dawn printed on metal. We’ve been really interested in metal pictures since the Southwest trip, but they tend to be more expensive than canvas ones, so we’ve never pulled the trigger. However, when we were in Bryson City, we met a couple who owned a gallery that had a ton of metal pictures, and it rejuvenated our interest. There were some shots Shaun liked at that gallery, but at MTN Merch they were featuring an artist who had an absolutely incredible eye, and Shaun just couldn’t resist. And she definitely tried! She had taken the beautiful shot at the top of this blog in the morning, and it’s similar to the metal picture that was her favorite. She tried to talk herself into just printing her own picture, but she used her phone, so it just won't work. Needless to say, she bought the picture, which is about 2 foot wide by 1 foot tall, and she love love loves it! It perfectly captures the essence of our trip, and she can’t wait to figure out where to put it at her house.

Once we’d dropped all our loot off at the car, we decided to go to the chocolate shop (which wasn’t the one with the cookies we wanted because they were closed, so we made the supreme sacrifice and visited another one and had gelato. Shannon had a weird combination flavored with knot weed (a bit like rhubarb), strawberry, and cardamom, which tasted good and was refreshing, almost like the feeling left in your mouth after you've brushed your teeth, and Shaun had a vegan blueberry lavender sorbet.  Every restaurant we’ve been to in Asheville has had specific vegan offerings, so that should tell you a bit about the type of folks who live here. They’re definitely on the hippy side of the spectrum (which Shaun loves, of course!).

One of the many metal sculptures we saw around Asheville

We did make it to Malaprop’s, but it was only 20 minutes before they closed. Shannon found a book to buy (shocker!), but it wasn’t a very exciting store. It was one more data point for us as far as what to do and what not to do with Sanctuary, so it was a worthwhile stop.

We wandered around a bit more, but the city was starting to shut down. Shannon had one more person to buy for, so we brainstormed and figured out a place to visit (we can’t divulge the specifics to protect the surprise for this person). We actually spent a considerable amount of time there and had a ball with the proprietor. He was one of the creators of the products, and we really liked his wares, so we bought several things that included stuff for both of us, plus Shan's gift recipient. It was super fun, so we can’t wait to see if we like the stuff as much as we thought we would.

Once all the gifts were bought, we headed back to the car and drove back to the cottage in Marshall.  We had to make a quick stop to buy ketchup and whipping crème at WalMart (seriously, don’t ask).  After unloading our treasures, we ate dinner and settled down to write this blog. Tomorrow we are taking the day off and staying at the cottage. It's supposed to be a wash out rain day, so we decided to just take it easy and regather our strength for the last two days of our trip.

Day 18 - The Biltmore Estate

 

Tuesday - May 24, 2022

Weather - Mostly sunny with a high of 74 degree - very nice!

Steps - Shaun:  10,346, Shannon:  10,201

Varmints - Bunnies galore and a lone deer in the yard

Sorry about how crappy the picture is, but I was taking it through a very dirty window!

Today we had scheduled a behind-the-scenes tour of the Biltmore Estate, as well as a viewing of the Monet and Friends presentation that was much the same as the Van Gogh one we each saw in our respective cities (but we like Monet a lot better than Van Gogh, so we were excited!).

This is the view from the back porch of the house.  Incredible isn't it?

We got up at 7:30, had breakfast, saw a cute little deer out the window of the cottage, and headed back down the mountain and south to Asheville. We arrived in plenty of time for our 90-minute tour, and boy was it wonderful! We had a very learned docent named Wilma, and the other great thing about just the logistics of the tour was that everyone had their own little speaker that allowed Wilma to talk right into our ears. This really helped when we passed through areas where everyone else was making noise. I wish all tours would use this technology!

Let's just lay out a few basic facts about the Biltmore Estate first, shall we? It is the largest privately held home in the United States that started out as a dream of George Vanderbilt's to build a 6,000-square-foot hunting lodge but wound up becoming a 175,000-square-foot gigantic French chateau (no, that's not a typo). The property was once 125,000 acres, which included all of Mount Pisgah, but at some point about 85,000 acres were sold to the federal government and is now a part of the Pisgah National Forest. There are 250 total rooms, 35 of which are bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces. Every finish is first class, and it's a marvel of wood, metal, and stone. Let me tell you, it's quite a house!

The tour took us to many places we would have never gotten to see, but it also left out many of the places that could be seen from the normal audio tour, so we had a wonderful lunch in the café in the converted stables, and then we went back into the house and took the audio tour so that we could see everything we had missed.

This gave us an hour or so to get out to the venue where the Monet presentation was being held, so we just hung out there until we could get in. We enjoyed all the pretty pictures (which lasted about 45 minutes), as well as the information about all the artists and the history of their lives. However, it wasn't done as well as the Van Gogh exhibit because the pictures weren't projected onto the entire floor, creating the immersive quality we had experienced with the Van Gogh one, and there were weird transitions where the screens just displayed a color. One thing that bothered Shannon in particular as well was that they were dispensing a fragrance in the room to create a multi-sensory experience, but the smell just caused her to sneeze and her nose to run. Probably not the kind of experience they were going for. All-in-all, it was a bit disappointing, but we still enjoyed it.

After the Monet exhibit, we drove into Asheville and picked up some Italian carry out and then went to a pizza place we'd been to in Cleveland called the Mellow Mushroom, and it had vegan cheese for Shaun! It was a lovely meal, and now we have dinners to last through the rest of the trip. We've decided to go back to the Biltmore tomorrow since we didn't get a chance to see the gardens, and then we'll go through downtown Asheville to see what's what.

Day 17 - Bryson City to Asheville

Monday, May 23, 2022

Weather - Rain, rain, rain, with a high of 64F

Steps - Shaun: 6,550, Shannon: 6,713

Today was a travel day disguised as a shopping day, as we meandered our way east from Bryson City to Marshall, a little town 30 minutes north of Asheville. That's where we ended up choosing to stay because we wanted mountain views more than we cared about direct proximity to Asheville. Our route took us through Dillsboro and Sylva, which we had read about in our travel guide. The former was a bust, with all but one store closed for some reason (even thought the shop we wanted to visit, Dogwood Crafters, said they would be open on their website). Granted, it was raining cats and dogs most of the day, so maybe no one wanted to brave the weather to open their businesses? Anyway, Sylva was much better.

Our first priority in Sylva was to visit a bookstore we had read about called City Lights (but not like City Lights, the iconic bookstore in San Francisco). It was set up on a hill and had a café attached. It was a typical indie store, with a nice used book section in the back, so we were both able to find some goodies to buy. From there, we went to a nice brewery that had an attached restaurant and event space for lunch. The restaurant had a vegan burger for Shaun and tomato soup and grilled cheese for Shannon, so we were both happy campers. 

We wandered around the Sylva a bit, checking out the shops and taking pictures of the pretty cloud formations, before we continued on to Waynesville. Compared to Dillsboro and Sylva, Waynesville is a positive metropolis. We got to check out two very different bookstores, one that was super cool in an old 3-story building with the main stock in the basement, though it didn't feel that way because it was so well-lit and airy, while the other was also in a basement and leaned into that feeling, with lights shaped like old gas lamps and a monastic library kind of vibe. By this time, though, we were feeling a bit shopped out, so we didn't stay long in Waynesville before embarking on the last leg of our journey to Marshall.

The view from the deck of our VRBO. Pretty nice, huh?

Sorry, this picture of the kitchen area is a little askew.

The living room and kitchen from the loft.

The host of the VRBO we chose had warned us that the driveway was a bit treacherous, and indeed, it is a graveled, puddle-filled, narrow, winding drive to get up to the house. It's a good 15 minutes outside of town at the end of the road in the boonies, but it has a spectacular view and is very comfortable for us. 

We spent the rest of the evening unloading and unpacking, getting settled in, and watching movies. We're looking for our Biltmore Estate-filled day tomorrow!

Day 16 - Cherokee, NC

Shaun braving the Appalachian Trail for the second time!

Sunday, May 22, 2022

Weather - Mostly cloudy with some thunder but little rain, high of 86F

Steps - Shaun: 16,141, Shannon: 15,139

Varmints - one lone elk, our first squirrels in the park, surprisingly enough, a groundhog, rogue chickens

It looks like the Starship Enterprise, doesn't it?

We finally made it up Clingman's Dome! We were so close on the day we hiked to Andrews Bald, but we just couldn't force ourselves on another 1/2-mile uphill climb after the final mile of the Andrews Bald trail on Shaun's bum knee. So, we drove back this morning, early enough that the parking lot was nice and uncongested, as was the walk up to the observation tower.

Clingman's Dome is the tallest point in the park, and we were hoping to get some good views of sweeping vistas, but the day turned out pretty foggy, with low clouds sweeping across the mountain and allowing spots of blue sky and green mountains to peek through every once in awhile. So while it wasn't the clear vistas we had hoped for, it was definitely atmospheric.

We took the climb slowly because the air is thinner up there, and the trail, while paved, has a pretty steep grade for most of the walk. We got to see some cool things along the way, including the sparkle of dew drops in the fir trees when the sun would break through the clouds, and the dark silhouettes of skeletal trees just visible through the fog. Here are some artsy-fartsy shots we took along the way up:

This iteration of the observation tower was completed in 1959 (a very good year, according to Shaun), and it has a long sweeping concrete ramp up to the tower itself. There are signs pointing to the various peaks and landmarks in the distance, only some of which we were able to see. The clouds were still very atmospheric, but the wind got to Shaun, so we didn't stay too long. The way down was significantly easier (of course), and we were soon back at the parking lot and heading back down the mountain to Cherokee.

We have been wanting to visit the Museum of the Cherokee Indian and the Qualla Arts & Crafts Mutual for awhile, but the timing hasn't been working out. We made it a priority today, going to the museum first. It was really well done, a one-way loop through the exhibits and time, showing the evolution of Cherokee culture from pre-history to near modern times. Artifacts, including beautiful baskets and pottery, masks, hunting, farming, and cooking tools, and games, were displayed with really good explanatory text about their uses, history, and significance. Some of it was tough to get through, especially the exhibits on the Age of Colonization and the Trail of Tears, but it was necessary information to take in, feel, and learn. 

We swung through the gift shop and got some postcards, and then we made use of some tables under umbrellas in a courtyard outside the museum to eat some lunch. Also outside the museum is a huge, amazing sculpture made from a single California redwood log that shows Sequoyah, the creator of the Cherokee syllabary (written language). Near this sculpture is another of a bear that is wearing a turban and smoking a pipe (like Sequoyah in his famous portrait) and has some of the symbols from the syllabary on its back. There are many of these bears throughout Cherokee painted in various ways, much like the Cows on Parade in Chicago many years ago.

I see the resemblance, don't you?

After lunch, we went across the street to the Qualla Arts & Crafts Mutual, a co-op that had all different kinds of art by mostly Cherokee but also other Native American artists. Not only did they have a huge shop, but there was also a really good exhibit showing the history of the crafts represented, the different types of basketweaving and materials used, the forms of pottery, jewelry, and more. We had really been wanting to buy baskets by Cherokee artists, and there were so many options, from small to large, white oak to honeysuckle vine, dyed to natural colors, handled, lidded, or open, and everything in between. The prices are pretty high, but we had expected that and thought they were worth it for the artistry involved. However, there was pretty clear difference in price between the ones made from thin strips of wood and the honeysuckle vine ones, which were cheaper but actually the ones we liked better because they remind us of this trip. The honeysuckle is blooming right now, filling the air with their lush fragrance. We've loved driving down the roads in the park with our windows down smelling honeysuckle on the wind.

This is a wood weaving that shows the incredible skills of the Cherokee artisans.

We ended up each buying a honeysuckle vine basket, and we found other art that spoke to us in different ways. Shaun bought a beautiful quilted wall hanging showing the Smokies in strips of navy, teal, purple, and emerald green. A quilter herself, this really fit Shaun to a T. Shannon bought a painting of a Cherokee woman in front of a sunrise (or sunset) wearing a cloak of Cherokee writing and with a handprint over her mouth. The artist's statement said that the painting is her response to the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Native American women, and though dark in content, it's beautifully painted and spoke to Shannon.

This is a picture of the flower of the tulip tree that we spoke about seeing from
the chairlift at Anakeesta. We happened to find this one on the ground
right at the beginning of the river trail.

This is a fire pink. It's pretty, isn't it?

This is a mountain laurel, and they were going great gang busters on this trail.
We must have waited long enough for them to come into full bloom. Yay!

From Cherokee, we made the hard decision to spend the rest of our last day in the national park walking on the Oconaluftee River Trail rather than hiking to more waterfalls. The trail was 3 miles long and followed the river through the woods. Along the way, we saw some beautiful wildflowers and blooming mountain laurel, as well as an elk hanging out in the river. It was low-key and easy and a great way to end our time in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

We lucked out because we could hear thunder and see dark clouds overhead as we walked the trail, but it only sprinkled a little bit on us. Later in the evening the skies opened up, but we were already well inside by then. We took in a bit of the outdoor Mountain Farm Museum at the Oconaluftee Visitors Center while we finished the trail, including the horse and mule in the historic barn and the hens that had escaped the fencing and gone rogue through the fields. They were pretty funny wandering aimlessly; we wondered if the rangers put them back each night or just let them find their way naturally.

That was the last excitement of the day. We headed back to our hotel to eat dinner, do our family Zoom call, and pack for the final leg of our journey to Ashville on the morrow. We'll take the day tomorrow to meander through the little towns between here and there, seeing the sights, doing our parts to help the local economies, and ending in Marshall, NC at our VRBO for the last 6 nights of our trip.