Vacation

As I mentioned earlier I am back from my vacation. It was another trip to visit my friend in Charlotte, NC. It was her birthday and since the last three years I've gone there for my birthday it seemed only fair to go there for her birthday this time.

We did the usual, eating a lot (including a new friend chicken place), seeing movies (Iron Man and Prince Caspian) and going to a NASCAR race.

The chicken place, Keaton's, was awesome. It is in the middle of nowhere in a double wide with an addition built on! It has great chicken and all the good stuff that goes with it, including coconut cake that day. Yum.

I wont bore you all with pictures of the race because you don't really care and you've seen the shots before. We had a great time and the weather was perfect. I was a little afraid it would be too warm but since it was a night race it wasn't bad at all and the breeze was fantastic. We enjoyed jumbo dogs, pretzels and many beers (16 ouncers no less), a good time was had by all. Ryan, "our" driver, came in 6th, which isn't horrible and Kasey Kahne won. In don't mind Kasey, he seems like someone cute younger brother so in lieu of Ryan winning it wasn't so bad. The beer and jumbo dog helped.

We finally went to Biltmore which is in Ashville. We have talked about going for three years but never made time to go there. Biltmore is beautiful, historic and amazing. Also, it is extra cool because my friend (she works in restoration) has worked on several objects there (fountains and sculptures) so she knows a lot about the objects and the house. We lucked out and the rain stopped just before we got there and we had a beautiful day in the garden, then toured the house and finally the winery. At the winery we did both a wine series tasting and a sparkling (a.k.a champagne) tasting. It was a long day but really worth the trip, I would highly recommend it. I'll end with a couple of my favorite photos.

A bust under the trellis, it has not been cleaned or restored.

The side trellis

Koi pond

Sculpture and side of house

Restored terracotta sculpture, the garland she is holding had to be recreated as it had broken into many pieces over the years.