7 days with 17 people in 1 big house in NC. It was a lot of fun and no one killed anyone.
The driveway to the house was CRAZY steep. There was enough room for all of us to park, but not enough room to turn around without a lot of thought. It was a big puzzle to solve each time a car left and caused more than a little anxiety while climbing and descending. I was soooooo thankful that we got new brakes and tires before the trip even though I paid through the nose for them.
The t-shirts were a hit. We all wore them on the first day when we went hiking together. Group pic is posted on FB for those of you who are friends with me. Although people kept asking us where Camp Lastname was.
We went to Biltmore and I was a little disappointed. I loves me a good house tour, but this place is crazy expensive to get onto the grounds (undiscounted admission was $59) and then they want you to pay $10 more for an self guided audio tour or $17 more for one of the guided tours of the house. So $59 only gets you a brochure and a free-for-all through the house. There was just a little too much disney going on with the forced photo inside the house and the gift shops at every turn. All that and it was still crazy crowded on a Tuesday morning. I don't want to think about what it is like on a weekend.
H and I stumbled upon a crime scene while wandering amongst the dirty hippies of Asheville. I got to add another 911 call to my repertoire. We saw two bikers speeding away and then noticed a semi-conscience man at our feet bleeding from his mouth. While we waited with him for an ambulance I chatted with a few people who had seen a little more of it from a distance. One guy said that one of the bikers took a photo of the the guy's bloodied face before they sped off - like maybe they needed proof that they had done a number on him. Of maybe it was just a souvenir. He wasn't robbed. His i-pod and backpack were still laying out in the sidewalk about 20 feet away.
That night my brothers, their wives and one of my BILs wanted to go to see a band at a bar on the same street but I was a little too spooked to go along. They had much better luck. They ran into Claire Danes instead of a half-dead dude. My brother tried to take a picture of my BIL that would capture Claire in the background as she exited the bathroom. She noticed and she and her husband left. Then they just happened to run into her again as they went to their car and it totally looked like they were stalking.
Back at the house I came in 2nd in the Wii Just Dance tournament. Really, the tournament brackets were poorly structured so that some of the best dancers were eliminated too early. I was really just the winner of the "over 30" crowd, but I'll take it. And now I need a Wii.
H and I took my nephews for a day. We went paddle boating on a little lake (really a pond, but they called it a lake). It was hilarious. One of the twins loved it and the other was scared. They had to bring him back to shore to sit with me. It made a good excuse for ice cream.
Air conditioned went out at the house Thursday night. It was warmer than we would have liked but never completely miserable. Repair men came on Friday and ignored our warnings about the driveway. They declined our offers to move a car and give them a little room to do a 12 point turn-around. They opted to back down the steep driveway and I had to hide my eyes when I saw and heard them sliding the last leg of it (not wet, not icy, just tires screaching and sliding down dry concrete). I'm telling you, that puppy was STEEP!
H and I took an extra day driving home. We drove some of the Blue Ridge Parkway and took state highways back into eastern Kentucky where we stopped at Cumberland Falls and spent the night in a little town where H lived for five years as a kid. I had an interesting chat with a lady at a rest stop. She was lost and trying to get to a wedding that had started 30 minutes earlier. I looked up directions on my phone for her. After pointing her in the right direction she continued to chat and tell me about the couple and why they were getting married where they were, why she got away from her house late, yadda, yadda. All the while she managed to keep a potato chip perched on the end of her extremely large and unsupported bosom. It made me giggle much to much. It was like peeking 30 years into my future.
Overall, a great trip. No major drama. H and I only had one nasty fight and I never had any panic attacks about the road even there was A LOT of driving on winding twisty roads.
I just a friendly gal looking for options.
