North vs. South

Sometimes I start writing a post and then never finish it . . . this one was from our trip to Asheville in October . . .

Greetings from Asheville. We got here last night for a little vacation celebration with Husband's side of the family. Mama Riv, Dad Doug, Mark and Auntie D. all came down south so we could celebrate Dad Doug's 60th birthday together. (Originally more exotic locations were considered, but we were a bit limited by Husband's schedule . . . so we needed something a little more local for us.)

Today we loaded into the car for a visit to the renowned Biltmore Estate. The largest house and one of the top tourist destinations in the country. You have to buy tickets ahead of time (not cheap) and you are assigned a time to enter (presumably for crowd control). When our time came around, we found ourselves in a molasses-moving herd of tourists, shuffling from one room to another at a snail-like pace. There was no roaming, no exploring, just follow the heifer in front of you.

The Yankee-kin were not amused. We hadn't even made it to the first room when someone in the family recommended that we bunk the traditional route and try to go on the tour backwards (start on the top floor and work our way down). But it was no use. We still found ourselves corralled by ropes and lines everywhere we went. By the time we were in the 4th room, Riv's eyes were rolling into the back of her head and DadDoug was starting to exhale loudly. Family consensus: time to bail.

But you can't just bail the Biltmore House . . . too many ropes and people. We literally had to be escorted out of the home by a docent. The best part, DadDoug had the just-bold-enough idea to ask for a refund (hey, it can't hurt!) and the Biltmore House was just bless-their-hearts-sweet-enough to comply!

All in all - a great vacation. Sorry it took so long to report.