June 19, 2009 -- travels in US

We have just returned from a week+ on the road ... again!! We went to visit friends all along the way from here to Lexington KY to Asheville NC to Indianapolis IN and back again. At this point, we hope to never sit in our car for more than 15 minutes at a crack, but no doubt in no time, our butts will recover and we'll be off again. Sandy found her bladder is the size of a thimble so that those drives between rest stops were not too long.
This was a wonderful kinda nostalgic driving trip. We headed first to Lexington KY, home of Anne and Karl Peschke. Their son Ryan was in preschool with Marilla so this has been a long friendship and a fun one. They moved to a darling home in a lovely area of town, but are still basically a hop skip and jump to downtown and its fine dining. Eva discovered she IS a bourbon drinker and Karl plied her with samples of fine Kentucky bourbon to whet her whistle. Sandy was impressed by their garden and envious of Karl's studio space, but not his warren of boxes. And we loved getting to see Anne in he costume before she went off to work at the Shaker Village.
Then we made our way south to Asheville and the new residence of Joe and Gil Calderwood, great friends from Merida. We had both migrated to Mexico almost the same day, but they sold their beautiful homes there and moved back to the USA. After RVing the southern US for months, they decided to plant themselves in Asheville and have quickly made themselves at home. They were gracious enough to introduce us to some of their friends and we can see why they love the place -- friends and being able to sit on their giant deck and look at woods and hills and clouds and feel as if it is all theirs. We did the Biltmore (largest residence in the US that looks like a chateau in France and used to have 1800 employees) and were wowed, we visited some of the Arboretum (and were especially taken with the exhibits of bonsai and of native plants), and we spent time downtown ogling the art and crafts (Gil introduced us to freshly made fudge and we watched as they dipped apples in caramel and brought some home with us). Gil and Joe called an artist friend, Leo Monahan, who works with paper. He'd been a Disney illustrator and could do things with paper we'd never imagined. He was sweet enough to give us posters of his work since the real deal was beyond our means so we have souvenirs of his creations.
Then we headed out, having stayed an extra day. We drove back north and got as far as Lexington again, but the Peschkes were in IL with grandchildren. We decided the arboretum in Asheville was so wonderful and tried the one at University of KY but there is no comparison. Off to north of Indy, a town called Carmel, where a long-time pal of Sandy's lives named Cledith (see, after Marilla and Rhodri, nothing is surprising!!). Cledith has what seems to us to be the perfect home -- a town home of perfect dimensions and life on one floor overlooking a pond. Dinner included a perfect margarita and steak so everyone was delighted!
On "home" to Highland Park IL where we found our hosts had shipped off all their company, hosted a party for 85 folks, and a BBQ for 40, despite the fact that one of them had fallen. Remembering Sandy's recent mishap with the front steps that left her with a black eye and bruised chin for weeks, we are awaiting their return home from doctors to see just what happened.
Pictures for this trip are at: http://picasaweb.google.com/necshs1/June2009KINCIN and click View Sandy's Gallery and the June 2009 picture of a darling brick home.