Through the Smokey Mountains

Day 2: Asheville, NC to Nashville, TN (293 miles)

We left the Inn at Biltmore Estate this morning after breakfast (okay, it was after 11 am but I am seriously dragging from this time shift deal). Bananas Foster french toast - mmm. The food was exquisite at the Inn. I took a pic of my Caesar salad at dinner, but I don't want to start posting pic's of food here. We decided not to tour through the main Biltmore house (summer home to the Vanderbilts), but drove around the property and took a few pic's. This is what most of the property roads are like...






Sorry for the through-the-windshield shots, but there were not a lot of places to pull off the road.

This is the summer home...


The gardens were also reminiscent of those found on Chateau grounds...







Nice little backyard greenhouse. There are also 4 smaller ones not visible in this pic.


And beside this waterfall, there is at least one small lake we saw on the property.

Okay, now on to Nashville...
The drive on the 2-lane highway 40 through the northern edge of the Smokey Mountains was beautiful. We hit a short burst of a southern downpour, but it lasted for only a few minutes. But we got to see the rain-sense wipers at work! It drizzled every now and then, but no more downpours. We passed through only a handful of towns before reaching Knoxville, TN (home of the Tenessee Titans). It was mostly mountainous forest driving and very green. If only we had more rain in NorCal (like only at night, I mean).

We didn't do much once arriving in Nashville; we will check out a couple of sites in the morning and then head out to Indianapolis. As in Speedway. As in 500. As in Brickyard.

So it was not a great day for car photos, once again. Hopefully we can get some good ones tomorrow.

Comments welcome, of course.
Well, except for Scott.

Ciao for now!
Jeff
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