North Carolina Trip

Ok! There were suposed to be pic' but I am having some issues with them So here is the story.

I had a nice little trip to North Carolina over the weekend. I went with Becky and Kyle to see their friend Lindsey who is a veterinarian in North Carolina. North Carolina doesn't sound like it would be that much fun, but it is! In just a short weekend we had planned to visit the Biltmore, Ride the Dragon, and travel along the Blue Ridge parkway. It is quite a drive from Illinois to North Carolina, so we left bright and early in the morning and only stopped to switch drivers, gas, eat, and use the restroom. The drive seemed even longer than usual, because I had to sit in the middle on the cup holder. I told them I could not safely wear my seat belt this way! Kyle told me to get used to not having a seat belt because we were going on a motorcycle ride in a couple days and there will be no seat belts. You don't have to get too far out of Illinois for the scenery to change and the southern accent to start (welcome yall). I am glad to be looking at something different than just cornfields…..even if I am stuck sitting in the cup holder. We reached our final destination on Thursday around 9 p.m. It was a long day in the truck and we were exhausted. Lindsey ordered out for pizza and we just relaxed. We didn't waste any time on Friday. With it being only a weekend trip we headed to the Biltmore first thing Friday morning. I was totally impressed with how big this place was. I need to move out of the chicken shack and into something more like this! Here I am on top of the lion in front of the Biltmore. King of the Jungle isn't so scary. I included a picture of all of us with the lion too, but you can't see me very well because Lindsay's leg is blocking me. Thanks Lindsay! The detail was just amazing! I wish they would have let me take pictures inside, but I would have ended up in the Federal Coop if they caught me. I feel like I should know who this is, but I don't and it seemed like someone important so here we are! After walking through the 250 room home that included some interesting pieces of history we ate some lunch at the stables. They use to keep the horses here, but have now turned it into a restaurant. After lunch we walked over to the Biltmore Gardens.
The Biltmore Greenhouse. I know we just had lunch, but that one looked pretty tasty! This chicken is definitely not a vegetarian. After seeing over 250 types of roses and all kinds of green stuff it was time for something else. We decided to hop back in the car and drive over to the Deer Park. One last look at the Biltmore. When we got to the Deer Park it was quite a surprise. What do you mean there are no deer here? Who would have expected to find Horses at the Deer Park? Thankfully Mr. Ed was friendly, but I still put a note in the suggestion box about changing the name of this park. After visiting the Deer Park we made one final stop within the Biltmore estate at the winery. We skipped the tour and headed straight for the sampling. Like I want to know how they make it! I'm not sure how many wines we sampled, but you will notice the deer park was the last picture taken. I think it is because the rest came out blurry! After our fun filled day at the Biltmore we left Asheville and headed back to Hickory where Lindsay lives and to get some dinner. We decided to try this Mexican place that Lindsey recommended. Looking back I am wondering if she recommended it for the food, the waiter, or the margaritas. After dinner we went back to Lindsey's watched some TV and Kyle and I went to bed because we had to get up early to ride the dragon on Saturday, while Becky and Lindsay have a girls day shopping or whatever girls do. Saturday at 7 a.m. Kyle and I got up and headed to find and ride the dragon. We had to get gas in Hickory and then hit the road. The dragon starts over by US129 Deals Gap which is about a 2 hour drive from Hickory. Normally with Kyle driving we would get there much faster, but we took the scenic route on the Blue Ridge parkway. Although this added sometime to getting to where we wanted to be, it was well worth it! Here I am at the highest elevation east of the Mississippi. Driving in all these hills and mountains made Kyle very anxious to unload the bike, so that we could ride. He just couldn't take it anymore and had to pull off the road and unload even though we had not yet reached our destination. He was mumbling something to the effect that we were missing out on a bunch of really good riding. Kyle pulled off the road at some random horse stable and we unloaded. It was good to get out of the truck and get on something more suitable for these kinds of roads. We arrive at Deals gap. This is where the Dragon begins. The Dragon is an 11 mile stretch of road that has 318 turns in the mountains. I wanted to buy T-shirts right away, but Kyle insisted we eat, ride, and then get our shirts as he heard it was bad luck to buy your shirts before you actually ride the dragon. Wild Hogs all the way! We saw many Dams along this ride. I am told that the movie The Fugitive was filmed at one of them and along this stretch of road. After going down the Dragon one time we headed back to where it all starts at Deals Gap and to buy our shirts. Kyle made me ride in the pack on the back of his bike, since I didn't have a helmet. I don't know what he was doing, but it seemed like quite a ride! After our conquering the Dragon we headed back to the horse stables and loaded up. We decided to take the Blue Ridge Parkway drive back instead of taking the shortcut. We thought we might have some good views at night as well. On the way home that night Kyle and I just grabbed some McDonalds. We were going to join Becky and Lindsay at cook out / bring your pet party, but we didn't make it back in time. It would have been fun to mingle with the other animals, but I am not looking for a long distance relationship! On Sunday we decided to hang out in Asheville. We ate lunch and walked around town. It is a very artsy kind of place. I think I saw a shirt that said "if you're too weird for Asheville your weird" or something to that effect. As we walked around I found that statement to be completely true. Nobody even gave me a chicken a second look while walking around town. While eating we were deciding what we would do for our last day in North Carolina. Lindsey was feeling pretty run down from catching a cold just before we came and running around. We all decided that a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway would be a fine relaxing way to end the trip. Kyle and I had already seen it, but we thought Becky and Lindsay would enjoy it too. We stopped and hiked along a creek and saw this waterfall. After our nice little drive we went back to Lindsey's and Lindsey finally realized that maybe she should go and see the doctor. She was feeling really run down. While she went to get checked out by doc in the box Kyle, Becky and I went and ate at Buffalo Wild Wings. After dinner we hung out one last night together and hit the road first thing Monday morning. We got back to Bloomington, IL around 5 p.m. It was another fun trip!

Wakey wakey, Benny!

Benny has been strangely silent lately. Is he hibernating for the winter?