Back from Vacation

Well we flew home last night and everything is still standing in relatively good shape. Our fist time leaving the boys home alone went ok. Jim and I had a really nice time in North Carolina. The first evening there was a fancy reception with wine and hors dourves at the hotel. The hotel was very fancy-down comforters, dual shower heads, terry robes. Jim was at the conference all day, so I slept in and then started exploring. When Jim finished up, we would go out to dinner. Charlotte is a really nice town, but expensive. Most of the restaurants had sidewalk cafe seating and the weather was nice, so we enjoyed that. The only thing that saved my diet, was all the walking you do when you are downtown. I was going to go to the Billy Graham Library one day, but getting around was tougher than I thought and the weather couldn't have been more perfect that day. After walking a couple of blocks and getting some breakfast, I decided to sit in the park and read instead. I didn't regret it one bit-it was the first day that felt like summer to me! I also thought about getting a massage at the hotel, but after spending $10 for a GLASS of wine one evening, I changed my mind. The prices weren't listed for the spa services-and that is never a good thing!

After the conference was done, we drove to Asheville. We took the scenic route, driving up into the mountains. It was lovely, until we discovered that a retaining wall had washed out and the road was closed. We had to turn around and drive clear back down the mountain and around to finally get there. Our bed and breakfast was a beautiful 100 year old southern home. We would get up and have a wonderful breakfast and then head out for the day, returning at 5 pm for appetizers and wine on the veranda (we northerners call it the front porch), and then into town for dinner. We had some fabulous food in Asheville! We visited Biltmore Estate one day. That is something I always wanted to see. It was huge and very beautiful. Spent the entire day there and didn't see many of the things we had hoped (the stables, the farm, the surrounding village, ran through the winery just to get to the tasting (hmmm... sensing a theme here). Our last morning we explored a few craft shops. Jim bought me a beautiful silver handmade bracelet. It has a pansy on it. Very pretty. I wish we had more time-Asheville is a really neat town and we didn't even scratch the surface of all there was to see. Mark Twain said, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness" and I understand. I feel like my horizons were broadened by this trip and look forward to taking many more.

Our flights were good-thankful for that. There were a couple of big storms while we were gone-no damage here, again very thankful. Last night a horrible storm blew through and two teens were killed as a huge tree fell on their car. Lots of damage around town. Thinking about going camping for the 4th of July, but we have had such bad weather that I'm not sure that would be a good idea.

Otherwise, not much is new. I rode the library float in the local parade again. It was not as fun as last year because they didn't get our registration and so they put us at the end of the parade. I had to lock Nate out of the computer today, so he will get off and look for a job. It is not going over real well. Have to start figuring out Noah's stuff for college in the fall. He still doesn't have a place to live!