Trip # 2 for 2024 – The Bradleys in Texas

So, for Trip # 2 in 2024, Trace and I went to North Carolina. This is one state I had never been to, other than to fly through Raleigh a time or two en route to another destination. Trace spent a short time at Fort Bragg (now known as Fort Liberty) just outside Fayetteville, but that was many, many moons ago. Thus, North Carolina was a perfect place to check off on our USA bucket list. We spent eleven days in this gorgeous state and literally went from one end to the other. We started out in Wilmington, which is right there on the east coast. We spent four nights there. Then we moved on to Charlotte, spending two nights there. Finally, we spent our last four nights in Asheville.

All I can say is that if we had visited North Carolina before we decided to move to Texas, we probably would be living there now! Trace and I absolutely loved the Wilmington area. Personally, I loved the Asheville area almost as much. Trace did not share my sentiments there as he thought there were “too many trees” around there?!?! And as for Charlotte, it was nice but certainly not as impressive.

The weather cooperated for the most part, with only a couple of showers on two days. The folks in North Carolina were complaining about their “record heat” (low 90’s), but Trace and I were like, “this is great!” They would look at us like we were crazy until we explained that we were from Texas, where we already had temps in the 100s.

As always, I took my trusty camera with me and took almost 200 photos. I wish I could share all of them with you, but it would probably break my website. so I’ll have to settle for giving y’all a sampling from the places we visited. I hope you enjoy the pics. I sure had loads of fun taking them.

Wilmington

Wilmington basically sits between the Cape Fear River and the Atlantic Ocean. It has a huge historical district that was spared during the Civil War. Here’s a little bit of history for you: Fort Fisher was located south of the town at the mouth of the Cape Fear River. It was a major hub for bringing arms, food, medicine, and supplies to the confederate troops. When union troops were able to capture the fort, it was a crushing blow to the confederacy, and North Carolina soon fell. Union troops pretty much destroyed the fort but went no further up the river and thus the town of Wilmington was spared. So their historic district has many “pre-Civil war” dated buildings and homes as well as “post-Civil war” structures.

This is an example of a home that pre-dates the Civil War. This is the Burgwin-Wright house and it was built in 1770 atop of the city’s early jail. It was comandeered by General Cornwallis during the Revolutionary War and he used it as his headquarters. It became an actual residence in 1799 when it was purchased by Joshua Grainger Wright.

And this is a good example of a post civil war era home built in the Victorian style of the early 1900s.

The above photos are of the historic Cape Fear riverfront area which is just a section of the historic area. The buildings today house restaurants and shops on their ground floor, and apartments and hotels above. There is a marina there where you can see some of the pleasure boats anchored. Additionally, anchored there for a short time is an exact replica of the ship used by the explorer, Magellan, during his expeditions. I’ve got more photos of that later on. Stay tuned…

Also anchored in the Cape Fear River is the battleship USS North Carolina. This is a decommissioned WWII battleship.

Wilmington is a busy port city. This is one of the coolest bridges I have seen for allowing the huge cargo ships to get up the Cape Fear River. Instead of the usual drawbridge that most places have, this bridge is somewhat different. The whole center section between the two piers raises up like an elevator with this bridge.

The Cape Fear River area is home to a plethora of different birds. A seagull is in the first photo and I have no idea what that bird is in the second photo. But I can tell you that it made an enormous amount of racket! He was definitely pissed off about something!

So, Trace and I took an evening cruise up the Cape Fear River. These are just a couple of photos that I took. Check out the pelican flying through my top photo. There are a ton of pelicans in that area. In the bottom photo, I was lucky to have a full moon to capture.

Ok, so the top three photos are a couple of shots of the Magellan ship. We were able to take a self-guided tour of the ship. I just cannot imagine living aboard this thing for months at a time!! Oh, and notice that the flag flown on that ship is of Spain which was the country that “sponsored” Magellan’s expeditions. And as for the last photo, let’s just say that Trace has never met a pirate that he did not like! Aaarrrgghhh!

So these are a couple of photos Trace shot with his iPhone. (I refused to bring my camera to the beach!) For the record this was Wrightsville Beach. This is what really made me love Wilmington. I just love being by the water! But here is the rub: that was about as far out in the water as the lifeguards would let you go, as there were some huge rip currents about. The minute you would get about up to your waist, they would start blowing their whistles and waving you in. But it was still nice and cool (literally) to be by the water! The second photo was taken from on top of the pier with the beach in the background.

Charlotte

We only spent two nights in Charlotte, and it was a weekend. Our hotel was in the “Uptown” neighborhood of downtown. This may be the reason that our opinions of Charlotte are not that great. There was not much going on downtown. We did a city tour and that was pretty cool. Then we went to their aquarium. This was a pretty neat aquarium in that it was one of those where you could walk through it and were completely surrounded on the sides and top by the aquarium tank. I took a few photos in there, and below is a sampling of them.

You don’t often get lucky enough to catch both a shark and stingray in the same shot.

Check it out…doesn’t this stingray look like he has a face and is smiling at us?

They had some really neat looking sharks in their tank.

Now here are some really creepy, yet interesting looking creatures of the sea!

Now here is one that I am familiar with…a catfish!!

Asheville

I probably took more photos in and around Asheville than I did throughout the rest of the trip. We spent four nights in Asheville. I loved Asheville, but Trace was not that crazy about it. He thought there were far too many trees! He said it reminded him of Oregon, which in fairness is a good comparison (tree-wise that is).

Asheville sits at a little over 2000 ft above sea level and is surrounded by the Smoky Mountains. Imagine if you will, seeing gently rolling tree covered mountains in all directions. These mountains are not as massive as the Rocky Mountains nor as rocky. The highest peak in the Smoky Mountains (Mount Mitchell) is 6,684 feet above sea level. The Blue Ridge Parkway runs right alongside Asheville. This is said to be one of the most beautiful highways in the nation. Having travelled about 100 miles of the Parkway, I can attest that it is magnificent.

Just south of the town is the Biltmore Estate which is still owned and maintained by the Vanderbilt / Cecil family. Trace and I spent an entire day there and could have easily spent even more time there. The “estate” covers 8000 acres. The mansion (aka the Biltmore House) is a 250-room (of which 43 are bathrooms) French Renaissance style chateau that covers 175,000 square feet.

Ok, history lesson time: George Washington Vanderbilt was the grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt. Cornelius amassed his fortune from shipping and railroads. George travelled a lot and collected art, books, prints, furnishings, and other treasures from everywhere he went. He visited Asheville in 1888 and fell in love with the area. He bought a 125,000 acre tract just south of Asheville and in 1889 he began to build his “country house”. He officially opened his new home to guests on Christmas Eve 1895. He married Edith Stuyvesant Dresser in 1898 and the couple welcomed their only child, Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt in 1900. In 1914, George dies at age 51 following an emergency appendectomy, leaving the Biltmore Estate to Edith and their daughter, Cornelia. In 1924, Cornelia marries the Honorable John Francis Amherst Cecil. They had two sons, George born in 1925 and William, born in 1928. In 1930, Cornelia and John Cecil opened up the Biltmore House to the public as a means of keeping the estate going during the Depression. In 1934 Cornelia and John Cecil divorce. Edith Vanderbilt and John Cecil buy out Cornelia’s share of the estate from Cornelia. Cornelia then moves to Europe and the estate is now in the hands of John Cecil and his mother-in-law, Edith Vanderbilt. They sell off most of the estate to the federal government during the Depression, leaving only the current 8000 acres for the family. That land sold to the feds became the Pisgah National Forest. The money they obtained from the sale helped them maintain the estate for years, and also provided some improvements. Fast forward to 1960 where William Cecil, Sr. (grandson of George and Edith Vanderbilt) took over management of the estate. In 1963, Biltmore becomes a National Historic Landmark. In an effort to keep the estate as a sustainable property, William Cecil, Sr. added vineyards in 1970, and in 1985 he converted an old dairy barn into a world-class winery. Today, there is not only the winery, but also a dairy and farmland. There are also places for dining, shopping, and lodging on the estate. The estate is still owned and operated by members of the family, who also reside on the estate (just not in the Biltmore House).

The following are some of the pics I took in Asheville and at the Biltmore Estate.

These are some of the restored homes in Asheville. During the Depression, Asheville was destitute with many people packing up and leaving. These victorian and craftsman homes were left unoccupied for decades and fell into disrepair. Within the last 40 years, the town of Asheville offered these abandoned homes to people at a seriously discounted price. In return the people purchasing these homes had to agree to restore the homes. They had to maintain the historical aspect to the exterior of the house but could modernize the interior. Example: the house just above was purchased for $3,000. The people who bought the house put another $300,000 in it to restore it. Today the house is worth over $1,000,000. Not a bad investment, I would say!

The one thing that I found fascinating about the town of Asheville was the diverse architectural styles in the buildings. Reminded me of Chicago, but on a smaller scale.

I don’t know what it is, but every town we go to has a beautiful basilica. This is an interior picture of the basilica of St.Lawrence.

This is the ceiling in the Basilica. But it is no ordinary ceiling. This ceiling was designed and built by Rafael Guastavino. He had been in Asheville to work on the Biltmore House and fell in love with Asheville and decided to settle in a nearby town. His patented tile system uses layers of thin tile interlocked and bedded in layers of mortar to create curved horizontal surfaces such as this domed ceiling that is strong, fireproof, and attractive. Guastavino’s work can be found in hundreds of buildings such as Grant’s Tomb, the Great Hall at Ellis Island, Grand Central Station, Carnegie Hall, and the chapel at West Point.

The Biltmore House in all its glory!! Trace and I could not even imagine living in a place like this. It’s **HUGE**!!! (Don’t you love how some people just have to hike across these beautiful lawns despite the “please do not walk on the lawn” signs? These folks actually ended up going into the fountain!)

The above three pictures show just a **small** portion of the Biltmore Gardens which include an Italian Garden, a Shrub Garden, a Spring Garden, a Walled Garden, a Rose Garden, an Azalea Garden, a Bass Pond and Boathouse, and a Conservatory. The conservatory is filled with tropical plants (think jungle) and an orchid room. It literally takes hours to walk through all of these gardens!

I just could not resist taking photos of these beautiful flowers from some of the gardens. The top photo is some sort of lily, the second photo is from the rose garden, and the last two photos are of orchids.

And now, we enter the Biltmore House. This is a pic of the front entrance and foyer.

The Library…check out the amount of books. The wall behind where I stood was equally packed from floor to ceiling with books as well.

The Tapestry Room…the tapestries on these walls are priceless!

So, the top photo here is George Vanderbilt’s bedroom. The bottom photo is Edith Vanderbilt’s bedroom. Yes, it’s true! They had separate bedrooms! But they must have shared some time together since they had a daughter.

One of the many guest rooms in this house. Each guest room had its own bathroom.

In one of the many sitting rooms in the house, was this portrait of the Vanderbilt/Cecil family. William Cecil, Sr. is seated in the center, surrounded by his kids and grandkids. His kids are currently running the estate.

Chandelier hanging in the great staircase.

And of course, no house is complete without its own bowling alley!!

One of the kitchen rooms. There were actually several rooms that comprised the kitchen area.

This was the servants’ dining area…a little different from the family dining area!

The above two photos are of the Winery and its surrounding shops and eating establishments. The Winery is located on the estate, five miles from the House.

The above pics were shot along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a bit overcast that day, but I guess I can see how the Smoky Mountains got their name.

Well, that’s about it for this trip. Wish I could have shared all of the pics that I took, but hopefully this gives you a good sampling. Stay tuned for Trip #3 which is coming up soon. Not giving any more details than that. Y’all just have to wait for the next post.