An Afternoon in Asheville

We had rain including one day where it rained ALL DAY. As we weren't planning on staying in this area much longer, as we still have a long way to go in the next few weeks, we didn't get to explore this area like we would have liked to. The Great Smokey National Park will have to wait for a future trip. We did go into Asheville for lunch our last day. We went to the Grove Arcade area of Asheville and walked around checking out some of the stores. We walked in one store filled with beautiful rocks, fossils, vases,etc. I could have bought a ton of stuff but our limited space in the MH saved us from spending a lot of money. Well actually any money. It was fun to look though. There are a number of restaurants with outdoor seating and so on this lovely rain free day, we decided on Chorizo. Chorizo is a Latin style restaurant.with food and drinks from Spain to Argentina.  We had ceviche to start.  I had the cuban crepes which had coffee smoked  pork and pickles which gave it an interesting taste. It came with beans and plantains.  Joe had what was called a double taco. It was a crispy taco inside of a soft taco with talipia.  I had a yummy pineapple mimosa and Joe had a beer.  The flavors were great. We have been on a roll with good restaurants lately.
We then drove over to the Grove Park Inn, which is an one hundred year old historic hotel. We passed some nice houses on the way there.

The Inn faces the Sunset Mountains, which is part of the Blue Ridge Mountains. What a lovely setting.

The architecture is of the Arts and Craft style. Many famous peple, including a number of presidents have stayed here.

There was an interesting story about the Supreme Court and this hotel  There was a plan to relocate the Supreme Court members in case of a nuclear attack. The agreement was in the 50's but is still valid to this day.

Would have been a nice place to have lunch on the Terrace with the great mountain views if we hadn't already eaten.

We are onto a new state tomorrow, Tennessee. Stay tuned.

North Carolina and Blue Ridge Parkway

We had planned to stop at Lake Powhatan at a forest service campground. However, when we came to a fork in the road, it had a sign to the Lake(didn't say campground) but Gracie, our GPS, said the other way. We followed the GPS and it came to a place where it said we were there but no campground. Sometimes in some of the campgrounds,it is off a little but we drove awhile and only saw signs for hiking trails and the road was narrow. When we came to a place where you could turn around we did so. It was late in the day and so we decided to go to another campground, Riverhouse Acres in Canton, NC, that was in the Escapees book we had. It didn't look that great when we first saw it, just about 6 or so rv's on the other side of a small farm with what looked like tomato plants. When we got our spot we saw that we were right on the river. Very nice after all.

The campground is on the banks of the forks of the East and West Pigeon River and at the base of Cold Mountain in the Smoky Mountains. The book and movie Cold Mountain is based on the events and people in this area.
Blue Ridge Parkway, at 469 miles long, is one of the great drives to take in the US. It is a relaxing drive with stunning views of the rugged mountains and landscape of the Appalachian Highlands. Of course we didn't drive the whole distance but got a good taste of this wonderful area.

 We stopped at several overlooks and at the south entrance visitor center. Savannah met a cute chocolate colored Cocker Spaniel puppy while we talked with the puppy's humans. Forgot to take a picture of the sweet puppy. The couple also had two Cavaliers that they didn't bring along on the drive.Forgot to take any pictures, darn.

We stopped at one overlook and had some nuts and fruit and enjoyed the views. Got some pictures of some of the butterflies that were checking out the flowers in the bushes in front of us.

We continued to enjoy the views on this parkway where speeds are generally not more than 45 miles per hour.