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Thursday, October 02, 2014

More NC (Mountains & Biltmore)

NCAnd somehow it got to be October and Thursday night already. No idea how that happened. I guess time just flies by when you are busy and having fun. :) Well, let's do a quick recap to try and keep everyone up to date with what we have been doing. 

Tuesday we spent a good amount of the day exploring the outdoors around here. Went to Grandfather Mountain where we also did some hiking. Let me tell you uphill hiking at 6000 feet is quite different from other elevations. :) Definitely had some great views though and enjoyed the excercise. Although my legs are still sore from all the walking we have done. 

After we were done at Grandfather Mountain we took the Blue Ridge Parkway over to Mt. Mitchell which is the highest peak east of the Mississippi. (6683 feet = 2037 meters) The Blue Ridge Parkway is definitely very scenic and reminded me of Skyline Drive that runs through the Shenandoah Valley. Took some more pictures and walked to the observation platform at Mt. Mitchell before making our way back to Boone. 

Wednesday we drove to Asheville to tour the Biltmore Estate. A truly impressive operation with a massive house (250 rooms), 80 000 acres (=324 kmĀ²) of grounds (gardens, woods, ponds and more) and a winery. We upgraded to the audio tour guide for the house which worked out well as it tells you about each room as you walk through it. There were 40 stops on the tour so it was definitely a big place. After the house we explored the gardens and grounds for a bit before heading over to the village where the winery was situated. I really didn't have the highest expectations for the wine considering that a lot of places like that tend to be too over commercialized and only bank on the name rather than quality. But I have to say I was happily surprised. We ended up purchasing 6 bottles and had another bottle with some cheese at their in house wine bar. 

Today, Thursday, we decided to go back into the mountains to take advantage of the nice weather. Drove to Chimney Rock State Park where we did some more hiking. Lots of great views including of a waterfall that was featured in the movie "Last of the Mohicans". Also took the 26 story elevator up to the top where you have to take some more steps to get to the actual top of the rock. I really enjoyed the views but was also definitely terrified. But all in all it was worth it. Also was happy with the views of Lake Lure (where the famous water lift scene from "Dirty Dancing" was filmed) - super gorgeous. 

Tomorrow it's supposed to be a rainy day so we will probably end up heading to Greensboro to check out an art museum there. Then Saturday it's already time for us to check out and leave again. 

Mail Update: Owe replies to: Lotte/Denmark, Celia/MA, Charles/TN and Laura/Spain.

Posted by Hanna at 07:23 PM in Nature, Outdoors, Travel, Wine | Permalink

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Comments

What a great vacation. And you got a lot of good weather.

Posted by: caro | Oct 3, 2014 11:19:31 AM

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