Tuesday 2/8/11

No internet connection to the computer today, and IPad won't let us add photos to our blog, so pictures will have to wait till tomorrow. This was a very eventful day, so rather than scribing an encyclopedic tome, I will attempt a brief outline of the day with limited "outward limbs and flourishes" (apologies to Wm Shakespeare).
Early to rise for a one hour hike from the lodge. Snow flurries, 28 degrees. Karen is tough as nails. Cam is a wimp. Check tomorrow's post for a photo of Cam wearing Karen's ear warmers which he stole from her half-way through the hike because his little ears were so cold, and the mit that was fashioned from a stocking cap and an Ace wrap to cover Cam's cast on the right hand.
We had a scrumptious breakfast at the lodge which was prepared by our hosts. Scrambled eggs, wheat/pecan pancakes with fresh creme and baked spiced apples/cranberries, sausage links, and juice.
Next, we visited the Grove Park Inn which is on the National Register of Historic Hotels as the largest collection of Arts/Crafts furniture in the world. We took the 1.5 hour audio tour of the hotel. It was fascinating. The Otis elevators going up the four-story high fireplaces are in Ripley's Believe-It-Or-Not, the views of the Smoky Mountains were inspirational, the spa is ranked among the top in the world, and the history of this mammoth structure being completed in less than one year was hard to fathom. And amazingly, the entire hotel was envisioned, orchestrated, and financed by a pharmacist who made his fortune by creating a better tasting drug for malaria.
Lunch was at the Tupelo Honey Cafe in downtown Asheville. 2-cheese grilled cheese sandwich, tomato soup, arugula salad, goat cheese grits, and home-made biscuits and blackberry preserves. Recommended by fellow New Jerseyan and hiking buddy, Marge.
From the Tupelo Honey, we continued to Biltmore, the largest home in the USA. Once again, we took the audio tour. It is amazing what a man in the late 1800's with $200,000,000 and a creative imagination can accomplish. We would have been happy to spend another entire day at this site, but we were excited to get on the road for a dinner date with good friends in Columbia.
Zeida was Cam's dental assistant until her husband took a job transfer from New Jersey to S. Carolina 7 years ago. Zeida has always held a special place in Cam's heart, so it was a wonderful reunion. We were treated to a tasty traditional Puerto Rican meal of chicken, rice/beans, potato salad, flan, bread pudding, followed by Honduran coffee and hot cocoa (specially grown and ground by Zeida's mother in Honduras). We all helped ourselves to seconds. Zeida's children are perfectly behaved, and so cute that we could hardly stand to say goodnight to them. Zeida's husband, Jose, made us feel so welcome. We felt like we were visiting family.
228 miles of driving today.