North Carolina-- part 4

After the Biltmore tour we drove out to Winston-Salem to visit some great friends.  We got to see the Kellys and the Waltons.  We love those families!

We got to have lunch with the Walton family at Five Guys.  I was so excited to see them!  It has been way too long and so many things had developed since the last time we hung out (i.e. I got married and they had a second--super cute--baby).
I was having so much fun with Gracie... she is just a hoot!

I wish we had pictures with the Kellys, their family is so much fun.

On Thursday we left to go out to Asheboro to check out the NC Zoo.  They were having an albino alligator exhibit, pretty cool!

Fatty elephants!

Peek-a-boo!

Here are some more pretty birds

Gila Monster!

The big bear was following me!

And a couple videos, one of a polar bear showing his stuff, another of a crazy bird doing some sort of water dance we couldn't figure out:

North Carolina-- Tuesday

On Tuesday we were in Asheville to see the Biltmore Estate.  David was so excited to show me how huge the Estate is and how beautiful the grounds are.

Here we are at the entrance:

 Doesn't that look like a castle?

Please forgive me but I don't remember a lot of details from the inside of the house and they didn't let us take pictures so here are a few I borrowed online:

This is the library.  It is FILLED to the gills with books and it is said that George Vanderbilt read every one of them.

The banquet hall.  Umm hello hugeness!

The main kitchen.  This place was buzzing non-stop everyday to feed the tenants and those employed at the estate.  Most/all of their food was from the farms developed on the 125,000 acre estate.  Yes, you read that right, 125,000 acres!  The house itself is 4 acres of floor space.

Mr Vanderbilt's room.  Everything custom made to fit whatever style he preferred at the time.

Mrs. Vanderbilt's room.  Isn't that gorgeous??!!  Edith Stuyvesant Dresser, George Vanderbilt's wife was actually about 6' tall.  That bed doesn't look long enough to me.

And of course being me I thought this was really cool:

The indoor pool.  The lights have actually been there the whole time.

I guess George was very into fitness because he had a workout room with showers adjacent to the pool.

Yep, they had a bowling alley.  Of course it wasn't automated like they are now so they had to set the pins every time.  Still fun though!

All in all this chateau has 250 rooms, 34 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms, and 65 fireplaces. The basement alone would house a swimming pool, gymnasium and changing rooms, bowling alley, servants' quarters, kitchens, and more.

And that's just the chateau!  They have absolutely gorgeous grounds.  There is a huge flower/herb garden, a lake, pond, winery, countless crops.  Its honestly somewhere where you can live off the fat of the land.  So gorgeous!

Here are some other pictures outside of the chateau:

You really need to experience this for yourself.  One tip: wear good walking shoes!!

North Carolina part 2

Sorry for the long delay but here is Sunday and Monday--

We went to church in Concord the first Sunday.  David opened up the ward in that area so he is really attached to the people there and the area.

After church we headed out to Shelby, which was probably one of the cutest and most entertaining stops on our trip.  We stayed with the Porters there are they are just the kindest most southern hospitality people out there.  When we pulled up Bro Porter was so excited to see us and one of his first comments was to David, "Well ain't you got a purdy lady?"  The whole night was like this and it was so fun!  He is so spunky and his wife compliments him so well being down to earth and kind of quiet like me.  She made a HUGE spread of food for dinner.  There was a green salad, beef stew, mashed potatoes, kool-aid, tomatoes, I can't even remember everything but I'm missing some big ones because they had at least 3 main course meals.  I think I ate the most there.
Here are our wonderful hosts:

After dinner I was chatting with Sis Porter when Bro Porter said he was going to sing for us with his brother.  He was very good!  Here are the videos:

We both slept well that night!

Monday--

We met the Becks Monday morning at the Waffle House for breakfast.  To give you a little taste of the Waffle House, here is Jim Gaffigan's take on it:

David ordered everything on the menu (or so it seemed with the amount of table space his plates took up).  I ordered a chocolate chip waffle and it was pretty good!  Sam Beck has the best redneck accent.  "It jus' tickles me pink" came out whenever he was happy about something.  It was fun to try to understand him.

After Waffle House we went to "uptown" to meet up with the Mull family at their bike shop.  They were the exclusive provider/repairs for all the missionary bikes in the area.  I tried the unicycle:

And I almost fell over... a few times.

Here is "mama"

We had Tastee T's for lunch and I had my first exposure to hush puppies-- basically fried cornbread.  They sure were interesting and David couldn't eat enough.  Before heading out to check out some more sites we took a group photo

We meant to climb Chimney Rock after this but we got there too late.  We passed by the lake that Dirty Dancing was filmed on and Chimney Rock is where Last of the Mohicans was filmed.  There have been so many movies shot in NC because the landscape is just awesome.
Instead of climbing up we went miniature golfing instead.  I was ahead the whole time until the last couple holes then of course David caught up and beat me.  Dag nabbit!!  It was a pretty cool course though... right next to this cool little stream.

We departed for Ashville after this... lots more pictures to come from this trip!  Stay tuned...