day 18: lovely north carolina mountains...

we started day 18 with a nice, quiet morning (something we haven't experienced for quite some months now with all that's been going on)... a welcome blessing!

we 'slept-in' until about 7:30am, got ready for the day in a leisurely fashion, and enjoyed our coffee + breakfast... courtesy of our wonderful hosts.

paul was so gracious to be the laundry man while we chatted with aunt louie (uncle mike had gotten up early to feed the cows) and caught up on internet happenings. livi lay at our feet, occasionally waking/growling to the 'strange' noises outside (livi, have no fear, those are the sounds of nature, my dear).

livi was joyful to have a mid-morning romp in the backyard, but had to be put back on leash when she got a little too curious about what existed beyond what we deemed to be acceptable boundaries. nevertheless, she had some nice exercise and came back inside with a great big smile across her face.

once we decided that we should not let the day get away from us, we headed into hendersonville for some oh-my-gosh-i'm-so-beyond-stuffed-but-happy-after-eating-this mexican food at 'papa's and beer'... one of aunt louie + uncle mike's favorites (it seems to also be a favorite of many of the other locals).

paul had a monstrosity of a chili relleno burrito...

i gobbled up my delicioso enchilada...

and aunt louie enjoyed her fajitas!

we left full... obvi.

we then walked around downtown hendersonville and had a great time looking in all the shops...

we even found a perfectly-used washing machine to replace the one at uncle mike's farm while strolling through the hospice home store... boom! rockstars!

here are some of the artfully-displayed philanthropic bears that were spotted throughout downtown...

while aunt louie took care of payroll, we got a chance to tour around her family's dairy farm. i had visited 'tap root dairy' once before (many, many years ago... paul and i were still dating at the time), and i loved going back! like uncle mike's dairy farm, it is such a fascinating facility... and, of course, the cows are precious!

alan: these next few photos are especially for you and your love of cows!

just chillaxin'.

we swooped by the corn patch (aunt louie + uncle mike's home) for a few minutes to meet up with uncle mike and prepare for an evening of fun! we took off to the highland brewing company (a regional craft brewery located here), and continued our beer-tasing tour of the country! paul was in heaven, as expected, and even found a few new brews that he really liked. of course, we had to purchase some pint glasses to commemorate the trip... like we have done during so many of the stops along our way (although it was quite the tough call to decide between 2 types of pint glasses today... aunt louie has photos on her camera so we can all remember paul's ultimate internal struggle... pure hilarious-ness).

we had some downtime between the brewery tour and our dinner reservations, so we took advantage of aunt louie's year-long biltmore estate pass and wandered around the grounds. oh, this place is beyond beautiful! while i have been here several times as a child, it seemed particularly stunning today...

even the trash bins are fancy... i shall call it a 'receptacle' instead...

the first line of defense to the estate (you can see the humble abode in the background)...

gorgeous...

while there had been a prediction of rain, the weather held out for us.

take a look at this pretty carolina sky...

oh hey there, fishes...

while on the grounds, we spent some time in the antler hill village where we participated in the wine tasting (bought our first bottle of the biltmore estate vino) and had a beyond-amazing meal at 'cedric's'.

we were full... but not too full for a trip to dairy queen (david, we thought of you!).

on our way home, the sun quickly dipped below the mountains with the sky radiating behind it.

what's even cooler is that you can see an isolated rainfall in the distance... breath-taking!

we are excited to see what tomorrow has in store for us!

right now, i think we will go be soothed to sleep by the sound of  the rain falling outside with thunder clapping in the distance... music to my ears on this summer evening. :)

safe traveling and much love!

the mobleys