Carolina, Carolina

One night at the Biltmore Estate wasn’t enough so we headed back there the next morning.  The day was such a contrast to yesterday, sunny and 22 deg Celsius.  Beautiful day for a stroll through the gardens so we did.  This isn’t the best time of year for seeing the gardens but we both have vivid imaginations (this is why I don’t watch horror/splatter movies) and we did get to see some gorgeous colour in the conservatory.

Biltmore Conservatory

Some of the colourful flowers in the conservatory
- who can name all three?

Took numerous photos of the mansion itself that we weren’t able to last night in the dark and the rain.  250 rooms including a Banquet Hall, Breakfast Room, Library, Music Room, Tapestry Gallery, Indoor Pool, Bowling Alley, Gymnasium and umpteen guest rooms.  So who wants to be a Vanderbilt … or one of their guests?

Had a bit of a late start the next morning due to chatting with our neighbour for absolutely ages.  When we finally got away it was to head to the Great Smoky Mountains.  They are just as beautiful now as they were

when we passed through back in June.  Headed into the mountains from Bryson City to drive on the Road to Nowhere which culminates at a tunnel then off through the mountains via walking trails.  There was just enough room in the car park at the end of the road for the RV.  We were on quite an upward slope which made for an interesting time eating lunch as it was trying to slide off the table.  We walked through the deceptively long tunnel but turned around when the road turned into a walking track – places to go, things to do and all that.  

... and now I can't get the Talking Heads tune out of my head ...
We're on the road to nowhere ...

Dropped south and, before we crossed into South Carolina we spotted this waterfall off to the side of the road.  There is a small loop road that allows cars to drive behind the waterfall.  Sadly, not enough room for the RV so we had to be content with walking behind the waterfall.  Apparently it is quite spectacular in spring time when the flow is at its peak.

How many people can say they have driven behind a waterfall?
We still can't - the RV wouldn't fit

Stopped just north of Walhalla to check out another tunnel.  This one is the Stumphouse Tunnel and was to be a railroad tunnel.  Work began in 1853 but was halted in 1859 when the local government wouldn’t provide any further funding.  They got 1600’ completed out of the projected 5863’.  We managed to walk 100’ in before turning back, not because we forgot our torches but because we forgot our waders.  The tunnel is filling up with water and it’s too cold to go barefoot.  I’m sure the group of 9 year old boys that arrived after us went further than we did in their running shoes.  They haven’t learnt to be softies yet … and they had their mums to look after them.

Shades of Nifty - it wasn't too long before we were
beaten back by the rising water

Crossed the state line into Georgia and paid a visit to The Gourd Place.  It’s a museum, a gift shop, a pottery and much, much more.  The ladies running the place are a delight to chat with and it was so much fun wandering around checking out gourds from around the world, trying on the masks, trying not to drop and break the pottery and jewellery.  Gourds are so much fun.



Gourd snowman.  How cute is that?

On a par for cuteness is this gourd teddy bear

Gourds can be manipulated into weird and wonderful shapes

Our drive northwards (why are we returning north to the cold weather?) to Raleigh was a continual traffic jam.  Worked it out in the end – everyone is going someplace for Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately the traffic meant we had to cancel some of our activities planned as we would be arriving right on closing time and other places were closed on Thanksgiving Day.  With this in mind we did a long haul all the way to Raleigh and will try and fit in some of the cancelled activities in the next couple of days.

Our pick up is dwarfed by the globe

It was quite eerie driving through Raleigh on Thanksgiving Day.  It’s the state capital and was almost deserted of all vehicular traffic.  Not that we were complaining by any means because it makes driving through cities so much easier when there’s no other traffic on the road.  The first thing we found was this large globe.  It’s larger than the one we visited in Maine but not the largest in USA.  Any other day we would have been able to go inside the globe but today we had to make do with some external photos.  That’s our pick up in front to give you some size perspective.

Next on the list was the North Carolina Museum of Art to go for a wander on their Art Trail.  Had a lovely walk in the rain seeing some interesting art works.  Missed out on about half the art works because walking in the cold and rain isn’t really that lovely so we cut our time here short.

This room is completely dark except for a pinhole in the ceiling that works
as a camera on days that aren't raining (so not today)

More art from the trail

Another reason to pack it in for the day

That put us close to lunch time.  We stopped at Angus Barn to check out their self-kicking machine (it’s for people who want to kick themselves for doing stupid things – I think we qualify many times over but don’t you be agreeing too quickly, I’m sure there’s a boot here with your name on it).  Pulling into the car park we quickly realised that a lot of Americans like to eat their Thanksgiving meal in the middle of the day or shortly thereafter.  There were hundreds of cars in the car park.  No one had parked by the self-kicking machine so we did.  After getting our photos we decided to try our luck at their

restaurant.  Downstairs was a 2 hour wait but upstairs was on a first come, first served basis so we headed upwards to try our luck.  15 minutes later we were tucking into an enormous meal of ham, turkey, beef, stuffing, mashed potato, beans, carrots, sweet potatoes topped with nuts, creamed corn and bacon, spiced cooked apples, salmon, prawns, grits all topped off with gravy and cranberry sauce.  We even had room for pumpkin pie and pecan pie for dessert.  That was Jean having the pumpkin and Sue having the pecan – not one of each for both of us, what kind of pigs do you think we are?  Needless to say we didn’t have anything for dinner that night.  Okay we did, but it was just half an apple each to tide us over till morning.

Figure 13Happy Thanksgiving everyone

 

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone

Definitely heading south now.  Stopped in at Fayetteville and found the Poe House.  Too late for the tour but got to wander around outside.  There are also the remnants of an old Arsenal behind the house.  The local museum is hoping to restore it one day and, in the meantime, they have erected a ghost tower to give you the idea of scale.

Poe House

Facsimile of the guard tower at the arsenal

Illustration that appeared in Harpers Weekly back in the day

Took a side trip to Waxhaw and the Alphabet Museum that we missed the other day.  Such an interesting place.  We must have got them on a slow day as the woman behind the counter decided to give a personalised tour of the museum.  She stayed with us until closing time which came much too soon.

Early Polynesian navigational chart made with sticks and shells

I didn't know that Roman numerals went beyond 1000

From intellectual pursuits we stopped at the tourist trap of South of the Border.  It started as a roadside bar in 1949 just south of the North Carolina state line which had several dry counties at that point and grew from there.  It now boasts 5 restaurants, 7 gift shops, an amusement arcade, motor inn, campground, truck stop, mini golf, reptile lagoon and other distractions for the weary traveller.  We weren’t weary when we got there but were sure heading that way by the time we left. 

Sue finds a friend

And speaking of tourist traps, we headed straight for another.  Myrtle Beach.  Miles of beautiful sandy beaches combined with miles of high rise hotels, apartments, mini golf, restaurants and souvenir shops.  We found ourselves a bar (shock, horror) at North Myrtle Beach to watch their annual Intracoastal Regatta where many of the locals deck their boats with Christmas lights and cruise up the river. 

The next day we hit the tourist attractions.  Played a round of mini golf – the courses here are so over the top.  Nothing like Napier's old Putt Putt on Marine Parade.  We even spotted some moa out there.  I wonder how many people play this course and know just what kind of bird this is and where it came from. 

How best to transform a derelict 3-storey building

Moa are alive and well at Atlanticus Mini Golf

The 19th hole.  The trickiest one on the course.  Guess
who got a hole in one and got their photo on the
Wall of Fame and a (useless) lifetime pass
to Atlanticus Golf?

From the golf we went on the Skywheel for a birds eye view of Myrtle Beach.  Like I mentioned before, the beach just goes and goes as do the high rises on the shore.  It was such a lovely day we were able to have a picnic outside in the sun for a welcome change. 

Looks pretty big from down here

And except for the ocean, everything looks pretty small from up here

 

The next attractions we wanted to visit were closed for the season so we headed back to the campground, took our chairs, our books and our moonshine and sat on the beach for a couple of hours.  Bliss.

… and the answer to the 19^th hole … that’s right, neither of us.