Tunneling Through The Mountains

On the roadtrip from Dallas to Greensboro, North Carolina, we stopped in the mountains near Asheville, NC once we were almost to our destination.  One of the things that I really loved about the drive up in the mountains were the tunnels that we got to pass through....literally driving THROUGH a mountain!

The roads were winding, so sometimes you could see the tunnel from far away and then approach it over time - like this one.

They are so beautiful and I can't imagine how much work and danger it took to build them (probably lots of dynamite involved)!

The goal of the day was to get to the top of Mount Mitchell - even though I thought my head was going to explode with the pressure, since I had a very bad cold and my head/ears were already plugged up from that.  VERY PAINFUL!

Here's the winding little road to the very top!

We made it to the highest peak east of the Mississippi!

 

Here's Jenks and I at the summit!

Very pretty views from the top.....

When I took this next picture, all I could think of was the Beatles' song "The Long And Winding Road".....

On our way down from the peak, I spotted this remnant of a tree....it reminded me that sometimes we have to go it alone and be a strong soul all by ourselves and not compare ourselves to others, but to take our own path, whatever that entails.

Playin' In The Mountains

On my recent roadtrip from Dallas, TX to Greensboro, NC, we stopped at Mount Mitchell State Park in western North Carolina.  It was a gorgeous September day and a well-needed break from the Texas heat.

It was an awesome drive with lots of twists and turns as we ascended the mountain - too bad I had a terrible cold and the pressure was very painful on my ears.  I felt like my head was going to explode......I found out later that it actually IS a very real risk that I could've blown an eardrum up there.  Felt like I was close!

The coolest part of the trip up in the mountains was slamming on the breaks to see these bears!  They were right next to the road and Jenks told me to get out of the car and get pictures!  So I did, but I only got SO close and then used my zoom to get some good shots.  :)  It was a momma and two cubs!

It was so peaceful up there with nice cool weather - the absolute perfect day for a drive in the wilderness.

People even have houses on these steep mountain sides!  I bet they are very difficult to build......and thus cost a fortune.  But how cool would that be to have a house up there to retreat to!

The rock outcrops were beautiful - such a nice ride....and it felt so great to be a passenger and be driven around with the freedom to take pictures whenever I wanted.  :)

This was a neat tree that I found - I love the red berries.

If my head didn't feel like it was going to explode, I could've sat there all day..........

I hope the people who live nearby go here often - would be a shame not to!

A Stop In Asheville

After the long drive across Tennessee and a stop in Knoxville for the night, we hit Ashville, North Carolina - almost to our destination!  This town reminds me of Madison, WI or Austin, TX or something like that - very liberal, very earthy and very weird!

Jenks knew of this cool building that had shops in it.....so we checked it out.

The architecture was beautiful!  Oh, and here he is in one of the old phone booths being a dork.....

I just loved all of the elegant touches in this building!

And out on the streets of Asheville, it was back to hippie-land.  Here's a big statue of an iron - pretty cool, if you ask me.....just kind-of random.  But there was a little band playing in front of it, so that was neat.

I just couldn't pass this without taking a picture....this city is very dog friendly - they were EVERYWHERE!  And a lot of the stores had bowls outside so that your doggy could take a drink.  So sweet.  :)

Fancy Pants Gardens

While I was at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC, I also had the opportunity to visit the massive gardens that are along one side of the mansion.  They were beautiful!

Look at the dragonfly design in the garden below!

Their gardens are all fancy pants - even inspired by Tiffany designs!

I cannot even imagine how many gardeners it takes to design, plant, water and maintain these grounds....

I love that the designs have a definite pattern to them - that's just my Type A-ness coming out.....

I bet these gardens look super cool from the air - they should have plane/helicopter rides so you can see the whole property from above.

Here's the greenhouse in the gardens....

This was my favorite plant - they look like chili peppers, but they are soft and fuzzy like a caterpillar!

Biltmore Elegance

Well, the road trip is almost over......but not before we took a side trip to Asheville to visit the Biltmore Estate!  Look at this magnificent beast!!

George Vanderbilt officially opened his home, Biltmore, on Christmas Eve 1895.  Can you believe this was a single-family home?!

The grounds were absolutely huge and beautiful!  A true American castle!

The home features 250 rooms - can you believe it?!

And the Vanderbilts only had one child - what did they do with all of those extra rooms???

No pictures were allowed inside (to my utter disgust), but here is the front wall (where I took the frontal shots above).

There is a huge spiral staircase inside that is gorgeous - it's right on the left of this picture where the diagonal lines are.  AMAZING.

This is the view from one of their many balcony/piazza areas.  I would love to be looking at the Blue Ridge Mountains on my balcony!

This is what the beautiful balcony looked like - just stunning.

"V" for Vanderbilt.

The whole estate had beautiful scenery - the property was huge (8,000 acres).

This was their side little garden/piazza area - would be a pretty place for weddings or something like that.

What a fantastic place to visit - I want to go back at Christmas-time when it's all decorated!

Memphis Grub

When we were in Memphis, Jenks was set on going to a barbeque place that was recommended to him - called Corky's.  There is one downtown, but we visited the location that was on the east side of town - on our way out across Tennessee.

 

It was "Memphis-style" BBQ, obviously, and it was great - even though I couldn't taste very well with my cold.

I kept myself busy taking pictures while we waited for our food to come...

Here are Jenks' ribs - both dry and wet.  He said they were fantastic!

And I got a BBQ pork sandwich, with coleslaw on it, of course.  I love the pickle and flag on top!!

They even have their own barbeque sauce....

This was a great choice for lunch - I would definitely recommend it if you ever find yourself in Memphis!