A Final Day in Asheville

Good Morning, Bloggy Friends!

I hope this blog finds you all very well today! Yesterday was our final day in Asheville. We started our tday together with breakfast at a restaurant called, Tupelo Honey Cafe. I took it as an obvious town favorite, because there was a twenty minute wait on Tuesday! The meal was well worth the wait, though. I had a glass of fresh squeezed grapefruit juice, which was truly divine, and as an entree I had eggs over easy with crab cakes. It was scrumptious! All along we had mentally reserved Tuesday as our Asheville shopping day. We noticed prior to this day that Lexington Avenue was the place to accomplish our goal. After breakfast we headed in that direction. It was lined with a ton of funky clothing stores, and thrifty antique shops. I was so excited to see what all it had to offer. For a good two hours we browsed the stores, and slowly (or quickly) accumulated a handful of bags a piece. I got some great stuff, mainly clothes, that I am really excited about!!

The rest of the afternoon was allotted to another day at the Biltmore Estate. I have seen pictures of the mansion before, and wasn't expecting to be surprised, but there's something about standing in front of it that blew me away. It's massive! I couldn't imagine living in something so large - but I want to one day! The tour took us about two hours. It was great. We saw libraries, dining halls, master bedrooms, guest rooms and servant quarters. We also went down into the basement to see their recreational facilities - complete with a tiled pool, workout room and changing areas. My favorite part was the art work that adorned most walls - mostly consisting of portraits of the Vanderbilt family and other nobility. My favorite portrait was one of Cornelia Vanderbilt Cecil, which hung on the wall of the very last room we saw. She was the eldest daughter of George Vanderbilt, the man who built the estate. I put a copy of it to the right.

We finished the day by quickly exploring the connecting conservatory and gardens. What little we saw was amazing, and beautiful but we had to rush so we could pick Galileo up from puppy daycare before they closed! We didn't have the chance to get too deep into the grounds, so we'll just have to do that next time.

After picking up Galileo we headed back to Carrboro, where our comfy bed was waiting for us at Michael and Jeremy's. Today we woke up quite early and made our way back to Philadelphia - which is where I am writing from now. The trip was rather painless, until we hit D.C. again at rush hour. What a pain!

It was great to see Abigail and Mary Todd when we returned. Galileo was excited to see them, too. He and Mary Todd have become buddies (the odd couple type of buddy). They're so cute.

Below is a slideshow of us in our final day in Asheville. I didn't put a lot of Biltmore pictures here, because I wasn't sure you'd want to sit and filter through pictures of room after room, plant after plant. I'll post them later in an album if you want to check them out.

Gonna run for now. Thanks for joining me on my trip, Bloggy Friends. You helped make it even more fun than it already was! We had such an awesome time. If Michael and Jeremy read this, I can't express how grateful we are for your kindness and hospitality. You both showed us such a good time. This will forever remain a new moment in my life that I will continually relive through my thoughts and memories. I am so happy to have shared it with you! I miss you both and can't wait to see you again!

Love you all, Bloggy Friends.

Josh