Esther, where are you?

[Jerry]

We miss you, vacation maybe?  be well!

[tammie]

Esther is on vacation.
Tammie

[Cindi]

Esther and my Dad are in Asheville, NC meeting some ponding friends from another forum.  She should be home in a couple days. 

[Jerry]

Nice to hear. I think Mickey is there too!

[Mikey]

We are still here in NC but hugged Esther last night and said goodbye to her and Pete.  They should be on the road again headed north......with a bunch of  pizza that we didn't finish eating last night.  They are a very nice couple.  It was a lot of fun meeting up with Esther.

From this forum we also met Lorraine and her DH and their very special son Mikie.  And we got to meet another forum member from Iceland who has been galavanting all over the south after having landed in Baltimore earlier in the week.  Kristin is quite a kick,  or "hoot" as people here in the south would say.  A group of us were up late last night through early this morning chatting. 

[kaz]

Don't go wearing old Kristin out... she's coming over to me this summer!  Glad you are having a great time

[Jerry]

I am bloody jealous!

[tinkster]

Hope you are having a great time!  If you get a chance take route 74 to chimney rock state park (1/2 hour trip with some of the most beautiful falls and senerary you will ever see) and go down to the store at lake lure.. you wont believe the pond/waterfall they have built there!

tinkster

[Kittyzee]

I am too Jerry...since they are driving/flying all over the country...they can just stop in a see us all   What's a few states if you've flown from Iceland?   

[Ky Kim]

Sounds like alot of fun. 

Kim

[Brian]

Tinkster,
Chimney Rock is awesome, isn't it?  I spent the day there with our youth group from church many years ago.  We were at summer camp at Ridgecrest North Carolina just east of Ashville and Black Mountain.  Saw Lake Lure from atop Chimney Rock, but didn't make it down there.

[Esther]

Hi gang,
Yes we were in Asheville with a bunch from JBs. We arrived home tonight about 6. Seeing I had taken the brushes and filter media out of the skimmer/filter, the pond was a bit of a mess. But it won't take long and it'll be cleared up.

Ky Kim, we went right through your town and I bet I thought a dozen times about trying to find you. I had taken my "brains" book with me. It has all my computer stuff in it and all the address of pond people I have exchanged stuff with. But a lot of good it did, the laptop I had taken wouldn't work for some reason. Anyway, I was so tempted to find a phone book and see if I could find your last name and then address and give you a call. In the end, I decided I had put my DH through a lot by just having him agree to make the trip with me. On top of that, we had a blowout 3 hours after leaving home and then another flat about 2 miles outside of Asheville when we left to come home. So I didn't dare push him too much after that.

Tinkster, I thought about you too but when I looked up your town, you were quite a ways out of the way from where we were going. Sorry. I would have enjoyed so much to meet up with you and/or Kim.

[tinkster]

Glad your home safely and hope you had a great time.. IF I had known yall were going to asheville I would have went.  My mom still has the old homeplace nestles in the top of the mountains there. I could have shown yall some reallllly pretty places   Maybe next time.

Did ya like the biltmore?  I dont care much for it for some reason.  I many other things there I like better.  I think asheville is pretty but you dont really see much of the mountains from there.

Tinkster

[Esther]

I guess there's different ways of thinking about the Biltmore. Some thought it was just way too opulent, which it was, but maybe seeing we have no way of understanding the wealth that those folks had, we just don't understand their way of thinking and life. I enjoyed the house tour and grounds. We didn't have time to do the garden and I wish we would have skipped the winery and wine tasting and done the garden instead but that isn't the way it worked out. I enjoyed the house tour and learning about the history of the place. What a different way of life!!!

Mostly all we had with the group was Friday supper, and all day Saturday. It pretty much takes all day do to the Biltmore house, the gardens, the winery and wine tasting, and have lunch. We did get together Saturday night at the hotel and had a chat time and pizza party.

[Mikey]

Tinkster: This was our second trip to Asheville and I recall driving by the turnoff for Chimney Rock both times.  I'm sure we will be back again some time so I will make a mental note that it is a "must see".  We drove the Blue Ridge Parkway from Asheville towards Murphy today.  That was a very scenic drive with viewpoints nearly every 1/4 to 1/2 mile.   Beautiful country here!

[tinkster]

Yes it is..  I have driven the blue ridge parkway coming home and it sure makes for along trip and if your car is not in the bestest shape you arent going over part of it

If you ever get back to Asheville you would do very well to hit chimey rock and black mountain.. particulary chimney rock.. they have this huge rock that looks like a chimney and they have blasted out the inside of it and the elevator takes you to the top of the moutain inside this chimeney.. the view there is amazing and then the hikes to some falls that are beautiful.

tinkster