North Carolina Sept 29th-Oct 2nd

Sept 29th - We arrived in North Carolina to visit Nancy, Larry, Larry and Julie. Cliona stayed in CA with her grandma while we toured the Asheville area. One of the first great things we noticed and loved is how there are rocking chairs everywhere - they are even in the airports.

We toured the house a little, ate a wonderful lunch, did some wine tasting and took a carriage ride at the Biltmore estate. The history was very interesting - the house was built by Geroge Vanderbilt who married and had one child, a daughter. It's her children and grandchildren that run the estate today making the Biltmore the largest, privately owned estate in the US.

Sept 30th - hiking the Blue Ridge Parkway - only 700 ft to Mt Pisgah.

We made it - not bad for our first hike of the day.

View of the Blue Ridge Parkway from Mount Pisgah.

On the way back down

Second hike of the day - a lot flatter but farther, a little over three miles.

Lower Falls

Autumn leaf change has just begun in the higher elevations.

Maple trees

Chillin' at the upper falls.

We couldn't come home from NC without a picture of Larry at his piano - it's up in the loft where the acoustics are wonderful.

Larry and Julie treated us to a delicious dinner and gave us a tour of their garden - here's Stephen, Nancy and Larry just after sunset.

Oct 1st - Sunrise on Rugged point.

In 1902 Dr Morse came up with the idea of a dam on the Broad river to create lake Lure and the town. He finished in 1926 and the dam has been a hydro-electric plant ever since.

We just had to stop off and pick up some delicious cider.

Oct 2nd - last day in NC was spent in Asheville with Nancy. There are lots of art galleries and unusual import shops to browse.

We brought a jack-in-the-box home for Cliona and her reaction was hysterical. She nearly jumped out of her skin the first few times it popped open but would then laugh along with the rest of us.

Getting the hang of it.

Here she comes...

Clio likes to give Roxy her treats and as far as I know, has not sampled any.