Keep this in mind when you look at the following three pictures.
Ladies Love Cool James (LL Cool J's house)
Steve and I at the NASCAR speedway.
This is a whimsical little garden in downtown Charlotte. There are inlaid tiles on the path and motion detectors along it that play sounds. On the trail with the bee walkway stones, it's supposed to sound like bees buzzing, but it sounds like purring cats to me.
It was 101 degrees F this day and the stools are covered in ceramic tile. So, yes, that seat was scorching.
Even though it was so darn hot, Pat and Steve stopped to play a friendly game of checkers.
All signs point to Charlotte.
Our second full day was spent at the Biltmore house in Asheville. It is the largest privately-owned house in the country and was built by George Vanderbilt. According to the brochures, he was a real dilettante, unlike his industrious forebears. Lucky for us, because the house is gorgeous and is appointed with many prized works of arts such as an engraving by Albrecht Durer.
This is the fountain in front of the Biltmore house. I wanted to get a black and white picture of it so that the water droplets would be distinctly seen.
The Biltmore is meant to be a self sustaining estate, and these are some of the cows they keep.
Do you enjoy those Lance neon orange peanut butter sandwich crackers? Well, here's where they make 'em! They also make a variety of other sandwich crackers, but the peanut butter has always been my favorite.
On our last day, Pat showed us Lake Wylie, one of his favorite hang-outs. That day was a refreshingly cooler day.
Pat sittin' on the dock of the lake.
This may look like we were not having a good time, but don't let that fool you because we were.