Up another mountain or two, and then some

Laszlo at the falls


In front of The Biltmore




Greetings from chilly Beech Mountain. Where this morning we woke to a temperature of 30 degrees. In the sun the weather was glorious, in the shade we shivered in the cold wind.

We've been keeping very busy. Yesterday we took a trip down the road to the Linville Caverns and Linville Falls. Both very cool. The caverns are 52 all year round and more than 2,000 feet below the ground. Without a light source you are in complete darkness - which is freaky when the demonstrate this.

And then to the falls. We hiked up a mountain again to see some more lovely scenery. It would have been better if Laura didn't wake up with a cold the day before and by yesterday it had progressed to a nasty bug. She earned the nickname one-lung Laura because she said that's what it felt like for her to climb to the falls.

Today, we went South to the Biltmore estate. Whew. That place is huge. And that's only the house. That doesn't include the grounds, which we thought we drove around and saw a lot, really we didn't, only a fraction. I am awed that the amount of land and home-space was for one family. But the weather was lovely. We walked the grounds, Joe and Greg entertained themselves by rolling down the back lawn, and we went to the winery and tasted some yummy wines.

We all agree that there's no need for a gym up here. Mother Nature is your gym. If I walked up and down mountains daily, my butt would be MUCH thinner.

Tomorrow there's one more mountain to conquer, Grandfather Mountain. We plan to take a picnic lunch and enjoy the cool weather and some of us plan to cross the mile-high swinging bridge, not including Joe. He said there's no way he's doing that. But that's OK.

Off to a late dinner. Greg's crock pot beef stew smells yummy!