Until we checked the admission price (especially as related to the time we'd actually spend there), we'd considered visiting the Biltmore Estate on the southern edge of Asheville on Saturday.

Instead, we drove a little further south to the Carl Sandburg Home, a National Historic Site run by the National Park Service. And what a wonderful decision it was!

There's a nice hike up to the property from the parking area, and soon enough the house comes into view.

Carl was born in Illinois, his wife Lilian in Michigan; they met in Wisconsin when they both were members of Wisconsin's Social Democratic Party. Strong ties to the Upper Midwest/Great Lakes.

In later years, Lilian raised dairy goats. The barn, farm, and milk house exhibits were terrific... oh, those outbuildings!

Katie made friends with the kids.

Chickens, too!

The original chicken house is enormous!

Inside the greenhouse, above.

When in North Carolina... BBQ for lunch again! This time, it was at Hubba Hubba Smokehouse in Flat Rock, and it was fantastic! We obviously loved the idea of deviled eggs as a side option! I knew we were officially in the south when I saw pimento cheese pop up on the menu a couple of times.

And, you guessed it, we hit the Blue Ridge Parkway one last time...

We made it to the top of Mount Mitchell, the highest peak east of the Mississippi, but the very top was in the clouds! So cold and windy, too. 

I considered buying a sweatshirt, but reason prevailed... we were only there for a short time before heading back down.

* * * * *

We got up SUPER early on Sunday and made the trip home in a day.

One last breakfast.

We put our flag on the map in the cottage -- the third visitors from Wisconsin!

We said good bye to our sweet cottage.

And after a long (but pleasant) day of driving, hello to HOME!

Thanks North Carolina! I hope I see you again someday! (The end.)

After lunch on Thursday, we did a little shopping in town -- a resale shop, a used book store -- and stopped at a local pub to buy a gift certificate for our phone-finding bicyclist!

By then, it was time for Kate to head to the local coffee shop to meet up with Adam Void and Chelsea Ragan, two artists she's connected with in various ways over the past several months, all with similar interest in BMC. It was a big bonus for us that they had the opportunity to meet.

While that happened, I went to the Black Mountain Yarn Shop!!

I found these three beauties -- Traveller by Dragonfly Fibers (from left to right: Black Pearl, Cherry on Top, Dragonberry) -- to make Range by Andrea Marquis. The shop sample was intriguing!

And this: Folktale by Fable Fibers... the gorgeous colorway is called Black Mountain!

Just before I could get into any more trouble at the yarn shop, Kate popped in and said that Adam & Chelsea were taking her to the BMC sites at Blue Ridge Assembly and Lake Eden, and would I like to go? Hell yeah.

The former Robert E. Lee Hall, now known as Eureka Hall.

Adam and Kate heading toward the Gymnasium.

Camp was in session!

I insisted on another "tourist" photo.

The campus at Lake Eden is now privately owned, so we didn't galavant much; we were able to see the iconic (and nearly faded to obscurity) frescoes painted on pylons of the building by muralist Jean Charlot.

Adam & Chelsea invited us to their house, and the cyclist called just as we arrived. I went to meet him and retrieve the phone while Adam, Chelsea & Kate visited, took the tour, looked at artwork, and discussed future plans. (Yes, future plans!)

After all that, we stopped at a local grocery and added olives and avocados to our provisions, and had dinner in (as we did most evenings).

It was a busy day!

* * * * *

We made the short trip to Asheville on Friday.

We visited the Asheville Art Museum where, among many other things, there's an installation by artist Sharon Louden. People are encouraged to take selfies there and post them on various media sites, which I did (on Instagram). I tagged Sharon (but not Kate) in the post; Sharon happened to be attending Super Script in Minneapolis -- a conference fabulously captioned by none other than Norma! Sharon immediately responded to my post on IG, and then responded to a completely unrelated Facebook post of Katie's in a #Superscript15 group. Katie, who would have been in MN had we not already had plans for NC, was following along with Super Script (all weekend), and I told her that my friend Norma from VT was doing the captioning! It was just the weirdest set of small-world circumstance, taking place in the background in about 3 minutes, connecting us all.

We had a very tasty lunch at Farm Burger. Strolled and visited some shops...

Home Crafts, located within the Historic Grove Arcade, was full of all sorts of fiber goodness! I walked away with a hank of local alpaca.

Swannanoa is a community located between Black Mountain and Asheville and we traveled through there a lot, passing by Okie Dokies Smokehouse every time! The smoker was right out front and there was always something cooking!

So Friday night was Barbeque night! Kate had ribs, I had chicken and pulled pork... and hushpuppies. (When in North Carolina...)

And up the Blue Ridge Parkway again for a lovely sunset!

To be continued...

On departure day (Tuesday), Kate was off of work all day and I was off at noon. I finished packing and we loaded the car and were on the road by about 2 pm.

Just like tourists! A photo with a cheesehead-wearing fiberglass cow!

We righted a wrong on our way south by stopping at the Mars Cheese Castle -- a Wisconsin landmark for as long as I can remember, just north of the WI-IL border (the original store opened in 1947). We stocked on up cheese, Italian meats, and some of the best artichoke dip I've ever had (it was made in Greece and wasn't creamy, just lovely chopped artichokes and olive oil). (Not that there's anything wrong with creamy artichoke dip!)

From the road, we made an overnight reservation in downtown Indianapolis. We thought we'd make it there by around 9 p.m., but it had been raining hard and there were accidents and backups galore in Chicago-land, so we didn't arrive in Indy until after midnight.

Up early on Wednesday, we drove all day... through the rest of Indiana, Kentucky (via Louisville and Lexington)... with plenty of stops!

William Whitley House - Stanford, KY (south of Lexington)
The first brick home built west of the Alleghany Mountains.

We continued south through Tennessee (Knoxville... Nashville will have to wait), and finally...

...arrived in North Carolina!

With lots of curvy roads through the mountains (and stops), we didn't arrive at our destination -- an adorable little cottage a mile from Black Mountain, NC -- until around 9 pm but found the lights on, and this:

I had mentioned in early correspondence with our airbnb hosts that the main reason for the trip was because of Katie's interest in Black Mountain College (it was the subject of her Masters dissertation last year in Scotland). (You can read Kate's related posts at Young Space here & here and, for the curious or interested, there are lots of links within those links!) They'd made a trip to the library and checked out every available item on the subject of BMC! Kate already owns them all, but the gesture was so incredibly nice, and set such a nice tone for our visit! We watched the DVD before heading to bed.

* * * * *

On Thursday, I woke up to the sound of chickens (aka, providers of our breakfast)!

The view from my bedroom window (through the screen).

We did a little exploring after breakfast, stopping in at the Visitor Center and also at the Swannanoa Valley Museum. SVM had a nice display about BMC, and some very interesting local history exhibits and displays.

Among the things that turned my head was this blanket at the BMC display.

And a Clevenger Sox machine!

It was fascinating! There was also a nice fiber arts-related display -- looms, wheels, winders, etc.

We also took a drive up the Blue Ridge Parkway for the first time.

It's so beautiful -- and such a lovely highway. It is very well cared for, with limited access points, a reduced speed limit, and gorgeous views.

It was such a gorgeous view that Katie needed to take photos with all of her photo-capable devices. Turns out, she left one of them -- her phone -- on the back of the car and we drove off without a thought. After discovering that it was missing, we tore the car apart (at least twice), backtracked and retraced our steps, walked a ways along the highway...

...and by the time I took the photo above, I'd called her phone a half-dozen times, we'd stopped in at the local U.S. Cellular location, and had made a couple of stops in search of disposable cameras (which we obviously found). Having lunch and drowning our sorrows at the Black Mountain Bistro (fantastic seafood chowder!) and planning the rest of the day, Kate asked me what time it was. I reached for my phone, which was ringing, and I said, "You're calling me!" By the time I'd fumbled around, I'd missed the call, but eventually connected with a man who said that he was bicycling on the Blue Ridge Parkway and found a phone! He'd randomly stopped to fiddle with his water bottle and saw the phone when he looked down. "It's in pretty good shape!"

And, indeed, it was. There was just a little "smush" of the glass screen protector on the lower right corner... doing just what a screen protector is supposed to do!

She was without the phone for most of the day, though, as I didn't meet up with our cyclist friend until he returned in the early evening from his ride.

To be continued...