One cannot visit Charlottesville without paying attention to Thomas Jefferson. But before that, I neglected to include a picture of the exterior of The Clifton main building.

Architect, scholar, farmer, educator, inventor, statesman, author of the Declaration of Independence, and President of the United States – those are some of the things he is known for. And I’ve undoubtedly left out a few of his fields of accomplishment.

Anyway, Jefferson was a incredibly accomplished individual. We all know he was author of the Declaration, but he either drafted or assisted in the drafting of many laws. He designed Monticello, his home on his plantation here. He invented a machine that made an exact copy of the thousands of letters he wrote in his lifetime. He wrote a book describing everything known about Virginia. His home had extremely large windows and skylights, very unusual for the time.

We took two tours at Montecello. The first took us through the first floor of the house, which included the public rooms and Jefferson’s bedroom, study and library (1). The upper floors are an extra cost item (and extra time), so we passed. And we took the Slavery tour, which was really more of a lecture and a tour. It was interesting, and like the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, depressing.

After leaving the Presidency, he founded the University of Virginia, given his belief that only an educated citizen could effectively contribute to public life. He not only founded it, he was the first Regent, and he designed the original campus which is still in use today. It’s quite beautiful. Sadly, it started raining when we left the parking garage on campus, continued until returned to the garage later.

The centerpiece of the old campus is the Rotunda, which was inspired by the Panthon in Rome. It was designed to be a library for the students, and the upper floor still serves as perhaps the most beautiful study hall in the country (2).

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As I write this Wednesday morning, we’ve packed up our stuff and we’re about to head home. We should arrive before dinner tonight.

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(1) So where are the pictures of the first floor? No pictures allowed there. Only the exterior and basement.

(2) So where are the pictures of the campus? It was raining …

Yesterday’s trip on the BRP was all about mountains. Today, while the Parkway stayed it’s course along the Blue Ridge, the landscape changed. It became less hilly, and there were farms along the sides as we continued north. There were also fewer “sites” to stop at. Despite that, the vistas were beautiful.

It’s clear that I like to capture that beauty in photographs. But others have their own approach. Most people do take photographs, of course, and most of them use their phones. But a few do it the old school way – using paint, ink or pencil to capture their vision.

My favorite “big picture” from today was smaller than yesterday’s.

We stopped at a cutout labeled “Cascades” (1), which had a sign promising a gentle 30 minute round trip walk. So off we went. We came to a stream and a small wooden footbridge after about 15 minutes, but the path continued on, down stone steps. And we could hear the water falling below. Sally headed back up, while I continued down.

At the bottom of the steps I was about midway down a cascade of perhaps 100′ (2). Sadly, there was no good photo to be had there. Instead, I took a more intimate picture back at the wooden footbridge.

We were starting to think about lunch by now, and decided to head to the Blue Ridge Music Center at MP 213. Since they promise live music all day and an exhibit on music development in the Appalachian region, we assumed they would have food.

No such luck.

The museum was interesting but very small. The blue grass music was decent, but the musicians looked ready to fall asleep any minute. So we left and headed onto Mt. Airy, NC. Why Mt. Airy, you say?

Mt. Airy is where Andy Griffith grew up, and it was his childhood memories of a small, rural town that informed his first TV shows, “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Andy in Mayberry”. Mt. Airy is Mayberry.

Mt. Airy has taken Mayberry to heart: the are stores and shops named after all the main characters. There mid-60s sheriff’s cars crusing the street. There are at least two Barney Fife’s walking around, and we saw one Gomer Pyle. Quite kitchy. We passed on the theme restaurants and found a wine bar where we got some tasty food.

We found our hotel down in Dobson. It’s a Hampton Inn, quite nondescript, but clean, spacious and comfortable.

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(1) Cascade Falls is located at MP 272, and is in E.B. Jeffress Park.

(2) The Wikipedia entry says 250′, but I’m sceptical.

We left our B&B in Asheville this morning. We’ll miss some aspects of the Inn: the cozy feeling, the bright room, the friendly hosts and other guests. We won’t miss the breakfasts served family style; not the family style, but the food itself. This morning was some sort of quiche or omelette with corn. I ate it, Sally pretended. And not the uncomfortable chairs in our room, which were okay for lying back and sleeping but not for sitting and reading, watching TV or eating.

Today’s plan was simple: drive about 100 miles up the Blue Ridge Parkway to Blowing Rock, NC. The Blue Ridge Parkway is a “National Parkway”(1) that runs 469 miles through North Carolina and Virginia. It is two lanes the whole way, with numerous scenic overview cutouts and other places to stop and enjoy the outdoors. It has been the most visited unit of the National Park Service almost every year since 1946. It mostly follows the Blue Ridge of the Appalachian Mountains.

We entered at Mile Post 385, and plan to follow it to MP 0.

As this was our first time on the Parkway, we weren’t quite sure what to expect. My best guess was that it’s like driving through any of the big National Parks out west, only longer. We stopped at some scenic turnouts, and then at a couple of specific sites.

Craggy Gardens was the first stop, and the first time I went to the wrong viewpoint initially. I stopped at the picnic area, and saw a sign for a trail heading to the viewpoint almost a mile up the hill. Fortunately, I turned back after a short while as the sky looked completely socked in. After heading back out on the Parkway, we came to the viewpoint – right on the highway. No hiking required!

Our next stop was Mount Mitchell, which at 6,684′ is the highest peak east of the Mississippi (2).

On our way up to the peak, we stopped for lunch in the state park that surrounds the mountain. It was simple and edible. The views from the peak were very nice (3).

The last major stop was Linville Falls. Again I managed to go to the wrong viewpoint first. In fact, I managed to go to both of the viewpoints I didn’t want before finding the one I wanted. And believe me, the trail signs couldn’t have been more clear. I was just not reading them correctly.

We finished today at our stop for the night, the Chetola Resort. To get this far on the trip, we’ve driven just over 2,000 miles, averaging almost 60 mph and 28.7 mpg. Today we averaged 34 mph and 19.5 mpg over 110 miles. To say life moves slower on the Blue Ridge Parkway is an understatement.

The resort is a pleasant surprise. Their online pictures don’t do our room justice (4). There were drinks and snacks on the hall when we arrived, and we had a nice dinner in the restaurant downstairs. No need to search for a place to eat!

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(1) A National Parkway is like a National Forest or National Monument. It is administered by the National Park Service.

(2) Mt. Washington is #11 at 6,288′. All of the top ten are in the Blue Ridge area.

(3) I actually stopped in the parking lot below the peak. But not very far below.

(4) I think mine are better, but you can be the judge.

We had two or three objectives for today: See Biltmore, walk around Asheville, and have a decent dinner. We accomplished all three, though not without a bit of juggling.

Biltmore is the massive estate of George Vanderbilt, grandson of the Commodore who built and made a fortune from the New York Central Railroad (1). The statistics of the place are staggering: 250 rooms, 180,000 square feet, 7,000 acres, … . One can go on and on. George built it starting in 1895 as a summer place to escape the heat of the city. It is still owned by his descendents, the Cecils. Between the Great Depression and increased taxes, his heirs were forced to open it to the public starting in 1930.

Today it is a major tourist attraction, including hotels, restaurants and shops along with the tours. Sally and I both found it interesting and well run (at least the portions we visited and one restaurant as well as crowd management).

The architecture and decorating is over the top, although not nearly at the level of Hearst Castle. Vanderbilt literally spared no expense in creating the house and furnishing it. Even the servants’ quarters and work areas were spacious and airy.

The 7,000 acres remaining today are a small piece of the 100,000+ acres that were originally part of the estate. In 1914, Vanderbilt’s widow, Edith, completed the sale of 84,000 acres to the Federal government to form the nucleus of Pisgah National Forest. The grounds that remain today were landscaped by Frederick Law Olmsted (2), and consist of formal gardens and a larger park area. There is a Chihuly exhibit in the gardens area – this guy is everywhere we go.

We were hungry by the time we finished the house and gardens, so we went into the nicer restaurant in the old stable building. I wasn’t expecting much, just high prices, mediocre food and lots of garlic. But the prices were reasonable ($13.95 for a roast chicken dinner), the food was fresh and tasty, and Sally had several choices free of poison. And like the rest of our experience at Biltmore, it was efficient and friendly.

We drove back into downtown Asheville (after a 20 minute drive just getting out of the estate) and walked around a bit. But the weather was gloomy with periodic drizzles, so we went back to the Inn. I made an executive decision not to fight another restaurant battle (i.e. calling around to try and find a garlic-free option) but went to the Whole Foods, bought some wine and prepared food, and we ate safely in our room.

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(1) There’s a statue of the Commodore on the south face of Grand Central Terminal looking down Park Ave South.

(2) Olmsted famously designed Central Park in New York City.

For our last morning at Blackberry Farm, the tentative plan was to spend some time going around the grounds. Either an easy stroll in the woods for Sally & me, or maybe driving our golf cart to look at some of the things we passed during the geocaching hunt yesterday.

It was not to be.

We woke up to rain. Enough rain that we called the desk to have a real car (1) pick us up and drive us down to the unformal dining room for breakfast.

Enough rain that driving the golf cart anywhere was not just unpleasant, but unsafe – they don’t brake very well on wet pavement. In fact, I found they can barely keep from sliding down some of the steep pitches on the cart paths. Enough rain that the thought of any outdoor activity was shelved.

So we had breakfast, looked at the clouds hanging over the mountains, enjoyed the hunt paintings in the dining room, packed and headed out for another rainy drive in Tennessee.

When we got to Asheville, we were hoping to leave our bags at the Inn and go for a walk in town. But – it was drizzling, so we took a look at the town through the windshield wipers and went back to the Inn to listen to our Fearless Leader ramble (3) for an hour.

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(1) One of the Lexi.

(2) They use white table clothes for dinner. This is the breakfast/lunch setup.

(3) He did much more than merely ramble, none of it good.

Blackberry Farm really is a very nice place. Nothing is a problem – except the weather.

We woke up this morning to another wet day, with high humidity and evidence of rainfall. It didn’t actually rain while we were out, but I had to dry off the seat in our golf cart and put a blanket down before we ventured out to breakfast (1) (2).

We had planned to try geocaching before lunch. Geocaching is a games where you attempt to locate a cache based on geographic coordinates and perhaps a clue. In the larger world, a cache can be established by anyone, who then publishes it. They will often leave a small notebook for geocachers to sign, and hide a trinket or charm in the cache.

Here, we were given a small stamp and a booklet to record our finds, and each cache contained a stamp and a booklet to stamp and sign. We were also given a Garmin GPS preprogrammed with the coordinates of each cache. The GPS only gets you within a couple of dozen feet of the cache. then it’s up to you to find it. The picture shows our equipment and the small metal box which is hidden at each location.

We expected to spend an hour or so, but after 1 1/2 hours we broke for lunch. It was 3:30 when we finished, having found all but one of the eight caches.

Part of the fun in this context is that you are forced to travel around the entire property (in your golf cart), as the caches are hidden by the various activity sites.

We had a nice dinner in the un-formal dining room. You’ll recall the formal dining room required men to wear their jackets into the dining room; this one does not. The food is similar, although the menu is different. The wine list is only a dozen pages long, rather than 100. The decor was old English, meaning lots of bad paintings of fox hunting on the wall. The formal room was rustic – it’s built as a large barn, with open beam construction and a very high ceiling.

Many people, including us, periodically ask for extra towels from housekeeping. This being Blackberry Farm, they just kept coming.

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(1) In typical Blackberry Farm style, our cabin comes with special hand towels to wipe down the seats, and a special blanket to place on the still damp seat.

(2) Truly first world problems, I know.

Our streak of not-great weather continued today in Walland, although it actually didn’t prevent us from doing what we wanted.

Blackberry Farm is very spread out, and our cabin comes with a golf cart. Our first excursion was last night, when we had to find The Barn (the so-called formal dining venue) in the dark, after checking into our cabin in the afternoon and not leaving until dinner. Suffice to say we made a few wrong turns.

But this morning we had no trouble driving to a different part of the property for breakfast. After a bit of thought we elected to eat outside, as did most of the guests.

After breakfast I took a soggy walk in the humidity. The grounds are beautiful, even with overcast skies.

Our planned activity for the day was a cooking demonstration with one of Blackberry’s chefs. While it is advertised as a group activity, the group today was just Sally and me. And Rachel, our chef-instructor. She gave a great explanation of how she was preparing our customized three course meal, and the three of us had a great time chatting for 2 1/2 hours. And the meals she prepared for us were delicious.

We are right on the edge of the Great Smokey Mountain National Park with it’s extensive outdoor activities and 900 miles of trails. Blackberry has their own hiking trails, about 9 miles worth. I used about 4 of them this afternoon, which was plenty for me. The hike wasn’t that hard, and the temps were in the low 70s, but the humidity was about 100%. I was soaked by the time I got back – and the drizzling rain didn’t help.

They have plenty of other activities: archery, skeet, tennis, fly fishing, biking, etc. We’ll concentrate mostly on the gourmet food. Which is how we finished the day, with another great meal in the Barn.

Marred only by having to drive the open golf cart back to our cabin in a light drizzle.

After ten days of never using the gym facilities at any of our stops, I decided to use the gym at the Hermitage. Unfortunately, the hotel leased the gym and spa to Netflix for filming today, and it was closed. Rather than take their offer to use a nearby public gym, I decided to take a walk outside. It was almost-raining, and I figured even if it started drizzling, I’d wind up less wet than if I used the treadmill.

Well, I figured right. I wound up less wet, even though it started raining pretty steadily about 15 minutes before I got back. While I was out, I did come across Nashville’s government plaza. The architecture and layout was quite impressive.

By the time we left left Nashville it was raining lightly, but as we headed east on I-40, it turned into heavy rain. Visibility was poor, the road was slick, and cars (and trucks) were staying below the speed limit. About halfway to our destination, the rain eased, the road dried, and we all resumed the national speed limit of 10% above the posted limit.

Between the rain, the 200 miles, and the one hour time change as we came back into Eastern Time, we didn’t arrive at Blackberry Farm until after 4:00. This is one of those places where they spare no effort to cater to your needs. Once you pull up and walk into reception, your car disappears and all of your bags are quietly put into one of the house Lexuses (Lexi?). You sign a bunch of waivers, payment agreements, cancellation policies, etc. on an iPad (1), and then you get driven to your cabin in the woods.

Which is very nice. But designed for the twentieth century. The room actually has a fair number of outlets, all in the baseboard along the floor, and none close enough to any table to be able to charge your devices without placing them on the floor (2).

There were other initial problems in the cabin which needed attending. There was some very nice cheese left as a welcome snack, and which contained garlic (3). The soap and shampoo were laced with lavender, which we also had to call about (4).

Dinner was at their “formal” restaurant. Formal has a silly definition: jackets required for men. Now, you’re thinking ” what’s silly about that?”. But grasshopper, you are thinking the colloquial use of that phrase, which is shorthand for something like “men should wear a jacket, some nice slacks and a button down shirt or the equivalent”. But here it means exactly what it say: the gentleman who escorted us to our room said one merely must wear a jacket. Jeans and a t-shirt with it are perfectly acceptable.

That’s what the man said.

And that is silly.

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(1) I felt like I was at the Hertz counter: “please initial the CDW, please initial here to decline buying a full tank of gas, please …”.

(2) Which they were happy to rectify by sending someone over with an extension cord.

(3) Which they were happy to rectify by sending someone over with a fruit plate, and removing the poisonous cheese.

(4) Which they were happy to rectify by sending someone over with Bars of Dove soap.