Outer Banks in pictures

OBX

We're heading off on vacation tomorrow. It seems a long time since our Seattle Odyssey and what a contrast in weather! We are driving north to the Outer Banks, North Carolina's most famous stretch of sand. The Outer Banks is a series of relatively undeveloped barrier islands which change shape with the fierce hurricanes. We are staying in the aptly named town of Waves, south of Rodanthe made famous by the Nicolas Sparks novel 'Nights in Rodanthe'. Incidentally Richard Gere and Diane Lane were here in Wilmington filming the movie last year and I was in an art gallery when the call came in for paintings to be sent to the set ASAP. [Film to be released 3 October 2008]

It is the Outer Banks where the Wright Brothers first made flight, where Black Beard the pirate reigned and is the location of the 2007 beach of the year as judged by "Mr Beach" (Ocracoke beach) It is also home of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse, the international symbol of North Carolina. In short it is a jewel in the crown for our state and many many tourists venture here each year. This was the number one place on our travel list whilst here in the US as we would be kicking ourselves if we moved back to Australia without experiencing this place at least once.

We are staying at a house (above) almost on the beach. Given that is not school holidays yet we managed to get this house for a good price and we're looking forward to falling asleep to the sound of the waves. Blogging will continue next week so keep checking in. To keep with the traveling theme I'm going to post some photos showing some awesome holiday spots around the US.

Asheville, North Carolina

Ok so I said I wanted some cooler weather but that did not mean I wanted to experience 29 degrees (F) at 9am! Whilst staying in Blowing Rock we were greeted in the morning with a layer of ice over everything, including the car, which gave the appearance that it had snowed overnight! That being said the weather was kind to us and was generally in the high 60’s. Let me take you through the drive, the food and the sights.

Driving

Driving with an 18 month old child that likes to run around wasn’t easy and poor Lucy had a couple of melt downs when she just couldn’t take being strapped down anymore. In between she enjoyed watching Colin Buchanan on DVD, listening to her kindermusik CD using Dad’s headphones and reading her books. We all enjoyed listening to Charlotte’s Web being read by E B White, watching the leaves change colour as we headed west and having a pit stop at the Tractor Supply Co at Monroe (stocking motorized toy horses, deer feed and tractor tyres).

We drove via Charlotte on the way to Asheville which was a slower but more scenic route. We saw trailer homes, the Pee Dee river and a beauty supply company selling ‘human hair’. We even saw a town called Shelby! There were many many traffic lights on the approach to Charlotte which made the going slow (plus it was pouring with rain). The way home was via Interstate 40 which was fast (70mph) but reasonably boring. Both sides of the road were lined with rows of trees and once we were out of the mountains it was no longer scenic.

One of the cool things we wanted to do on this trip was to drive the ‘Blue Ridge Parkway’. It is one of the top 10 scenic drives in the US so it was something we did not want to miss. We drove two separate parts of it and we were amazed at the beauty of the trees as the leaves changed colour. One of my favourite moments was when the wind was gently blowing yellow leaves out of the trees above us which then flew around in the breeze and sunlight before landing on the road in front. Spectacular! Despite the drought and the unseasonably warm weather in October it was still a site to behold.




Dining

Dining out fell into two main categories: national chain restaurants and single site operators. The chain restaurants as expected were fast, convenient, and clean with food of mediocre quality (Chili’s, Outback Steakhouse, Dairy Queen and iHop) The only exception being Waffle House which was extremely dirty and had a ‘smoking’ section which means little when patrons walk through the restaurant to the exit with lit cigarettes.

Fortunately we did a little foodie research before traveling and discovered a couple of gems including Corner Kitchen (Biltmore Village), Crippens Country Inn (Blowing Rock) and Melanie’s Fantasy Food (Boone). The highlight was the watermelon salad at Crippens that consisted of watermelon, fresh mozzarella, basil, rocket, toasted almonds and balsamic vinegar served with lavash. The single sites on the whole were excellent but we were very disappointed with Eastern Lights (Durham) which was a well recommended Chinese restaurant that was far too Americanised (though the Gwo Tieh “pot stickers” were awesome). We even got a Southern fix at the Farmers Market Restaurant (Raleigh) with biscuits and hush puppies, fried ham steak, fried green tomatoes, fried okra, grits and mashed potatoes (notice the fried theme!)

Asheville

Biltmore Estate
This estate inspired our whole vacation and it lived up to its reputation. A family owned property built by George Vanderbilt in 1895 it is the largest home in the US. With around 4 acres under roof and 5 stories tall the house is amazingly large with 61 bedrooms and 43 bathrooms. It houses an indoor pool, a gym, a bowling alley, an architectural model room, library, observatory, billiards room and tapestry gallery. The kitchen comprises of 5 refrigerated rooms, the house keepers pantry, the canning room, the vegetable pantry, the pastry room, the rotisserie kitchen, the main kitchen, the kitchen pantry, the small pantry, servants dining room etc etc! The thing that amazed us about this place was the electrical innovations for its time. The house was awesome but not as good as Windsor Castle, the gardens were pretty but not as breathtaking as Versailles but nothing we have seen compares to the amazing things done here with electricity – pool lights, refrigerated rooms, and electric dumb waiters. Unfortunately with Lucy in tow we couldn’t do the behind the scenes tour which would have revealed so much more. Instead we picked up a picnic basket at the Bake Shop and headed off into the gardens exploring the hot house and playing in the fallen leaves. We ended up at the bass pond where Lucy watched the ducks. We then headed over to River Bend Farm (still part of the Estate) where Lucy patted horses, sheep and donkeys but was mostly fascinated with the chickens and owls. We ate ice cream, watched a blacksmith in action and wandered around a corn maze.

Mast General Store
“Quality goods for the living, coffins and caskets for the dead”. A small town department store on the national register of historic places specializing in camping and hiking gear but also full of tourist knick knacks. The first store opened in 1883 but this Asheville post is the youngest branch opening in 1940.

Peanuts – Pumpkin Patch Express
We boarded the Great Smoky Mountains train in the quaint village of Dillsboro for a trip to the pumpkin patch. The train traveled alongside the river (where the train wreck in The Fugitive was filmed) to the pumpkin patch where we bobbed for apples, took photos with Lucy & Charlie Brown, had a hay ride, patted the goats, and roasted marshmallows. And we picked a pumpkin too! Lucy was dressed in her ladybug costume and she looked SO GORGEOUS!!! The photos don’t adequately capture how beautiful she looked.

Malaprops Book Store
A fun bookstore with the poetry section at the front and the fiction section at the back it was an oasis I could have hidden in all day.


Blowing Rock

Linville Caverns
Underneath Humpback Mountain runs a river that has formed a limestone cavern. Now a tourist attraction but previously a hide out for deserters from the civil war we took a guided tour inside. There are blind rainbow trout living in the 42 degree water and Lucy was quite keen to jump in to take a closer look at them. We also saw a couple of bats hiding in nooks in the ceiling. The stalactites and stalagmites were impressive and there was one particular point that a column was formed where the two met. If only the guide who had a really strong southern accent had spoken slower we could have learnt a lot more.

Chimney Rock
Chimney Rock is a huge piece of granite 26 stories above Hickory Nut Gorge displays awesome views. Although there are trails to hike up we took the easy option and caught the elevator – yes an elevator in a national park, inside the rock itself! We had to go up a staircase of about 30 steps to get right up the top and boy was it windy and cold up there! Lucy wanted to do some rock climbing herself and was unhappy when we restricted her. It is a long way down! Well worth the visit and if we ever get back here we are definitely doing some hiking.

Blowing Rock
Given that we were staying in Blowing Rock we thought we should check out the actual ‘blowing rock’. A big disappointment and in fact it is so ordinary we walked past it the first time without even realizing. Lucy slept through the whole thing and we got her back into the car asleep and kept driving without her even knowing we had stopped.

Durham & Raleigh

Duke University
Pronounced ‘dook’ by the Americans we stopped in at the chapel of this famous college. Although in the middle of the city the campus had the feeling of a country estate as there were so many trees around. The chapel impressively stood at the end of a drive lined with trees. Brick work, stained glass windows and huge wooden doors. Lucy liked the sound of her screams echoing around inside so we couldn’t stay for too long but she enjoyed running around on the grass chasing squirrels.


Raleigh Farmers Market
Compared to Wilmington these markets are large but still weren’t all that impressive. Lots of pumpkins, mums and tomatoes available. The restaurant was great and we did some caching here (1 successful and 1 yet to be found). Probably more produce available on the weekends.


Wilmington

We got back home in time for our church’s ‘Fall Festival’. Instead of celebrating Halloween we had a night full of activities based on Pilgrims Progress. Lucy was so gorgeous firstly wearing a burden, then arming herself for the journey with a sword and shield and then traveling to the celestial city. It was so cool and she got lots of prizes, petted puppies and made a puppet. It was much more fun than trick or treating and she didn’t eat any candy (though she did have pepperoni pizza for dinner).

And thus ends our mountain vacation. I’ll leave you with some awesome pictures of the fall.

Sneak peak: Asheville

Lucy loves leaves! Here is one of the many videos of her playing in the crunchy leaves - this one was taken at Biltmore Estate.

Hitting the road...

We're off to Asheville for a week. We haven't seen much of North Carolina yet so this is our first real taste of the 'better place to be'. We are going to be travelling across both the northern and southern parts of the state and we are excited about experiencing fall! Asheville is located in the Smoky Mountains and we are looking forward to some cooler mountain living!

Blogging will resume again on Monday 5 November.

NC Fauna II

Our backyard continues to teem with wildlife. After a heavy rainstorm last week we had a visit from a tortoise - he has very unusual colouring as seen above. We also have bright green lizards (about 8cm long) that run along the deck and bask in the sun. They change their colour into a kind of brown when they run along the house bricks so maybe they are a type of chameleon.

On the bird front we have Eastern blue birds, woodpeckers (with bright red heads and black & white wings) and cardinals (a bright red bird that is the state bird for NC) We also have heaps of butterflies, more than I have ever seen in my life, flittering around looking for flowers.

It is a wonderland for Lucy.

NC Fauna

Jim, our neighbour and one of the few native North Carolinians around here, told me last week that the only inspect/spider/snake to worry about in our local area was a 'walking cane'. He described it as a black stick like insect about 10cm long. The problem with them is that they are predatory and if you disturb them they shoot out a mist of foul liquid into your eyes. Sounds a little freaky but I wasn't too worried as in the 6 months or so we have been here I haven't seen one. 30 minutes after Jim told me about them I encouter a nest of 4 of them (plus babies) on the side of the house where I am pruning bushes! They are mostly hiding under the plastic in the photo but as you can see they look a little scary. I am leaving them in peace and have left the pruning for another day!

So where the bloody hell are you?

Now that I have your attention you'll recall that the phrase above is the new catch cry for Australian tourism. My screensaver tells me that North Carolina is 'a better place to be'. A better place than where? Better than Sydney? Although I don't have the answers to these questions yet I am willing to investigate. http://www.visitnc.com/