Quick update for you guys! Today is my best friend's (Erin) birthday. Last night we had taco night and some friends came over and had all types of dips, a great taco buffet, and, of course, cake!
This morning (Erin's real birthday) I told Erin I would take her to any breakfast spot she wanted. Hattiesburg has some really great options for breakfast and Erin chose Southbound Bagel. I've been there before, but it never ceases to amaze me how good it is!
I got an omelet with tomatoes, Swiss, and bacon with a side of jalepeno cheddar bagel. Perfect birthday breakfast.
I'm running low on storage for photos, so this post is going to be shorter!
After Asheville, we headed down to the small town of Penrose, NC where we had the neatest cabin for two nights. The next day we went in search of waterfalls!
Us on the trail to the waterfall at Moore's Cove Falls.
Our cute cabin! Everything was bear themed.
This house had THREE porches! This is the one at the back of the house which overlooked our own rushing stream.
Here it is. So COOL.
We even had our own personal bear guardian on the porch.
Looking Glass Falls
Cary in the cave that is behind Moore's Cove Falls
We also went to Sliding Rock Falls. During the summer, you can actually come here and slide down the falls! The water is terribly cold, but we actually got to watch a guy slide down! Lucky, I took a video of it and have it for all of you guys to watch.
After we had seen a few waterfalls, we took my mom's advice and checked out a Wildlife Experience center. Guess what it turned out to be?? A fish hatchery! This place is right along a creek and breeds all different types of trout. Also while we were there, they were sponsoring a professional Fly Master tournament so we got to watch a dozen guys fly fishing.
How neat is this?? We even got to feed them. Lucky for you, I also have a video of the rainbow trout.
We also got to walk around an outdoor learning center and saw some great wildlife. However, the best was yet to come.
We went down to the town of Brevard and stumbled upon a store with the title of White Squirrel. Curious, my mom asked about them. They told us to go down to the Brevard College campus and we would see them!
After walking around the town, we headed to the campus. Not two minutes into the campus, we see one!
No, this is NOT an albino squirrel. They have brown eyes! They are apparently indigenous to Hawaii and a pair of them were sent to a family in Brevard as a gift. When one got loose one day, they let the other go and they bred like crazy. Now, they are all over the city.
We headed back to the cabin for another wonderful night.
It was a great trip! Now, back to work and school. Soon enough, I'll be done with school!
Ahh... the Biltmore. This place was so much bigger than I even expected. George Vanderbilt really picked the best spot for his home- the views were amazing!
The Biltmore
(Sorry my photos of the front and inside aren't extensive. The outside is too huge to fit into a photo frame and you can't take pictures inside!)
Outside garden/terrace that has amazing views of the Blue Ridge Mountains
Right side of the Biltmore
Cary and Jan
Me and mom
The conservatory, which had fantastic flowers!
Conservatory
Look at that!
There were even orange trees
Stream that leads to the Bass Pond on the grounds of the Biltmore
As I showed you before, my lunch that day. Man, it was great. All the food there was wonderful. We also had a great time at a wine tasting in the wineries adjacent to the restaurant where we ate.
That's our hotel up on the hill! This was actually a new part of the Biltmore Estate that opened the day we were there.
I'll start from the beginning of our fun adventure- in Jackson where we left Wednesday afternoon. After a long drive to Atlanta, we made it to our hotel for the night.
The next morning we headed off for Charlotte, picking up Cary along the way. After an awesome lunch of Carolina cheesesteaks at Rusty's, we found one of the houses my dad lived in as a child in Charlotte. It was actually right down the street!
We headed off for Asheville, a couple of hours away. It was really interesting to see how the landscape changed. Not soon after leaving Charlotte, we started to see mountains!
Once we got to Asheville, we arrived at our destination- the Inn at the Biltmore Estate. It was fabulous! This place was amazing.
View from our hotel room. (That's downtown Asheville in the background.)
The front of the hotel.
Afterwards, we walked down the hill to the winery, which our hotel overlooked. After a wonderful dinner of crab cakes and white bean dip, we headed up for the night.
The next day, we were all excited because we were going to tour the Biltmore!
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Greetings from the road! Its been a LONG time, eh? I've busy, busy, busy! We have just passed through Atlanta. Today I totalled up that I have 46 days until the end of college!
Here's a sneak preview of all the Spring Break fun I have had all week-
Lunch plate at the Arbor Grille at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville. We each ordered an appetizer and ate family style. Ploughman's lunch (5 cheeses, baguette, apricot compote, grapes); fried green tomatoes with prosciutto and pepper jelly; eggplant hummus with grilled flatbread; and mixed greens with goat cheese, pistachios, and a pepper vineagrette. One of my favorite meals!
This trip was so big and fabulous there's going to have to be a series!
