Asheville, North Carolina - The Biltmore, Nov. 4-5. 2019

Asheville, a town of Victorian charm-

Queen Anne/Colonial Revival architecture.

A Trolley Tour, 

The Biltmore (America's largest home),

and the Blue Ridge Parkway. 

Now a lovely B & B, but the interesting history says that 

Mr Wright died twice!

Apparently Mrs Wright was so mad when Mr. Wright disappeared

that she faked a funeral.

When he showed up many years later and begged for her to take him in,

she consented .

When he actually died, she had him buried in the original grave site. 

Captain Morgan, the pilot of the Memphis Belle bomber

was on a nationwide tour to sell war bonds,

and banked the plane 60 degrees and buzzed the two government buildings.

So many interesting facts on a Trolley Tour!

The Woolworth building and the original lunch counter.

THE BILTMORE

America's largest house.  It has 250 rooms, 46 bathrooms, opened in 1895.

George Vanderbilt II originally had the property on 126,000 acres.

The designers of this period were copying the European design 

of Gargoyles and Grotesques.

We heard that the workers may have copied their own images for the house. 

This used to be the stable.

Now it is a collection of shops and restrooms.

(no one is allowed to use any of the 46 bathrooms in the house)

 Dining Room

"back in the day" the presents were hung on the tree.

View of the 126000 acres from one of the verandas.

The Gargoyles are so interesting.  Note the detail.  

We heard that the stone cutters on this project were among the highest paid on the whole job.

(and that perhaps they carved their own portraits)?

The ceiling on the library reminded me of the  Sistine Chapel

A rare tapestry from Europe.

This fills only part of the 90 foot hall.

George's bedroom

The walls are covered in 22 carat gold.

The adjoining bathroom has a bathtub carved from a solid block of marble,

and the diameter is 6 feet.

The Louis XV room.

The silk flocked wallpaper has strands of silver running through it.

Masterful carvings adorn the outside of the building.

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY

A pleasant drive at the end of the day

on a very small piece of the 469 miles.

Lou wondered why they are called the Blue Ridge Mountains

😉

R&R in Charlotte, North Carolina - Nov. 2-3, 2019

Just trying to rest a bit after a week of hard work!

The Billy Graham Library is such a treat and testament to his life!

"End of Construction-

Thank you for your patience"

Such a good reminder for all of  us!

Charlotte has plenty of pretty parks to enjoy!

The young lovely, readying for her Quincenera

Just a pretty table decoration at lunch.

Samaritan's Purse, rebuild project - Week of Oct 27-Nov 1, 2019

Hurricane Florence flooded this area in 2018

Houses were so damaged that the new houses built had a
'safe house' of cinder block.

We felt pretty damaged after the week was over!
But we learned a lot - and after the pain subsided,
we were grateful that we could help out.
It is really amazing that they do such a good job with the
"know nothing volunteer help"

Day one, the Tyvec wrapping had to be removed because there weren't enough nails used to attach the plywood.  By the time we finished, there were plenty and the job passed inspection.

So interesting to watch the windows being installed.

This .22 nail gun takes a lot of 'man power' to get the nails to attach
wood strips to the concrete block.

And I can hold the ladder!!
(keep that guy from falling off )

The homeless had taken up residence for a while,

 so this opening had to be closed to keep them out.

Our supervisor said it was likely they could build a fire under here 

and burn the place down!

Adding decking to the back of the house-
starting in 'mid air'!

Our mighty crew,
still smiling after a week!

Kitty Hawk, North Carolina - Oct. 26, 2019

What a fun day!
Visiting Kitty Hawk North Carolina where the historical flights happened is such an enhancement to all the viewing that we have done in Dayton, Henry Ford Museum, Smithsonian, and visiting the Glenn Curtis Museum.  What a trip!

We started with the Monument to a Century of Flight in the town of Kitty Hawk.  At the entrance is a granite marker with the poem written by James G. Magee Jr., a 19 year old whose words have inspired pilots for years.  The poem is one of Lou’s favorites.

"Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,

And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;

Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth

Of sun-split clouds, --and done a hundred things

You have not dreamed of --Wheeled and soared and swung

High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there

I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung

My eager craft through footless halls of air...

Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue

I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace

Where never lark or even eagle flew --

And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod

The high untrespassed sanctity of space,

Put out my hand, and touched the face of God."

The monument has 14 wing shaped stainless steel pylons with highlights 

from 1903 to 2000.

This one caught our eye  because we had seen the Link Trainer Simulator

in the Glenn Curtiss Museum.

Also, the first flight attendant was in 1930

Does anyone know when Aunt Alice was a flight attendant?

The last and tallest column.

The Wright Brothers National Memorial

North Carolina

 I loved seeing this because we had been at the house in Dayton.

I am so glad that we had seen all the museums in our trip.  

It has been a terrific background to seeing 'the real deal'.

We had also been to their bicycle shop in Dayton.

 A terrific view of the life sized model with the 

Monument on the Kill Devil Hill in the background.

With the strong winds and the steep slope of this hill, the Wright Brothers were able to test and develop their gliders, which had to be hand carried back to the top of the hill through deep sand thousands of times.  This  90 ft sand dune has been stabilized by planting grass to keep the high winds from blowing it away 

( and to give us a nice walking path!)

With their thousands of short glider flights, they were able to develop their flying skills when they were ready for powered flights.

The large stone marks where the first flight took off on Dec. 17, 1903.  

The stone markers chart the four flights paths.

1st. one is 120 feet, took 12 seconds.

2nd one is 175 feet, took 12 seconds.

3rd on is 200 feet, took 15 seconds.

4th one is 852 feet, took 59 seconds.

Notice the rail next to the large stone.  

They had to build a 60 ft. rail with a wheeled cradle to launch the airplane.

The picture below shows the original bicycle hub used as a roller on the rail.

I was so glad we did not have to walk through the deep sand!

Life-size bronze and stainless steel sculpture recreates the historic 1903 flight