Road Trip - August 2011

Monday August 22:  After an hour or so at the beach, we moved on to the Elizabethan Gardens on Roanoke Island.  It was a very nice, well kept place, and we enjoyed wandering through for a while.  At left is the entry of the gardens; to the right is an Italian Renaissance fountain.  Besides the botanical residents, there were numerous sculptures throughout the garden and we saw a bit of wildlife: a box turtle and a squirrel.  John bought an orange mint plant (the only one that sounded like it might survive Iowa) and then headed west on Hwy 64.  We took lots of pictures!  

Below, left to right: Shakespearean herb garden with pineapple fountain; hibiscus blossom; a large live oak that dates back to 1585 - it was likely here when the first settlers arrived from England.

Left to right below:  Queen Elizabeth I sculpture; one of the numerous small statues in the Woodland Garden and a wonderful huge spiderweb!

At left is a cotton field we passed along the highway.  We had to stop and go check it out because we couldn't tell what it was from the car!  We stopped for a picnic lunch at a nice rest stop just outside of Plymouth and got to the Morrisville (outside Raleigh) Days Inn about 4 PM so we had time to shower, rest, and change before going to meet a fellow Shimer College alumnus, David, at the Bonefish Grill in Cary NC.   His wife, Lynn, stopped in for only about half an hour and then took the dog (who was waiting patiently in the open car) and headed home.   It was a fun evening, good conversation, good food!  

Tuesday August 23:  This morning we weren't in a hurry so we slept in. The Days Inn had a GREAT breakfast – fruit, yogurt, waffles plus all the regular stuff (cereal, oatmeal, pastries).  So we were well fed before we headed for Black Mountain - about a 3.5 hour drive - the view obviously changed as we approached the mountains.  We stopped at the Old Fort Museum, and had a picnic lunch near a nice stream (at left).  We got to Naomi’s about 1:30 PM and we talked and talked, catching up, for the afternoon.  We had a lovely guest  apartment there at Highland Farms and somebody in the building has an unsecured internet connection I can use for a few days - all the comforts of home!

That night we had dinner at the Bistro - my lemon/wine trout and rice pilaf was marvelous; John had a big burger with sweet potato fries; Naomi said her fried green tomatoes were okay but not as good as she remembers from the past.

Wednesday August 24: This morning we had breakfast (it comes with the apartment) in the Lodge at 7:30 AM.  We visited for a while then went to Ten Thousand Villages in Montreat.  It's a very nice shop with gifts (and chocolate and coffee and tea) from around the world.   It's in a lovely location, right on Lake Susan (right), where we saw a swan and a duck. Back at Highland Farms we had lunch and  nap time; John cooked a wonderful pesto meal tonight in the apartment. After supper we went to a show in the Assembly Room.  The  Green Grass Country Cloggers were great! They had us all singing and foot-tapping and even had some audience participation numbers! This is their 40^th anniversary year and some of the original members are still in the group.  

    

Thursday, August 25, we had declared "hike day" so Naomi did chores while John and I had breakfast on our own, then headed off to Graybeard Trail in Montreat.  It was very easy to find with the map that Katie had given us from her hike in May.  There was a "Bear Alert" notice posted (on the right on the trailhead sign) but, fortunately, we didn’t meet one.  It took about 2.5 hours to get up to the falls.   It was very steep for the first 1.5 hours – about the time I thought I would die, it leveled out and after 2 switchbacks we stopped at the falls.  In the picture at the right you can see John at the top of the falls.  There wasn't a lot of water but you can imagine how stunning it is in the springtime!  We were told that the more level part is from an old railway bed…  it must have been narrow gauge or some other mining track.  The views were a little disappointing but it was just the time of year – the water level in Flat Creek was low and there weren't a lot of flowers in bloom.  Much of the first mile or so is rhododendron bushes – that must be absolutely awesome in spring!  Coming back down was less strenuous for the lungs and only about 2 hours even with a lunch stop.   

On the left below is a nice little pool near some small falls along Flat Creek; in the center a view of Black Mountain from the trail; on the right a group of sunflowers along the trail.  The lower set of pictures includes a portion of "rhododendron row," then Barb crossing a creek and John having lunch break!

   

    

Back at Highland Farms, John showered and went over to the Lodge where he had promised an afternoon sing-along (pictures below);  I had my shower and then joined them.  Everyone seemed to have a good time!  Supper was at My Father's Pizza - always a special treat!

Friday, August 26:  We had breakfast at with Lodge with Naomi, then we all three took the short drive to visit old friends Edd and Pauly Buchanan.  They are such nice folks.  Poor Pauly has a paralyzed vocal chord and can’t talk very well but still was a lovely hostess.  We shared stories about bees and bought some honey (Edd at left with the honey display on the porch), then we went out to lunch at the Morning Glory Cafe - a delightful place serving natural foods just south of town.

John went "out" in the afternoon: cut some bamboo and wandered the hardware store but didn’t find anything he particularly needed to buy (this is good).  He cooked us a chili for supper which was yummy even though he didn't have access to his full spice cabinet!  

We left Saturday morning after a final breakfast in the Lodge with Naomi and her friends.  Hurricane Irene was attacking the east of the state.  When we left about 8:30 AM the view on the left is what we were driving through; a couple hours later, we were out of the weather.  We stopped in Berea at the Kentucky Artisan Center for a break and picnic lunch where we were quite taken by some of the metal sculptures - see the pictures below.  I think I like the squirrel with his nut the best!


The rest of the trip home was fairly boring - which was good!  We stopped for the night in Danville IL at about 6:15 PM Eastern time, which was only 5:15 PM there and did the rest of the trip Sunday, getting home in mid-afternoon.  It was a fun trip - a good chance to visit with family and sneak in some "vacation" time, too!