Hillbilly Holiday, 2005 — Schedule: Days 5 and 6

June 2nd, 2005 at 10:32 pm (East Tennessee and The South, Travel)

This will be the last pre-Hillbilly Holiday, 2005 post. Tentative Schedule for Days 5 and 6. All times and events subject to change at the whim of any party involved.

It’s a vacation! Relax.

Day 5 — Biltmore Estate

Time to slow things down a bit. Check out of the Mountain Spirit fairly early and head over to Asheville, NC to hang out at Biltmore Estate for awhile. Again, I’ve never been there, but look at the picture! This thing would be impressive if it were built today. Account for the fact that it was built in the 1890’s, and it’s simply amazing.

I’ve been told that the Behind-the-Scenes Tour is worth the extra cost. Reservations for the extra tour are required, so you’d better decide early. Oh, and the place closes at 5:00, so we’d better get there early to get our money’s worth.

The driving directions from Gatlinburg are here. It takes about 90 minutes. The suggested scenic route takes you through Johnson City, TN, but that’s where we’re headed after Biltmore, so we’ll get the best of both worlds.

Day 5 — Roan Mountain

We’ll be lazy this last day. Maybe we can head up to Roan Mountain to straddle the line between Tennessee and North Carolina and take in the awesome mountaintop view of the Smokies. We might be just a bit early to catch the rhododendrons in full bloom, but maybe we’ll get lucky.

On the way home, we should stop at Dixie (Swine will NOT be served before its time!) Barbeque in Johnson City. Bring cash, though, because they don’t take plastic. Try out the the different barbeque sauces from different geographical locations while watching Andy Griffith on the old beat up t.v. And you absolutely must try the fried taters and onions.

All right. Sleep.

Then go home. And I’ll leave you with some words you no doubt you can still hear in your head with unnervingly little effort:

Well now it’s time to say goodbye to Jed and all his kin
They would like to thank you folks for kindly droppin’ in
You’re all invited back next week to this locality
To have a heapin’ helpin’ of their hospitality

Hillbilly that is
Set a spell
Take your shoes off

Y’all come back now, ya hear?

1 Comment

  1. Joel S. Hollingsworth » On Lions, Witches, Wardrobes, and Demoninational Differences said,

    November 14, 2005 at 9:52 am

    […] Odd. When I first typed “denominational,” it came out “demoninational.” Hmmm. Nothing to it, I’m sure. Probably a result of too much time listening to Rindercella in anticipation of Hillbilly Holiday, 2005. But still, hmmm. […]