The purpose of the trip was threefold: 1) research and writing 2) to see part of the eastern United States (since it's usually so inaccessible to us) and 3) spend some fun time with my friend! All goals accomplished. :o) Thank you to my wonderful in-laws for watching the girls while Alan and I were away (he was doing Reserve time in Georgia).
The trip started with a train ride (my research). Then Michele picked a city not far from the Greenville, S.C., stop on Amtrak's Crescent line. Michele arranged great accommodations and a car.
We spent our first day in downtown Asheville, which is such a charming city. Especially enjoyed: the Basilica of St. Lawrence, amazingly well-preserved architecture, the Urban Trail, Asheville Art Museum, Kress Emporium, the Mast Store, Longstreet (an antique map store), Tupelo Honey Cafe, Laughing Seed restaurant, Old Europe restaurant and Malaprops bookstore.
More on the basilica: You can take a 360 degree virtual tour here. The church has the largest free-standing (unsupported by steel or beams of any kind) elliptical dome in North America. The architect, Rafael Gustavino, resurrected ancient Moorish techniques employed in Catalan, Spain, to create the dome. How COOL is that? :o)
We spent our second day driving the Blue Ridge Parkway and in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
My camera and photographic skill don't do justice to the landscape. I was thinking about doing a photo montage using one of my favorite pieces of music: Aaron Copeland's "Appalachian Spring." But I thought that low-res streaming video would do a disservice to the pictures, even such as they are.
Someday I'd like to get a digital SLR camera that allows me to manually manipulate the aperture and focus. And I'll probably take a class in the future. But until then, here's what I have:
Blue Ridge Parkway (color):
Great Smoky Mountains National Park (color):
Black and white:
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We're starting to pack up to leave now, and enjoying some final hours in the mild weather.
all our love,
1 comment:
I especially like the first two and the third from the end. I will blog soon, really!
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