February 26, 2006 [note: I will post the trip photos when I have time]
Home. I love that word. Home looks so much better than you've been away a couple of days.
I like going places. I like showing Alesia new things. She loves the mountains. Hotels bite, however. mars the whole traveling experience. I wish a was a zillionaire and could travel in a private bus with a great bed on it.
I hate hotel beds. The one at the Holiday Inn Express was a slab of cardboard over concrete. The blanket and bedspread were so plastic, I woke up with them in a pool on the floor - they slithered off in the night even though I moved only minimally once I contorted into a semi-bearable position and propped on the four pillows as best I could. I always think of the cleanliness issues I was forced to learn while working for the hotel company - namely, the maids don't wash the blankets and bedspreads but like once every 5 guests or something. So they are pretty nasty.
We didn't do much Friday after we drove up. Mother got a nap. Alesia watched TV. We had to make an emergency run to the drugstore. Our hotel was convenientsly located between Biltmore and Bud's.
We had dinner with Mom's friend Bud and his sister, Jean. They live in a retirement community called Deerfield. Bud is 87, Jean is 85. Jean has lived with her big brother her whole life and he has cared for her. She is slightly mentally handicapped.
Deerfield has neat cottages, apartments, and hospital rooms for the residents with one foot in the grave. Bud's cottage is very swanky and nice, and has a screened-in porch, huge kitchen, very spacious living room. He has furnished it with treasures from his travels around the world as a navy doctor. He has some very fine dolls in cases, some Japanese "tontsu" [?] - huge chests. He has collected fine porcelain and objets d'art. It was a bit intimidating.
Bud is a gourmet cook, and served fabulous dinners both Friday and Saturday nights. Friday night we had egg drop soup, cornish game hens, wild rice, roasted peppers, and ice cream for dessert. It was very tasty. After she ate her soup Alesia said "May I be excused?" I had to explain about different courses in meals. We never have but one course, of course.
Last night's dinner was what bud called a "light supper" - minestrone [homemade soup], Italian bread [similar to focaccia], caesar salad, and strawberry shortcake for dessert.
We had had a "heavy" lunch in the Deerfield dining room yesterday. The food is very good. The place looks like a resort, not a nursing home. The food was good, not fabulous. I think Bud and Jean usually eat one meal a day there. Aside from the fact that all the other diners looked like extras from "Cocoon" it was a very upscale place.
Alesia and I went to Biltmore House yesterday morning. Alesia loved the house, but I think she was even more awed by the gorgeous mountain vistas from every window. We didn't get the separate tours and all that because I didn't want to spend all day there. The two of us got in for $25 and that was enough. If we'd taken all the extra tours [the rood, around the property, the barns, etc.] it would've cost $85 EACH. Yikes, what a racket.
I told Alesia that Biltmore has over 250 rooms and she was ticked we couldn't see them all! She thought it was worthy of a big giggle when I pointed out the servants all had chamber pots by their beds. For some reason they were displayed prominently in the little bedrooms.
I walked up all 4 flights of the "grand" staircase, though not all at once, thank God. I kept thinking "I HAVE to get back in shape! Oy!"
I have visited Biltmore about half a dozen times, the last more than 20 years ago. There's a lot more to see now. I had never seen the servants quarters nor the kitchens. There is also a new display in the basement, of photos from the construction phases of Biltmore. There are also several new gift shops, located in the stables next to the house.
Saturday afternoon was a treat. Mother rested. My cousin Wynn Ellinger, a resident of Asheville, came over to the hotel and drove us around downtown Asheville. Then we toured some of the nicer neighborhoods with beautifully preserved Victorian homes. [Wynn sells real estate so he knows his way around.] We went back downtown and parked and walked around. There are many little funky art galleries and stores, and a lot of good restaurants. We wandered through the old Woolworth building, which has now been turned into booths for selling relaly high-quality arts. They kept the old soda fountain, though, and Alesia and I had milkshakes. Whynn said there are concerts downtown every Friday when the weather's nice. Asheville is becoming quite a music mecca. Wynn kept extolling the virtues of Asheville so much ["There are NO rednecks!"] that he should run for mayor one day.
Wynn asked me if I wanted to go listen to bluegrass last night but I begged off. I said Alesia had homework. Truth was, I was too tired from all the walking, and my stomach was acting up. I think I picked up some bug last week, and it won't leave me. I also explained I don't srink alcohol any more and I rarely go out at night. Just getting to be a real fuddy-duddy.
We had a nice drive back today, through the mountains. We had lunch at Dillard House, and got there before the crowd. We brought home enough leftovers for tomorrow night's dinner.
Back to the real world tomorrow. At least I can sleep tonight in my own bed. Yay!!
