The morning we flew in, Thursday, we drove straight to the Biltmore House (which in my opinion was more like a castle than a house). We rented a couple of audio headsets to learn about the history of all the different rooms we walked through (too bad we couldn't take any pictures inside the house). The entire house tour was a little over and hour and a half. Then there was the outside with the beautiful landscaping, plants, and mountain views. We walked through a rose garden and in a greenhouse, which had a variety of plants and flowers. It was all so peaceful and gorgeous. After spending the day there we headed to Heather's apartment.
Friday, we drove to a little city called Dillsboro. We went to the Jarrett House to eat lunch then walked around to a few different local stores. We went to a Christmas store and the Chocolate Factory (where we bought too much of the sweet treats).
On Saturday, Heather and her boyfriend, Jason, took us tubing in Cherokee, North Carolina where the river water was ice cold. The second time going down the river Jason had flipped out down one of the rapids. He quickly jumped up because the water was shockingly icy. After that, we all decided to find another area of the rapids that were more calm and relaxing to tube. When we were done with the tubing Heather and Jason took us to Cades Cove, apart of The Smokey Mountains National Park, to drive through. We saw horses, wild turkey, 4 small black bears, and about 20 deer. It was awesome to see these animals up close and personal and not have bars separating us. Today was a long day. We didn't get back home until midnight.
Sunday was a more relaxing day. We woke up late and went out to breakfast. After breakfast we drove through the Blueridge Parkway (a scenic highway through The Great Smokey Mountains) and stopped at the welcome center and another visitors center to learn a little about the history there. Afterwards we headed home for the rest of the evening.
On our last full day in North Carolina Mike and I went on a train ride. I have been bugging him to take me on a train ride for years because I have never been on one and always wanted to ride one so we finally did it! And it was in the mountains!! It didn't go as fast as I thought it would have, but that's alright. We were able to see a lot of the river. We stopped in a small little area where we had lunch, but we had to quickly get back on the train. The stop was only an hour long (actually about 45 minutes when you include unloading everyone and getting back on to leave within that given hour). It was nice. When we got back we stopped in to see a train museum. My nephew Aidan would have loved it! The size and detail in the train models were amazing. After that we headed home and when Heather got off from work we drove to Jason's house to ride horses. He has 4 total, but only one, Smoke, was behaving. It was still fun. Thanks Jason!
Finally, on Tuesday, we drove back to the airport and came back to the Florida heat. Oh, by the way... North Carolina was experiencing a heat wave at 90 degrees. Mike and I laughed. :)
