Charlotte

I know I have been on vacation for a week, and not a word, sorry about that, the lady whose House I was staying at, her computer was so slow. Anyway now I am in Charleston I can write a book.

Last Friday i drove from Charlotte to Asheville to go see the Biltmore estate. ( Van Der -Bilt fortune) a very large estate with built in 1895 with lots of rooms to impress the guests. the usual story is that you are not allowed to take photos, but that has never stoped me. there is an amazing collection of really old books and prints from that time period. and hanging on the walls are several tapestries dating for the 1540 s ( that could be better looked after). a large winery on the estate as well.the wine tasting was kinda fun. but I am not into shipping wine back to AK though. photos will be coming i am not sure when.

for some reason the weather gods didn't like me and while I was there it started to snow. Ashville is almost in the mountains, there was snow on the beautiful long drive down to the gate , i thought that once I was down lower the snow would stop. no such luck, some cars were driving at 30 miles an hour with the hazards lights on on the freeway. the 140 miles back to Charlotte was about 40 miles an hour so it took me 4 hours. it was wet slushy snow. with several cars in the ditch etc. ( that probably could have gotten out if they knew how) the drive up was only 2 hours 20 . on nice dry roads.

Thursday i went out to north Charlotte to look at a plantation from 1800. it still had some slave quarters, probably cleaned up a lot. They would have been cold to live in.

there has been some shopping of course, and on Sunday got to go pick up Kerrie and hang out with my nephews who run around really fast. Please remember that i am the child free auntie.

i definitely don't like big freeways, with large trucks and fast cars, i have managed better than I did on my last sojourn south to the lower 48. 80 mph and i am getting past. GPS systems are worth their weight in gold, i can still manage the odd wrong turn.

Monday this week I found a dance studio that had some classes in swing that actually taught me a new east coast move. I guess i don't know everything I thought I did in east coast.

yesterday Kerrie and kids came down to Charleston , I dropped her off at her friends and found my hotel which is down town, more on Charleston another time.