Rio Travelers: April 2014

Sunday, April 6, 2014

ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

Last stop - Asheville, North Carolina! The Biltmore Estate, egg in a bag breakfast, a painting demonstration by our "artist in residence", the Farewell dinner and more games. This time it was a Pancake Toss with judging for the number of pancakes caught as well as the style in which they were tossed and caught. A fun time was had by all.

The Biltmore Estate, built by George Vanderbilt in the 1890's is the largest private home in the country and is still owned and operated by the family. It has 43 bathrooms and at least that many bedrooms and a dining room with a table that seats 38. Unfortunately, photos of the inside of the house are not allowed so, if you haven't seen it, plan a visit. It and the country around it are breathtaking.

One of our guests, Monte Toon is a watercolor artist and he was gracious enough to treat us to a demonstration of his techniques. A very enjoyable evening was had by all who attended and I think there may be a few of us who try their hand at watercolors after watching Monte. His work can be seen on his web site. www.monte-toon.artistwebsites.com

Our Farewell dinner, held at a local restaurant was sad because, after 39 days together, it was time to say our good-byes. As with all our trips, it is hard to leave our new friends but, because of our traveling lifestyle, we are able to say "See you down the road" and mean it.

On that note - this will be our last post for several months. We will head home to Florida until sometime in June when we will head out again for points north and west. We will visit friends in New Jersey and family in New York then head to Vermont for two rallies. Our Maritimes trip was cancelled but we are scheduled for the Big Sky trip through South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado that starts in early September.

BILTMORE ESTATE

WATER COLOR PAINTING LESSONS BY MONTE

EGGS IN A BAG BREAKFAST

MONTE HELD DRAWING FOR THE TWO PICTURES HE DID THE NIGHT BEFORE

FAREWELL DINNER

BARNEY FIFE LOOK A LIKE

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA

Our next to last stop was in Charleston which is one of my favorite cities. We stayed outside the city in Oak Plantation RV Park for 3 days and had a very busy schedule. Our first full day included a bus tour of the city where our guide pointed out many of the highlights of Charleston, including all the beautiful homes and the Citadel which is a private military college. We stopped at the City Market for lunch and some shopping then went on to visit the country's only tea plantation as well as the Magnolia plantation and gardens. The tea plantation was an independent venture but is now owned and operated by Bigelow tea company and it was very interesting to learn how tea is grown and cultivated. Magnolia plantation was a rice plantation (not cotton like I assumed) and has been open to the public for tours since after the Civil War.

We had a free day for everyone to explore the area and the next day had us driving to Patriot's Point to visit the Navy ships on display. There was the aircraft carrier Yorktown, a destroyer escort and a submarine open for tours. After lunch, we took a boat ride out to Fort Sumter which is a National Monument. The weather was great and everyone had a good time.

Evenings had us gathering for social hour and playing some games. Karen was able to catch the most pencils one-handed and won a bottle of Rogue beer. Cathy was able to get all the ping pong balls out of the tissue box tied to her back but, as you can see Jim gave it a good try. We celebrated Lon's birthday with pizza and cake. Social hours are never "mandatory" but most everyone returns for them at the end of the day.

ITS TIME FOR "MINUTE TO WIN IT"