Gallivanting Geismom: Out and About in Asheville

We started the day with another yummy breakfast, and headed out to explore the wonders of Asheville.

Our first stop was Biltmore Historic Village, which, unlike what its name implies, is actually a glorified shopping mall, with modern day fashion shops disguised as Shakespearean structures and brick sidewalks to emulate Victorian era streets. Marty and I aren't really "shoppers," so we found this to be a bit disappointing. So much for "stepping back in time" as the online description had suggested.

I did spot this Evangelical Church, built in 1895 by George Vanderbilt. It is marked as being on the Register of Historic places, and appears to have held up quite well over the years.

What you can't see is that there are five bells, hanging horizontally under the front peak. Quite a unique structure, and I felt that it exemplified Vanderbilts' Dutch heritage beautifully.

From here, we headed to the next venue of interest: Grove Arcade. Along the way, we passed this mural that seemed to be calling my husband's name.

But, we aren't here to fish. So, we made our way to the Arcade, snagging a parking place right outside the front. The building brought back memories of Jenkins' arcade in Pittsburgh, which I recall visiting as a kid, but this was much more "sophisticated".

Unique boutique-type stores lined the downstairs, and the middle and top floors were designated as offices and suites. But, you can see the beauty of the interior.

One of the unique shops was The Woodrow Instrument Company. A young man was working on the detail of one of these unique instruments.

There are four different styles, each unique to the sound of a different instrument: guitar, banjo, mandolin and lute. The man who founded the company wanted to design an instrument that would be easy to play for anyone. He believes: "If you got one finger and you can count to seven, you can play the Woodrow." Something to keep in mind, as I'd say most of us fit the criteria.

There was one more shop that caught my attention. It was bookstore/slash restaurant, which was loaded with shelves bursting with just about any title of book you could want. But, I was actually amused by what else the place had to offer. There were loads of bottles of Champagne, as well as lunch options. As you can see, pastries for dessert, and extremely interesting wall decor. To top it off, the employees wore white fluffy halos upon their heads. Definitely not anything you'd be seeing back home!

The outside of the Arcade was guarded by lionlike statues, each with their own given name.

(I have no idea who named them.)

We took a quick jaunt around the exterior of the building, but there wasn't much more of interest to us, so we decided to head to the Botanical Gardens on the outskirts of town, to see what it had to offer.

I'll be frank. It's early March, and there isn't much happening in respect to gardens at this time. But I did spot a splash of pink growing on a rock formation,

and a beautiful blooming cherry tree adding yet a different shade of pink to admire,

and a Purple Toadshade which I had actually never seen before.

The grounds are laid out with graveled paths, some lined with rock walls, making it a relatively easy to maneuver and pleasant to view.

At the edge of the gardens, stands the Hayes Memorial Cabin , built in 1893.

It was donated to the Botanical Gardens in 1965, by Hubert Hayes' widow, Leona, but there is no explanation to the origins of the cabin. I can only presume that Hayes was born in the cabin in 1901. Hayes is a local celebrity and is known for being an author, folklorist and the founder of Asheville's Mountain Jamboree.

The entire botanical walk took us all of 20 minutes so we obviously had plenty of daytime left for another adventure. So, we headed towards the Blue Ridge Parkway, and began making our way north to Craggy Pinnacle.

The road was beautiful, well maintained, and offered some incredible vistas as we worked our way up in elevation.

There were designated pull-offs along the way, each one strategically placed to offer an amazing view.

Here you see the sign for the "Bull Creek Valley" view from an elevation of 3,483 feet:

Upon the sign one reads:

THE LAST BUFFALO SEEN IN THIS LOCATION WAS KILLED NEARBY IN 1799 BY JOSEPH RICE AN EARLY SETTLER.

Does anyone else find this to be extremely interesting? I have so many questions: Who would be keeping a record of the number of buffalo killed, with the last being in 1799? Was a record made every time one was killed? How would they know when it was the "last" one to be killed? Why inscribe this upon a plaque for all to remember? And, do you think that Joseph Rice wants to be remembered as the man who gave up the last buffalo here? Ok, I'll stop. Something tells me that you don't know the answers anymore than I.

Continuing our drive, you can see how the vistas became more and more remarkable, and it's obvious why this is called the "Blue Ridge Parkway."