Chickens Galore

Today Erin and I drove Robert to the airport in Charlotte, about 2 hours away. We passed this "chicken wagon" on I-40. There were feathers flying off the truck. Poor things.

Father's Day

For Father's Day Erin and I took Robert on a garden tour in Biltmore Forest. How did we get him to go on a garden tour you ask? Easy. Andie MacDowell's house was on the tour. Or Andie McGraw. Or Ali MacDowell. Whatever.

This is her house and garden on the golf course.

Robert didn't think much of her garden.

Sue & Roger

Last week (Sarasota) Sue & Roger stopped by for a few days on their way back to Michigan from Florida. We took them on our usual tour of Creston starting at the community center at the top of the mountain.

As usual, Star was there to greet us.
Then we took a bottle of wine down to Allison Falls. It looks like it was night time but it was just very cloudy.

The next day we went back up to Craggy Gardens. It was a week after our first visit and the rhododendron were almost at their peak.

Sue is such an experienced hiker she can do it with her eyes closed.

It was foggy that day so when we made it up to the summit there was no view but we enjoyed the fog. The lack of sun made the colors of the flowers stand out more.

PeeWee loves mountain life. She spends most of the day sleeping on the screened porch in a wicker chair with her blankie. Kind of like an old lady in a rest home.

She has made herself very useful watching to make sure Robert is eating a healthy diet.

She even predicts the weather.

Craggy Gardens

One day we took a drive up to the Craggy Gardens. Craggy Gardens is located along the Parkway and up until recently the Parkway was closed just south of the Gardens due to a landslide so we haven't been able to get there. It took a year and a half to repair it. Craggy Gardens is part of the Craggy Mountain range and has been a popular spot to visit since the 1800s. It is a heath bald, which means the plant material is all in the heath family (rhododendron, azaleas, leucothoe, blueberries, etc.) and there are no big trees which make it look bald from a distance compared to other mountains. The time to visit the Gardens is in mid-June when the rhododendron are blooming. There are a few trails so we decided to hike the Pinnacle Trail which is at just under 6,000 feet at the summit.

The first part of the trail is a rhododendron tunnel. Then through a forest full of wildflowers and interesting trees. A lot of the larger trees have been blown over from the high winds and have grown sideways.

The Craggys are home to some rare native plants that only grow at that elevation and at that location.

Even though the rhododendron we not yet at their peak it was still a beautiful hike. Once we reached the summit there were 360 degree views.

We barely made it home before a huge thunderstorm hit. Hail was coming down like ice cubes. Robert had gone over to another part of the development and the road was covered with ice like it was winter. This is some of the hail about an hour after the storm ended.

She's Baaaaack!

While we were gone a miracle occured. PeeWee came home! She already took over Robert's chair. Oh, and Erin moved down here, too. She is living with Amy & Cheri in a house Amy just bought in Hendersonville, about 45 minutes away. It's so good to have both my girls back!

Stimmels

Back up to the cabin and Jan & Stimmel came up for the weekend. You can tell by our WINTER COATS that it was COLD. It wasn't really boating weather but we managed to get one ride in. We spent most of the time hiding out in the cabin with the heat on. After they left on Monday morning we packed up and headed back down south.

Jan was impressed by our matching jackets.