Monthly Archives: December 2018

Contentment

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Arches and Canyonlands (59).JPGI encountered this elderly couple a few times during my summer vacation at Arches National Park. They were older but very spry and tackled the steep climbs in the heat as well as most folks half their age.

Their memory has stuck with me – partly because we saw the gentleman take a tumble off the side of a cliff – a fall that I was certain would be his last. Thankfully, he caught himself and scurried back up without incident.

I also think of them sometimes because of this picture. They were almost perfectly in sync with each other – they appeared to walk in step and often stood like this, like a couple of bookends.

More importantly, they just seemed satisfied to be together. Partners in life and hiking and exploration. It was nice to see two people who, at least from an outside perspective, were absolutely content.

If only we all were so lucky.

Christmas At Biltmore

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I have been thinking a lot lately about an after Christmas trip a few years ago. I went to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina to see the mansion decorated for Christmas.

In case you don’t know, the Biltmore is known as America’s Largest Home with 175,000 square feet of living space. The 250 room home has 35 bedrooms, 43 bathrooms and 65 fireplaces. Built by George Vanderbilt (grandson of industrialist and philanthropist Cornelius Vanderbilt), construction required over a thousand men and about ten million pounds of limestone.

Modest, right?

The home was opened to family and friends for the first time on Christmas Eve 1895 despite the fact it wasn’t complete even after six years of construction. So it seems fitting that they celebrate Christmas in a big way each year.

This is an amazing place to visit any day – I was once there in the summer and it was fabulous.  However, it is truly special during the holidays.

You can’t take pictures inside the house and I regret that I have no photos of my own to show you. The house is decorated to the nines with dozens of gorgeous trees, wreaths, displays of poinsettias, garlands and other amazing pieces of holiday decor.

It is breathtaking.

Here are a few images from the outside.

 

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If you go, keep in mind that the day after Christmas is typically their busiest day of the year. My advice is to either not go that day or get an early start in the morning. They have a gorgeous hotel on the estate but staying there will cost you. Consider choosing from one of the many hotels in nearby Asheville. That town also has a nice downtown with some neat shops and there’s a good bit to do in the area.

If you’re from Ohio, it is an easy trip straight down U.S. Rt. 23. Just watch your speed through Virginia. They’re pretty serious about their speed limits down there.

I wish I could remember the name of the sidewalk cafe where I had the most amazing blueberry pancakes ever. The ingredients were locally sourced and the atmosphere was a lot of fun.

Click here to look at other things to do in the Asheville area. 

Have you been to the Biltmore? Comment and tell me your favorite part. I’m a bit obsessed with the lion statues out front and have several pictures (including the one above) to prove it!

I Wasn’t Failing: It Was Just A Sinus Problem

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Last month I whined a bit about struggling with the C25K. Turns out I was just coming down with another bad sinus infection. That infection took me out for several days – in exercise, blogging and basically every other aspect of life.

It’s been a couple of weeks and I’m still not well but I am better.

Better enough that I have walked two days in a row and finished some chores because I couldn’t take the messiness for a minute longer. I’ll get back into the swing of things but it seems like a good time to say this: Sometimes we want to quit. But when that happens, it’s a good idea to take a step back and ask why. Sometimes it’s not that we can’t do it. Sometimes we’re just getting sick.

Give yourself a break. Get some rest, drink a lot of water and treat yourself to good nutrition before making any rash decisions. Be kind to yourself and, whatever the problem, it may just solve itself.

Adventures Revisited: Decorating A Travel Tree

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One of my favorite traditions is to collect Christmas ornaments from the amazing places I go in this world. Each ornament gets its own postcard or tag with a trip memory written on the back. Then both the ornament and memory are displayed on a tree devoted only to my travels.

Sometimes the ornaments are actual Christmas ornaments. More often than not, they’re things that I purpose into an ornament.

A stuffed buffalo from Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake, a toy plane from the day my dad and I saw the Memphis Belle together (that was our first big adventure just the two of us), a glass sun catcher from a trip to Wytheville, Virginia with my mother and a Canadian flag from Toronto are part of this collection.

Most items are new but a few are vintage like a souvenir pennant from Hollywood. When I visited back in 2004 I wasn’t collecting ornaments and I recently found this vintage piece in an antique store.

I decorated that tree this week and had a fun time reminiscing about my adventures. It was especially rewarding reliving this year’s fun with friends – Utah with Johnna, Fallingwater with Meria, Pittsburgh with Nichola and Virginia with my mother as well as the solo adventures I had this fall made me smile.

There are a few ornaments that I was careful not to read the tags or think about too much when I pulled them from the tote. Some memories are bittersweet enough they’re best left undisturbed. Maybe next year I’ll be ready.

But this is an overwhelmingly happy tree to decorate and enjoy throughout the season. Seeing the Biltmore decorated for Christmas was a bucket list item that I checked off a few years ago. Memphis is where I paid my respects to Elvis and where I saw BB King play in his club on Beale Street. A vintage toy train reminds me of my solo road trip through rural Indiana while a toy soldier reminds me of the morning I watched the sun rise over the George Rogers Clark Memorial and the tour I had inside the memorial – just me and a National Park Service Ranger. That Hollywood pennant reminds me of one warm Easter Sunday spent at Venice Beach. That was the only Easter I’ve spent away from home. A decorative Santa Claus tells the story of road tripping through Canada and finding the unexpected in Toronto last year.

I’ve never regretted taking a trip or the occasional sacrifice necessary so I can afford to do so. This tree is a testament to why.

Travel enlightens. It reminds us of our place in this world and how small we are. It teaches us about other people, their traditions and values. It gives us a release, an opportunity to escape reality and have fun.

It’s good for us.

I’m already dreaming of the next adventure and wondering what memories I’ll add to the tree next year.

 

It’s Just A Neat Picture

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fb6bI don’t really have anything to say today but love this picture and wanted to share it. This is the Civil War Memorial in the McConnelsville, Ohio town square. The Morgan County Courthouse clock tower is seen in the background. I took it during Morgan County Heritage Day back in October. Isn’t the sky great?

 

What Did We Do Before Google?

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IMG_5732I stayed in a hotel near Cincinnati last October. It was just one night, I didn’t make the reservation, didn’t take a picture of the sign and couldn’t remember exactly where it was. We were passing through and I took some pictures but nothing that gave any clues as to the identity.

I ran across those pictures this week and, since I can no longer ask the person who would know the answers to my questions, I Googled it. Luckily there are some distinguishing characteristics – it’s a remodeled seventies motel with a gazebo, gardens and a great old farmhouse.

It took about two seconds to figure out it’s the Kirkwood Inn in Mason. It’s close to a really good Half Price Books Store. All you amusement park people might appreciate the proximity to King’s Island.

It’s not the nicest place I’ve ever stayed but it’s a pretty good value when you consider the breakfast buffet served in the house and the ambiance of the garden. It was crowded inside the house that day so we ate outside that brisk October morning. It seemed a little cool but I still remember that meal fondly.

Since my brain preserved those happy memories, I’m grateful that Google helped me recall the rest!

Here are some more photos from the Kirkwood Inn.