North Carolina

Audrey and I packed up and headed east for a quick visit to Brevard and the beautiful surrounding areas before Hans and Aubyn move back to MT. I wanted to see what they saw, eat where they ate and experience some of the culture I had only read about on Aubyn's blog. It was delightful town and much more civilized than my little brain was imagining and it was wonderful to reconnect with my best cuz. We went early enough that the heat wasn't stifling but we still got to enjoy some hiking and a BBQ in Ingrid's lovely backyard/tree cove by the stream. Hans is impressively knowledgable about plants and general botany, pointing out and naming all manner of plants and flowers some delicious smelling, some edible and some poisonous. I noticed the marked differences between east coast forests and those of the Pacific Northwest. There were few evergreen but deciduous trees galore, which produces a fragrant and perfume like aroma vs the warm, piney smell that I grew up with. The rocks are even different, very large and slab like vs the jagged, rugged Rocky Mountains.

The streams are shallow and slow and oh-so clear, the stuff you see in magazines at the doctor's office.

The first day, Aubyn and I toured the Biltmore House and Estate while Hans stayed back and entertained Audrey.

What a magnificent and awe inspiring Estate. The "house" (castle, may be a more appropriate term) was breathtaking in its impressive enormity. To imagine having a summer estate with 250 rooms and 175k square feet, enormous wooden doors and sculpted stone, is absolutely mind boggling, not to mention the various gardens! It was really cool.

The next day was a meander through Pisgah National Forest and Botany 101. Audrey refused to be placed in the baby backpack and thus, forced us to either carry her or walk slowly while she would run, stop, try to touch poison ivy, run, stop, sit in a stream etc.



Then on to a fun BBQ at Hans' childhood home. His mom has a fire pit and table tucked back behind the trees all stealthy like; it is nicely cleared with a stream nearby.


Ingrid and Audrey were buddies…each thoroughly enjoyed the other

Our last day, Aubyn(who gets motion sickness) hung with Audrey while Hans and I trekked 45 minutes to a Navitat Zipline adventure through the trees. I was unsure that I wanted to spend three and a half hours hanging in trees sometimes 200 feet in the air but I committed, and was soon thrilled with my choice. Our longest zip was about 1100 feet long and surprisingly lasted only about 30 seconds. A whole lot of time is dedicated to clipping people to things and safety… with ten zips lasting 30 seconds you know the three and a half hours is spent doing a lot of Osha mumbo jumbo. However, it was much more fun than I imagined and I would do it again in a heartbeat.
It was a quick trip with two entire days dedicated to travel. I am certain it will not surprise you that flying with a 16 month old is less than fun. We woke at 4:30 a.m., and had two connecting flights for a total of three flights in 12 hours. Spending three hours in an airport with a girl who just wants to RUN is tiring, especially since you can't leave your stuff unattended. She only screamed and fought me for a few minutes before I won the battle and she napped through every flight but the first. All said, it was a success and worth the pain.