He responded to my side-eye by hastening to add that the ONLY symptom he was experiencing comprised a very stuffy head, accompanied by absolutely nothing else whatsoever. But...due to the whole "pandemic" and whatnot, I immediately advised him to go ahead and get tested anyway. I mean, I figured the likelihood of it being COVID, rather than a common cold, were approximately slim-to-none--but of the household denizens, he's the one who goes out least often, so the mystery of him contracting any kind of bug at all set off warning bells that called for further investigation. Besides, better to know, yeah?
Of course, this scuttled the get-out-of-town plan, since he wouldn't get the results until AFTER we were supposed to vamoose. And yet...there was one part of the agenda that could be saved...at least for those of us fit to travel. I'm referring to the fact that I'd purchased non-refundable--and extremely expensive, mind you--tickets to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, which we intended to tour on our way out west. While Husband obviously couldn't participate, and Riley jumped at the opportunity to, as he put it, "stay home and have some me time" (whatever the heck that means to an almost-17-year- old boy), Derek agreed to be my road trip buddy, for a brief overnight jaunt to the AVL.
And then...you catch sight of the...honestly, "palace" doesn't seem like an exaggeration. Because my photos don't capture the sheer immensity of the place, here's a figure that our bus driver threw out, which stuck in my head: there are FOUR ACRES of square footage inside that thing. And it's...um...grandiose? Ostentatious? Mind-blowing? Yes, all of these. (Banquet Hall, Salon, Tapestry Gallery, Oak Sitting Room, blah blah blah!) But after we'd ogled one too many excessively ornate spaces, Derek and I were highly amused by the underground section, where we encountered such delights as the "Halloween Room" (No, I don't know why), the bowling alley, the swimming pool, and the super-old-fashioned gymnasium (wooden dumbbells--how quaint!).
Once we'd gaped at all of the indoor delights, it was time to head out to the gardens, where I was looking forward to admiring some gorgeous summertime blooms, surrounded by spectacular surrounding mountain views. Aaannd, about that...no sooner had we stepped onto the terrace and begun drinking in the vista, than we began to hear telltale rumbles of thunder, coming from the increasingly angry-looking grey clouds wreathing the distant peaks. In about, oh, 5 minutes or so, fat, aggressive raindrops started pelting down from the sky...soaking us in no time flat, and delaying our ramble amongst the roses.
The only thing left to do was obtain some, you know, "real food" to close out the evening, so we picked up dinner from a cute little joint called Asheville Sandwich Company, which I'd scoped out during my pre-excursion research, and chosen based on its lovely selection of both carnivore and vegan offerings. (My crispy cauliflower banh mi with pickled veggies and sriracha mayo was sooooo tasty, by the way...) And finally, because it would be a shame to go all that way and NOT stroll around the 'Ville, we did our own little walking tour of the hip hop happening town, to soak in the nighttime vibe, listen to the street performers, peer in shop windows, etc. It was altogether entertaining, and left us feeling like we'd hit all the high notes on our (imaginary) To Do List.
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