Phew! I needed a little break after that Washington blog!

But, there's no rest for the wicked, and I still have three unfinished posts to write so .. deep breath .. here we go again.
It was time for a little detour ..
Our original plan was to follow the Blue Ridge Mountains from here to the south-west but due to a recent visit to the vet with Merlin, we'd made a change of plans!
He turned out to have quite severe dental problems, broken and rotten teeth and roots, and infected gums. 
Estimated costs for surgery .. are you sitting down .. $800-$1200 depending on how many extractions! Yikes!

To make a long story short, after some long hours of Googling, I found a clinic in Richmond, Virginia (which is pretty much on our way south) that does dental surgery, regardless of how many extractions, for a flat fee of $240.
Yeah .. that was a no-brainer of course!
So, we'd booked an appointment, and one for a campground, and after a short 90 miles or so drive south from DC, we arrived at  Americamps RV Resort in Richmond, VA.

This campground was about 30 minutes from the clinic, with an easy on and off the freeway that runs right next to it. Fortunately you could barely hear any traffic noise.
Our appointment was for 7.30 the next morning, early enough to miss the morning traffic commute.
Everything at the amazingly well organized clinic went very smoothly.

They have everything down to a science, the whole procedure is like a well oiled machine, and although I'd been afraid that would make things a little impersonal, the staff couldn't be more friendly and helpful.
They have a nice waiting room with coffee, WiFi and a TV, and somebody who'll help you with any questions, he even gives tourist information about what there is to see and do around Richmond. 

We decided to go back to the campground to wait until we could pick him up, and made it just in time to join the (daily) free waffle-breakfast in the campground's little restaurant.

What a great service! They were delicious!

Before we knew it they called that we could pick him up again. Everything had gone well. They had removed 3 molars, 4 roots and an incisor, cleaned the rest and even clipped his nails!
We were also given some pain pills and antibiotics.


 

The next morning he was already eating, can you believe it?
We'd planned a day of rest so he could recuperate a little before hitting the road again, or in case there would be any complications.
James used the time to go golfing in the afternoon, and Merl and I had a nice, relaxing afternoon at the ranch.
And when we fired up the BBQ in the evening guess who was right there? He is some cat!

Bring it on, Dad ..

OK, onward! After one more day of rest, we headed west-ward towards Charlotte and, once again, to the Blue Ridge Mountains.
We'd booked a campground for 2 nights in Greenville, VA at the Stoney Creek Resort, a 'PA', for $21.

We didn't like our initial site, but fortunately we could move to the next one over, which was much better.

James went off to play some golf and Merl' did some more 'recuperating' and I downloaded some pics, caught up on Facebook and got some reading in. Perfect.

But we were there to visit Shenandoah National Park and to, hopefully, see some of those elusive fall-colors!

So, the next morning we drove out early to the entrance of the park and started to follow the 'Skyline Drive'.

(For some reason we didn't realize there was an entrance fee to drive this road. We ended up buying a year-pass for the National Parks. With the Everglades coming up, and several other parks, it will be a lot cheaper in the end).

Skyline Drive is a 105-mile road that runs the entire length of the National Park Service's Shenandoah National Park in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, generally along the ridge of the mountains.

It's a beautiful drive with many, many overviews and places to stop, picnic and go for hikes.

We came across some Fall colors, but it still wasn't what we had hoped for. Bummer!
Just our luck that this year fall is dragging it's feet!

 

Nevertheless, it's still a beautiful drive of course ... not while towing the RV though! (we're 13.4)

    

We had lunch at the Byrd visitor center about halfway and walked through their nice display of the history of the park and information about the region's flora and fauna.

In the next few miles that it took us to reach the end of our tour we suddenly came across a whole bunch of  amazing wildlife!
Two Black Bears, an awesome Barn Owl and two nice White-tailed Deer!

                                                  

Although they're quite common in this park it's still rather special to see one!

He was eating 'something' and couldn't be bothered. 

The next day we drove further south and west, basically following the blue Ridge Mountains, but staying on the major freeways. 

We're not taking any chances when we're hooked up, definitely not wanting to encounter steep hills or low overpasses!

Everything went smoothly ... until we arrived at our next campground in Ashville, NC.

It turned out to be build, or should I say carved out of a steep mountainside! Our site was of course located on the highest terrace, and we had to crawl and zig-zag over the very narrow, steep road all the way to the top!

The view was great but gosh .. it cost me another couple of years of my life! I tried very hard not to think of the way down when we had to leave ...

OK. Next.

We had made reservations to visit the Biltmore Estate early the next morning. In fact we were among the first group of visitors for the day!

We had an easy 30 minute drive to get there, and actually had to wait a little before the front gate opened.

The approach Road as you travel toward the house is already something special.  Each twist and turn was carefully planned to bring visitors a sense of leaving the city behind them and moving farther into the woods.

Parking is easy, there are some enormous lots, and a shuttle than brings you to the house.

This beautiful estate was on James 'bucket-list and we were really looking forward to this visit!
Built by George Washington Vanderbilt II between 1889 and 1895  on 10.86 square miles, this is the largest privately owned house in the United States, at 178,926 square feet!
Still owned by George Vanderbilt's descendants this 250-room French Renaissance chateau is a true marvel, the largest undertaking in residential architecture, and one of the most prominent examples of the Gilded Age.  

The beautiful Winter Garden

As I said, we were the first group to enter the house which made for a wonderful quiet (self-guided) tour, without a lot of people walking through your photo opportunities!
And of those there were plenty ... my goodness, what a house! 

The Banquet Hall with a 70-foot ceiling

There are displays of vintage clothing, accessories, original art by Pierre-Auguste Renoir and John Singer Sargent, furniture,16th century tapestries and more that tell stories and illustrate the lives of the Vanderbilt family, their guests, and employees.

And look at this beautiful library, with 10,000 volumes!

We were lucky enough to see the house already decked out for Christmas! It added a lot of lights and sparkles and a very festive atmosphere.

                                        

These amazing stairs in the back lead you to the second 'floor' of the library!

Vanderbilt's bedroom and study:

And look what I saw at one of the 65 fireplaces: Saint Nicolas and carrots (for his horse) in a pair of clogs!

Vanderbilt was an avid traveler, he must have picked it up in Holland!

The tour spans three floors and the basement, there's so much to see, how about an indoor pool, and a bowling alley, it's overwhelming!

After making our way through all 3 floors we were in dire need of a cup of coffee and something 'with it'.
Fortunately there happens to be a nice Bake & Coffee shop in one of the courtyards and the weather was beautiful so we enjoyed a nice pastry outside on the terrace.

Thus fortified, we went for a stroll around the house and through the gardens.
Designed by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, the formal and informal gardens contain 2.5 miles of paths.

 

The building is gorgeous from every angle: 

The many terraces give you  great views of the series of formal and informal gardens gardens and of the beautiful lily ponds ..

 

The Library terrace is shaded by this amazing Wisteria

From the South terrace you can see the Blue Ridge Mountains in the distance. 

All the land you can see belongs to the estate, deliberately acquired so the view would never change ..

The Rose Garden features more than 250 varieties:

The four acre walled Garden features flowerbeds planted in the 'bedding out' style, popular in the late 1800's:

What can you say ... it's truly as magnificent today as it was more than a century ago.

After strolling through the gardens for a while and a short visit to the Greenhouse we headed for Antler Village which is a small village built on the estate grounds to mimic the 'working' estates of Europe, with some rental cottages, a post office, shops, doctor's office, school, a church and even a farm intending that the estate could be self-supporting.

 

 On our way to the Village we drove by the Bass pond

It also houses the historic winery, originally an estate dairy barn, where you can enjoy complimentary wine tastings, included within the admission.
Guess where we were heading?

At the beautifully designed wine bar

Tasting some of the nice wines was a fitting end for our visit and of the day. 

We had a great time, it was probably worth the $65, although it's still pretty steep in our book!

And this is also the end of this blog. Another monster!

Two more unfinished posts to go .. I'm ready for a glass of wine ..