I made fire!

Okay, no. I did not actually make fire. Andrew and I took the last weekend in April off from work, and we traveled to Western North Carolina. First, we drove up to Asheville along the scenic route as Andrew had never been in that area before. We stopped for a driving break along the Nantahala and watched two rafts with paddlers float by us. The weather was amazing: sunny. Spring was popping up with green leaves and a nice breeze. Needless to say, it was the perfect drive.

We arrived in Asheville around 1pm, and we headed to the Biltmore Estate (I already had tickets.) Again, it was another spot that Andrew had never been, and the last time I visited it was 2004. My how much it has changed. I love the architecture of the Biltmore, and I love the iron chandelier hanging four stories with a cantilevered staircase surrounding it. However, it has become much more touristy. First of all, Fridays are not the days to visit. It was packed with school tours of disrespectful kids cussing and pushing people around. It made walking through the house incredibly difficult. Second, the Biltmore herds you into a "chute" between the banquet room and breakfast room for a required picture. It would be nice if this picture had the same conservatory back drop as what is behind you, but it's one of the "pick this up at the end of your tour" pictures in which you are pasted into the back drop of the Biltmore. After walking through the house (and trying to avoid the school tours,) we continued down to the gardens. Sadly, the only thing in bloom at that time were the Azalea bushes in a separate location. Here are some of the photos we snapped at the Biltmore (you are not allowed to take any photos, recordings, or sketches of the inside of the Biltmore. This sucked because I wanted a photo of the kitchen!)

After the Biltmore and checking into our hotel (Holiday Inn at Biltmore Mall - WOULD stay there again!) we headed to downtown Asheville. After making several loops before settling on a parking deck, we began our conquest to find food. Of course we were in sensory overload, but we managed to settle on Carmel's Restaurant. I am glad we did. Our server, Jay, was amazing, and the food was just as good. We chose to sit outside and people watch before finishing our meals and heading to Kilwin's just around the corner to get some ice cream before our trek back to our car. We were so tired or we would have spent much more time walking around Asheville.

The next morning our friends Silvia, Nona, and Mark drove up from Atlanta so we could all head to Fire on the Mountain Blacksmith Festival in Spruce Pine, NC. It is about an hour from Asheville, and it is a quaint and unique town. The majority of smiths and booths there were hosted by Penland School of Crafts in Burnsville, NC (nearby.)

We met up with our friend, Lo, who had been attending Penland for a few weeks. She was participating in a "snake-off" (forging a snake in a designated amount of time.) Unfortunately, she couldn't get a good heat as the propane tanks were freezing, but here she is in action:

We were able to see some awesome demos including one by Elizabeth Brim. You may notice she wears a pearl necklace. She does this because when she started smithing someone told her it wasn't ladylike to blacksmith so she started wearing a pearl necklace.

The festival was so much fun. We ended up spending five or six hours there before heading up to Penland for a pig roast and a tour of Lo's shop. After climbing the winding drive to the school, it was as if the mists parted, and here was this wonderful world called Penland. 

Some of the awesome sights seen around the shop:

And of course, Mark had to get in on some fun, too. Andrew and I were outside standing near the awesome forged gate (seen above) when we heard a hammer ringing on metal in the shop. I said, "I recognize those hammer blows. That's Mark." Sure enough when we walked in, Mark was forging his own snake at Lo's coal-burning (awesome) forge. Andrew said to me, "give it a few minutes, and Mark will have a crowd." Sure enough - he did. Also at the festival and Penland we met Jamie Rogers of Big Giant Swords. She had recognized Mark from an event while we were at the festival, and we had the chance to meet her while we were watching Elizabeth Brim's demo.

By the time we came down off the mountain, it was time to call it a night. After breakfast the next morning, we all headed our ways. Andrew and I stopped at Spring Ridge Creamery in Otto, NC for some milk, cheese, and ice cream, and then we stopped in at a flea market in Mountain City, GA before picking up the dogs and heading home.

It was an awesome weekend, and we can't wait to move up there in about three years.