continued NC overview

Monday was dedicated to Asheville. My aunt and unlce, mom, and I visited the Biltmore estate, this incredibly large, beautiful home of the Vanderbilt family. In my own words, they were disgustingly rich. The audio guide kept saying things like, "Most people did not have a toilet in their homes; the Vanderbilt's had 43," and, "Most people did not have electric lights in their homes; the Vanderbilt's had them underwater in their indoor pool in the basement." They also had two walk in refridgerators; most people used iceboxes. They had a two lane bowling alley, multiple kitchens, a beautiful library, and too many bedrooms to count, plus an electric dumb waiter and a call box in the pool room. Oh, and they're clocks were all wired to be exactly synchronized. After the Biltmore we met Tyler, Conner, and their friend Spencer at Moe's (delicious quesadillas, better than Mission Burrito, in my opinion). Even though I'd seen them just a week before at camp, it was a fun treat to see them in their new home. We also visited the Asheville Target store since Boone doesn't have one. Mom and I can't go long without Target. ;)

Tuesday was mostly spent in front of the Kodak Picture Maker in the Boone WalMart. Mom had some old photographs her brother wanted copies of, but all 25 had to be scanned in and then edited and cropped to make 4x6 prints (they were little square photos). The machine couldn't seem to figure out how to do a couple of the pictures; instead of doing them right (like all the others) it kept spitting out copies that were all red or all yellow. It knew it was doing them wrong though, so it kept trying, mostly unsuccessfully. Finally all the pictures were printed, but the stack of misprints outweighed the stack of good ones. We met my cousin's girlfriend and her daughter at dinner; they were super sweet.

Wednesday was our last day in Boone, so we went to Tweetsie Railroad to see the dog show--K9s in Flight. They were talented puppies, catching frisbies and jumping 25 feet into a pool of water. We rode the train and saw the cute, cheesy kids show that goes along with that before leaving. On the way to Lincolnton we stopped at Cone Manor and Blowing Rock for some more ice cream. It poured for the hour it took to get to Lincolnton. My aunt made delicious tacos and then we drove out to our old friends' house nearby. It had been six years or so since we'd seen them, and it was a nice reunion.

Today we just drove around Lincolnton, my aunt made homemade pizza, and then we headed to Charlotte to fly back to home sweet home. :)