After a lot of activity in July, Pat and I decided to take a few days of R&R in the beautiful North Carolina Mountains. We spent a lovely weekend in Asheville, NC and took in much of the sights. There really isn't much to report here but we did manage to take quite a few pictures of the scenic views.We enjoyed a great meal at the Jerusalem Garden Cafe and were entertained by the belly dancers on our first night. Who knew?! The next day we walked all over the city. The Grove Arcade is a great place to roam around - lots of little shops with very interesting trinkets. In keeping with the popular trends in many American Cities, the Grove Arcade boasts a live/work atmosphere. 
Most impressive was the architecture and history of the building. Pat's impression was correct when he said he was reminded of a NYC Sky Scraper. Pat was completely perplexed to learn Asheville is home to one of the very few Basilicas in the USA. The Basilica St. Lawrence is famous for having the largest freestanding elliptical dome in North America. The ornamental gardens were pretty too!
For something silly, we took in a guided tour of the city. Of course, not just an ordinary tour - we opted for the Ghost Tour. It was a lot of fun and it did provide a lot of history and local color. Alas, there were no visits by ghosts.
We opted to maximize time away and took the Blue Ridge Parkway home. No, it is not the most direct route back home, but it is definitely the most picturesque. We even stopped to smell the flowers a few times a long the way. Well, maybe we didn't actually smell flowers, but we did enjoy the views of some of the vistas. The highest point was 6053 FT. For whatever reason, Mother Nature made sure there were plenty of butterflies and flowers to enhance the beauty of the moment.
