Hershey, PA

Today we visited the Hershey Chocolate Factory.

They stopped factory tours  in 1972 and now they have a tour in small cars that go into a mock factory, explaining the process and showing the machines in process, but we didn't actually go into the factory.

Part of it were the cows explaining the addition of milk to chocolate.

 Hershey Park is closed on Mondays, so we didn't see it in action.  Check out the roller coasters.

They have 11 of them.

Then we took a trolley tour of Hershey, PA.

We learned the history of Milton Hershey.  He was born there, very poor.  Failed at his first 3 businesses and obviously didn't fail at his chocolate business.  This is where he lived, on a hill overlooking the factory.  He has done a lot of things for homeless children.  He has an entire school system there in Hershye for them.  Really amazing person.

Then we went to visit the museum on Chocolate Ave.

Here is one of his first Hershey bars.

The street lights in the center of town are hershey kisses, both unwrapped,

and wrapped.

As we headed home on I 78 in PA, we ran into Roadside America and decided it would be a neat place to stop.

This man built this 3/8" scale "America", moving trains, trollies, waterfalls, even a plane and many other parts.

It would be well worth reading the link above.  It was totally amazing.  It took him 60 years to build.

Gordonsville, Virginia

We are in a campground in Gordonsville, VA that is awesome.  There are fences around each large site, tables, benches, chairs, grills, sinks on cabinets, some even have a hot tub.  We were there to listen to a sales pitch to buy into this.  It's like a time share with campgrounds.  The campgrounds are all wonderful, but to make it worthwhile, it's something you should buy before you're 67, unless of course you're independently wealthy.

So off we went, heading home.  First we crossed into West Virginia.

Then into Maryland.

Then in Pennsylvania.  It was time to stop.  We didn't take the major highways, so the scenery was wonderful all the way.

Louisa, Virginia

Yeah, the forsythia is in full bloom, spring is here, down here anyway.

We met a couple at the campground and she introduced me to Chocolate wine, it can't get much better than that!  We visited the winery and I forgot my camera.  That's not bad, only the second time in 3 months.  We split a case, it's a red wine and soooooo smooth.

Welcome, N.C.

It poured all night so we didn't stop at the dog park, it would have been a mud pit.  We left Ashville and headed for Welcome, N.C.  There were a ton of these trees, I'm not sure what they are but it seemed so nice to see blooming trees.

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Don wanted to go to RCR, Richard Childress Racing Museum.  He used to race but now he's an owner.  Dale Earnhart used to drive for him.  He now has Kevin Harvick, Jeff Burton and Clint Bowyer.

They had many of Dale Earnhart's cars.

This is the car Kevin Harvick won at Daytona a couple years ago with.

This was one of Jeff Burton's cars.

Here's Don with the tractor trailor Dale Earnhart used.  You should see the inside, wonderful workshop.  And the car rides in a section over the shop.

I didn't realize that Brooks and Dunn drove Legends cars.

Richard Childress is also an avid hunter and an advocate on saving the wilderness.  He had a great wild life exhibit.

We then went to Greensboro to visit Kevin Harvick's shop.  Don was able to see the inside from a distance.  We then went looking for a quilt shop and found this one in my trusty "Quilters' Travel Companion" and I got my North Carolina fabric.

Then we crossed into Virginia.

Cherokee, N.C.

Today we visited The Museum of the Cherokee Indian.

It was very informative.  Their wax statues were so life like.

Most of the Cherokee were sent west by the English.

The museum contained many artifacts.  I thought of how exciting it must have been for the people who dug up most of this stuff.  It was incredible.

Here was another wax statue.

This wood carving stood in front of the museum.  By looking at the building in the back, you can get a feel for the size, it was huge.  I also visited their gift shop of items made by the Cherokee, baskets, wood carvings, weaves, beading, leather items....magnificent!

The Bear Project began in 2005.  The Cherokee wanted to showcase a variety of their talented artists.  They commissioned 25 artists to individualize these bears.  18 are completed, we found 11, one fell just as I was snapping a picture.  Of course I went to the visitors' center and reported it.  This one is named "Cherokee Sunset".

"Eagle Dance Bear"

"Patriot Bean"

Asheville, N.C.

We visited Biltmore Estates, totally amazing architecture.  The house is 175,000 sq.ft. with 250 rooms, 43 bathrooms and 98 fireplaces completed in 1895.  The carriage house next to it has been converted to restaurants and gift shops.

This is looking from the front door.  When Don took the above picture he was standing next to a large circular pool and fountain.  You can see the back edge of the pool on this picture.  The stone walls are actually stairs going up to the upper lawns with a statue at the end.  We didn't walk up there.

We chose to see the pools and gardens instead.  This is built in the mountains so everything is a different level.  A level down from the house are these pools with water plants and I'm sure lots of  fountains.

If you were facing the house, I was standing next to the left side of the house when I took the above picture.  When I turned around, I took this picture of a large patio next to the house.  These twisted trees filled a roof to the patio, I would love to see it in the summer when the leaves have grown.

Looking over the back and side edges of the patio, you could see this landscape.  Everytime we looked over the edge Don would say "What a great place for a golf course."  Obviously the Vanderbilts didn't play golf.

This was looking over the side of the patio at the back side of the house.

This is a view of the house from the side.  You can see the patio roof I was talking about.

There were statues like this  at the 4 corners of the extended gravel patio.

This is a foot bridge over the road that goes to the gardens.  The brick work and stone work was remarkable.

This was one of several gardens.  This is March so there wasn't much growing except a huge bunch of tulips about 3" tall.

This was the conservatory housing a huge amount of tropical plants.  There were many greenhouses behind this with lots of plants ready to plant in the many gardens and pots.

After visiting the gardens, we took a tour of the Biltmore house (no pictures allowed).  After seeing the billiard room, dining room, library, etc. I felt l was in a Clue game.  I had read that the Vanderbilts were good to their staff.  That was obvious during the tour.  Servants had I believe the entire 4th floor.  They were single rooms and all good sized rooms with their own living and game rooms.

After the tour, we took a ride through the property.  George Vanderbilt originally bought 125,000 acres, also building a town.  The estate now owns 8,000 acres, including a working farm and a winery.  The remainder of the acreage is now the town and Pisgah National Forrest.  There was a pond and a lagoon on the property, along with many streams and brooks.  There were several of these bridges that I like so much.

Those of you who know me know that I can't just see something like this and not do some research on it.  I wondered how the Vanderbilts made their money.  I found out that Jan Aertsen van de Bilt emigrated here from Holland around 1650.  They were generations of farmers on Staten Island.  One of his decendents, Cornelius Vanderbilt in 1810 at the age of 16, borrowed $100 from his mother and started a ferry service across New York Bay.  He ended up with a fleet of 100 steam boats going as far as Europe and Central America.  Some 50 years later he earned a second fortune in railroads including New York Central.  He died at the age of 83 leaving his $100 million estate to his oldest son William who eventually doubled the empire assets.  It is William's youngest son George who built this house.  There was also a long list of very generous things they did, like funding the Metropolitan Opera and several schools and universities.