Asheville

Today being Saturday, all of our friends were free of work, so we got to spend the day with them exploring the city. We started the day off with a round of disc golf at one of the best courses I have ever played at. We played team scramble and Katie and I ended up winning by 4 strokes even though neither of us had ever played the course before. After the game we began our day-long brewery tour of Asheville. There are about 16 breweries in and around the city so we definitely had our hands full. We drove out of town to the first few Pisgah Brewing Co, Highland Brewing Co and Wedge Brewing Co, then made our way to Jim and Ryan's old work, the Asheville Pizza and Brewing Company for some dinner before parking the car and going out around town. On Sunday we didn't do much. We had plans to go to Jim's house and watch the Superbowl and spent most of the day planning for that and preparing our food. We had a small party at Jim's full of appetizers and Bagel Bites then went back to Ryan's for an early night.

On Monday both Ryan and Jim had to work so we spent the day with Jake who happened to

have that day off. We had decided the night before to do a hike to the top of Looking Glass Rock. Looking is a giant granite monolith which is usually seen from the Blue Ridge Parkway and is one of its more popular points of interest. The hike to the top was 3.2 miles straight up. It felt great to be back on a real hike again after so much idle driving. Jake and I talked the whole way up and kept up a pretty fast pace having to stop every once and a while for Katie to catch up; she was in no mood for talking. The

terrain was fun to transition through, starting on the barren forest bottom and climbing through green bushes and trees that created a tunnel as we walked through them, then finally bursting open on the granite surface with its sheer 1000 ft drop. The view from the top was gorgeous and we could see parts of the Blue Ridge Highway, which was currently closed, and far off into the distance where the sky met the mountains creating a blue haze from which the mountains got their name. After the 6 mile hike we were all a little tired and very hungry. On the way down, after much debate, we decided to get BBQ for lunch and went to 12 Bones, a favorite local restaurant where President Obama has been known to eat at when visiting Asheville. Our hunger curbed we went back to Jake's house and played a few games of "PIG" using his portable disc golf chains, then went inside to shake off the cold. We hung out at Jakes the rest of the day and grabbed a small bite to eat at a local bar before heading back to Ryan's for the night.

On Tuesday, everyone had to work, or so we thought. During the night a small dusting of snow came over the city of Asheville and the place shut down, at least the schools did. We woke up

to find the sun shining, the road perfectly clear and Ryan telling us that school had been canceled and he didn't have to go to work. Our plans for the day had been to take a day trip up to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, but upon hearing the news that Ryan's school was closed we decided to call the Park to find out the status of the roads, which of course, were closed. A wrench

thrown in our plans for the day, we had no idea what to do. We briefly threw around some ideas with Ryan but ended up deciding to first visit Gatlinburg, then head over to the Lost Sea, a cave that is still half filled with water which you can take boat tours on. We began to drive and were still astonished that the schools and National Park was closed because of basically nothing; the roads were completely fine. When we got near the Park boundary along the highway, I couldn't take it anymore and had to call again to make sure they were still closed. It was now after 12 and I was hoping that the afternoon would bring new tidings. As it turned out, it did, and the

park roads were now open advising travelers to take caution for snow and ice on the road. We immediately turned the van around and headed for the North Carolina entrance of the park. Once inside we realized why the park had been closed earlier. The roads were still covered in ice and snow and though a thin layer of gravel had been spread to add traction, the roads were still slick and the driving was slow. A few times on the way up through the mountains we stopped the van to take some pictures and when we tried to move again the tires did nothing but spin. It took me reversing down the mountain onto the snow covered shoulder in order to finally get enough

traction to head forward once again. At the top of the mountains

we had planned to do a little hike along the Appalachian Trail, part of which runs through the park. Once at the summit however, the wind was terrible and we were almost frozen solid as soon as we stepped outside. After we noticed there was about 3 inches of snow on the trail to boot, we decided to be content with the view and headed to the shelter of our CJ. We spent the remainder of the day in Gatlinburg playing the role of tourist to a "T". Among the hours of window shopping we grabbed a bite at the Smoky Mountain Brewery, then made our way back to Asheville for the night.

When Wednesday dawned, Ryan was back to school but Jake again had the day off. Jake has a

yearly pass to visit the Biltmore Estate and just so happened to have 2 free passes as well. Having the opportunity to visit the Biltmore without having to pay the $60 entrance fee, we took advantage of Jake's offer and decided to see what all the fuss was about. The Biltmore is the nations largest private estate and has now been turned into one of its most popular tourist attractions. The estate was huge and has been featured in many movies including being home to Richie Rich. We took the tour of the estate, visiting some 60 odd rooms but not even 1/4 of the actual house. The whole thing was amazing and it's still troubling to think of the wealth that

one person can obtain and then spend frivolously on themselves. After the estate tour we went to the gardens which were still impressive in their bare winter condition. They did have a few greenhouses still open which gave us a glimpse into the full

majesty that the garden and grounds are capable of during the spring. Next we drove 3 miles, never leaving the estate, to the winery where we did a number of complimentary tastings as well as a few premium ones. Again our appetite caught up with us and we headed back to downtown Asheville to grab some delicious Thai food. That night, our last night in Asheville, Jake and Jimbo came out with us to the bar where we played games all night and said our farewells until the next time comes around.

The next morning, we were astonished to hear that Ryan was again off work. This time a whole inch had accumulated on the ground which compared to last time was a virtual blizzard. We went out to breakfast before parting ways, gracious for the time spent together, not to mention housing for 5 days. Today we were headed to Charlotte to visit with some of my old friends from Sears who had moved to Charlotte recently. We didn't do anything noteworthy the entire day but spent it with friends long missed and were very happy and fortunate to see and spend time with them.