Skyline Drive

Our last day, and it started out like the debacle the day before, going up the Blue Ridge Parkway.

All fog and mist as we entered Shenandoah National Park to drive along Skyline Drive. No views to be had.

But then, just a short way up the ridge it cleared, giving us great views of drifting clouds that looked like smoke and showed us why these are called the Great Smoky Mountains.

The rest of our 100 mile journey along Skyline Drive was beautiful, with sun and clouds, lots of pull outs to stop and look, and unlimited vistas.

The day was glorious, a nice finish to our September Road Trip.

We're back home now!

Gawdawful Rain. And Fog.

We left Asheville on a rainy morning, hoping for clearer weather up above on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

It was not to be. We drove in horrid fog, pea soup stuff for miles and miles, and could not see the road, much less a single mountain valley or vista. This was our view for long stretches.

The Blue Ridge Parkway winds and turns and tunnels through mountains and zigs and zags over switchbacks, but we saw none of it.

We left the parkway at Boone, North Carolina and sloshed our way up the interstate highway, in pouring rain, unable to see the taillights of a car just feet in front of us.

The fog was intense in places, the rain relentless.

There were long delays for accidents, bumper to bumper crawls when fog descended again, and constant hours of heavy rain.

Jim drove the entire day in these conditions, and he is our hero!

Tomorrow, if the rain abates, we'll try to see the sights along the Skyline Drive, but we know we are headed into more rain going home.

Bye Y'All

Goodbye, North Carolina.

Our last day in the mountains of western North Carolina.

Our last evening at the Bent Creek Lodge.

We had another great day wandering the gardens of the Biltmore, or sitting in the conservancy, and then later rockin' on the front porch.

Tomorrow we take the Blue Ridge Parkway, headed north. Bye, y'all.

Too Much Money

What did George Vanderbilt (son of the original Commodore) have too much of?

Money.

So he bought hundreds of thousands of acres of this part of North Carolina, built a mansion of unspeakable ostentation modeled on a European castle, and landscaped not only beautiful gardens, but the whole forest for miles around.

Here is what we thought about it all:

House -- too ostentatious and dark. It's a 33 bedroom hotel, with 43 bathrooms, multiple kitchens in the basement, that kind of thing. The tour was interesting and evocative of an era gone by, but sheesh. So much, so overdone, so heavy.

Gardens -- there were nice pergola walks, an Italian garden, a walled garden, conservatory, all lovely, and surprisingly restrained compared to the mansion.

The Grounds -- a masterpiece. Frederick Law Olmsted's last commission at the end of his life. The woods and paths and shrub walkways were exquisite, and again they were in elegant contrast to the overdone house.

Jim took 102 pictures and was in his photographic element.

Laurrie inhaled the cotton candy scent of the katsuras and thought she went to heaven.

Pam found a shady spot to sit in and recover and hoped there were no more hills.

Our own place to stay -- priceless.

Well, not really, we have to pay for it, but what a nice lodge we have, and so comfortable. A great place to return to after a day of too much walking and climbing stairs and hills.

We bought wine at the Biltmore winery on the estate, and the end of a long day is now upon us with drinks and some rest.

You can have too much money, but you can't have too much comfort at the end of a long pleasant day.

An Update

Just a brief update to say we made it to Asheville and the Bent Creek Lodge is awesome -- comfortable, roomy, clean and pleasant. Very rustic.

We had a long drive through Virginia and part of Tennessee to get to the mountains of North Carolina, and an hour stopped on the highway for a horrific truck fire that left a devastating sight on the side of the highway. But with that behind us we made it.

More to come as we visit Biltmore today and tomorrow.

Monticello

Thomas Jefferson.

Writer of the declaration of Independence, statesman, Secretary of State, Washington's Vice President, Third President of our new United States.

Plantsman, Architect, Iconoclast, Farmer, Foodie, Art collector, Scientist, Genius.

Slave owner.

The man

His house

His vegetable garden

His visitors

We had a wonderful experience at Monticello. The house tour was well done, with lots of biographical information about this amazing man and his family.

The house is impressive but small. It is quirky, entirely designed by Jefferson, and was under constant construction and reconstruction during his lifetime. He was a gadget freak and loved to entertain -- his house has been described as his autobiographical masterpiece.

The 5,000 acre estate was a working farm, a botanical park, and an industrial city atop the mountain, hand manufacturing all the materials to build Monticello. 130 enslaved workers made it all go. Over his lifetime Jefferson owned 600 people. He freed five of them at his death.

The tour of slave life on the estate was extremely well done. It was the highlight of the day. The guide made their experiences come alive -- not just the horror of slavery but the whole rich, conflicted way individual lives were bound with the lives of Virginians, and with Jefferson himself.

Our last tour was the garden tour. The scope of the land clearing, tree planting and farm production was impressive. All of this atop a mountain with spectacular scenery of blue Virginia hills.  Jefferson loved this place.

A full day, well worth the long slog of a car trip yesterday to get here. Seeing so vividly the history of how our country's most iconic places were only possible using slave labor for so many years leaves us feeling unsettled.

We come back to our place, an inn built at the very end of Jefferson's life, circa 1820. We don't have palladian windows and arbors and walkways, but we have a porch with a view of the 100 acre estate owned by John Grisham.

Our porch

Our view of John Grisham's farm

Our inn is quaint, very old and creaky, with steep stairs and a ton of history and the breakfast was delicious.

Tomorrow on to Asheville, North Carolina.

The Plan

Pam, Jim, and Laurrie head south for a week on the road.

First stop:

Charlottesville, VA to visit Monticello.

Where we will stay outside Charlottesville:
The Historic Crossroads Tavern

Next stop:

Asheville, NC to see the Biltmore estate.

Where we will stay outside Asheville:
Bent Creek Lodge

Then home through the Blue Ridge Mountains, up along Skyline Drive.

Getting ready . . .