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Hiking on the Woodland Trail, Blue Ridge Highway
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| Dogwood in bloom, Blue Ridge Highway |
On May 6, 2013 Sharon and I flew to Raleigh-Durham airport in North Carolina. Daughter Susan met us at the airport and drove us the 200 miles West to Asheville where we checked into a motel for a 4-day stay. The next morning we began our explorations of the Asheville area. First we drove to Chimney Rock, but the entrance was closed because of rock slides from recent heavy rains. We then got onto the Blue Ridge Highway, the most visited of all the National Parks in the U.S. We stopped at several locations along the highway to hike and explore. The dogwoods were blooming in the woods and trillium were blooming on the forest floor.
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| Basilica of Saint Lawrence, Asheville |
Returning to Asheville we visited the Basilica of Saint Lawrence. This is the same saint for which my alma mater, St. Lawrence University in Canton, NY, is named. We then spent several hours in drizzling rain at the North Carolina Arboretum, one of Asheville's top tourist attractions. There was an interesting display of bonsai plants and a large quilt garden created by blooming pansies.
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| Bonsai Azalea at the North Carolina Arboretum, Asheville |
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| Pansy Quilt Garden at the North Carolina Arboretum |
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| Blue Ridge Highway, Asheville |
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| Trillium in bloom |
We spent one full day at Biltmore, the largest private home in the United States. The home was built by George Vanderbilt, the grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt, one of the richest men in America at the time. With 250 rooms, extensive gardens, vineyards and a vast woodland the house and estate rivals the castles and great mansions of Europe. We were one of the first visitors through the gate and before touring the mansion we were able to explore the Conservatory and gardens by ourselves. The planted woodland and the gardens were designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, the same landscape architect who designed New York's Central Park. In the month of May Biltmore is in full bloom. Most impressive to me were the many azaleas and the abundance of wisteria, some of which had huge trunks indicating that they had been growing at Biltmore since it was opened in 1895.
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| Biltmore House, Asheville, NC |
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| Conservatory and gardens at Biltmore |
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| Azalea and Wisteria in bloom at Biltmore Estate |
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| Azalea garden at Biltmore |
When we returned to Durham, we had the opportunity to tour the Duke Lemur Center, which houses one of the world's largest collections of lemurs, primates that naturally occur only on the large island of Madagascar. The Center is involved with research and education efforts that hopefully will contribute to the conservation of these unique and endangered animals.
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| Duke Lemur Center, Durham, NC |
We also visited the Duke Gardens on the Duke University campus, one of the top 10 gardens in the United States.
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| Duke Gardens, Durham, NC |
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Arch Bridge in the Duke Gardens |
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| Great Blue Heron, Duke Gardens, Durham, NC |
The highlight of our North Carolina visit, of course, was having the opportunity to see daughter Susan graduate from the Nichols School of the Environment at Duke University with her MS degree in Environmental Management.
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| Susan graduates from Duke Univ. with MS in Envtl. Management, May 11, 2013 |
