Over Thanksgiving I took a road trip and visiting the places mentioned above. They are all wonderful experiences. Each place offers something unique about it.I must admit that traveling within the US could be as rewarding as traveling outside the country.
Yogaville feels like a place out on its own. Who will have know that such a spiritual place will exist in the farming country in VA. Hopefully, the open and spacious energy from that place could radiate all over VA one day. We arrived there on the Thanksgiving day, but there is no Thanksgiving term mentioned the whole day. We went to the level 1 Yoga class right before the dinner.
Polyface farm did not really live up to my expectation. I thought that it would be a farm with organic vegetable plots, too. Instead, it is a farm with poultry, rabbit, cow and pigs. I was greeted by friendly cats. One was so friendly that I could pick him up and we went together to see the rabbit house in the field. The rabbit house is an interesting idea. Each side of it has pulls. When the rabbits finish up the weeds under the house, you can pull the house to the other grassy area that has not been eaten. It is a great idea to mow the lawn in my front yard if I have such rabbits to keep all year around. The free range poultry turn out to be just a huge house with so many chicken going free there. I thought that there might be more space for the chicken, but the space looks very tight and crowded. Cow got the most space outdoor. They all would stare at you in one direction. That is a pretty interesting sight to look at them that way. The pig's area is pretty crowded and stinky. It seems that pigs don't really mind living in a confined place where they poo poo. Perhaps, it is more profitable to raise meat than raise organic vegetables... At least, no more mystery about Polyface farm in me.
Since I-81 stopped by Blacksburg, I decided to make a quick stop to see the memorial from the mass shooting 4 years ago. The memorial is located in the biggest field, Drill field. It is such a terrible waste of human lives. There was a brochure outlining each victim's photo and his/her life. It is sad. Why can't Virgina have a more strict gun control law?
I went visit Biltmore mansion where the rich was unabashed to show off their wealth. The outside of Biltmore mansion, east of Asheville feels like world apart from the inside of estate boundary. There are so many workers working in the mansion. All seem very happy to work the descendants of Vanderbilt family. The tour talked about in the old days, how George (the one who built it) and his wife took care of their servants and their family. The tour portray them as a wonderful master to work for. There is very little mentioning of the racial division back in the days. It is assumed, I suppose. The blacks were working in the laundry, the most demanding job. The mansion is outrageous. There is an indoor swimming pool with the lighting along the bottom edge of the pool. That was all done in the very early 19th century. The gap between the rich and the poor now seems shrunk so much since then?
I thoroughly enjoyed the nature that Bitlmore mansion offered. There are a few green houses where one can see all varieties of plants from all continents. There is a Bass Pond reminding me a bit of Walden Pond. By Bass Pond, there is a bamboo forest. It is very thick. One feels very quiet treading along the bamboo forest.We took some crouching tiger and hidden dragon pictures there.
On the way to Greensboro from Asheville, we drove on the blue ridge parkway. It was really beautiful to be up there and the vista is awesome although many overlook spots have been blocked by the overgrown of the trees (the triumph of the nature!). We read about Grandfather mountain on the web and would like to get there, but a section of parkway is blocked. Luckily, we went to a craft center, sort of like a mini park headquarters, and got some good hiking information along the parkway. We went hiking on Linville Falls. The view of falls is spectacle. Very nice. Then, we went to hike a trail of Julian Price park. For a while we decided to add a purpose to our hiking, we started to pick up trashes along the trail. We felt pretty good about ourselves. It is actually a very easy thing to do. Most litters are dry, like plastic packaging, canned bottles and glasses. But then when we went to the parking spot of Price lake, we saw a diaper left on the ground... It is a moment of testing our faith... We didn't dare to pick it up and just left. :-)
By the dinner time we landed in Boone, it is quite a big town. Supposedly the town is named after Daniel Boone. I thought I've been there many years ago, but there is not a single trace of sight that could ring a bell in my mind. We were very hungry and stumbled upon the Gloden Corral. Most people were overweight or near obese, but our waitress isn't. It's too much food available for people to eat. We noticed that most customers didn't leave tips on the table. hmm... It was a smooth ride to Drury hotel in Greensboro.
The hotel is spotless, very very clean.. The next day we went to sightsee in Greensboro, where we found the international civil rights museum. But it didn't open until 10am. We then went to the city library nearby. We found a Greensboro massacre event in 1978 between pro-union and KKK party. I wonder why this history has not been publicized recently. Then we went to a history museum nearby. Greensboro was an important town back then when the railroad was an important mean of transportation in the US.
We then took I-29 all the way home....
Yogaville feels like a place out on its own. Who will have know that such a spiritual place will exist in the farming country in VA. Hopefully, the open and spacious energy from that place could radiate all over VA one day. We arrived there on the Thanksgiving day, but there is no Thanksgiving term mentioned the whole day. We went to the level 1 Yoga class right before the dinner.
Polyface farm did not really live up to my expectation. I thought that it would be a farm with organic vegetable plots, too. Instead, it is a farm with poultry, rabbit, cow and pigs. I was greeted by friendly cats. One was so friendly that I could pick him up and we went together to see the rabbit house in the field. The rabbit house is an interesting idea. Each side of it has pulls. When the rabbits finish up the weeds under the house, you can pull the house to the other grassy area that has not been eaten. It is a great idea to mow the lawn in my front yard if I have such rabbits to keep all year around. The free range poultry turn out to be just a huge house with so many chicken going free there. I thought that there might be more space for the chicken, but the space looks very tight and crowded. Cow got the most space outdoor. They all would stare at you in one direction. That is a pretty interesting sight to look at them that way. The pig's area is pretty crowded and stinky. It seems that pigs don't really mind living in a confined place where they poo poo. Perhaps, it is more profitable to raise meat than raise organic vegetables... At least, no more mystery about Polyface farm in me.
Since I-81 stopped by Blacksburg, I decided to make a quick stop to see the memorial from the mass shooting 4 years ago. The memorial is located in the biggest field, Drill field. It is such a terrible waste of human lives. There was a brochure outlining each victim's photo and his/her life. It is sad. Why can't Virgina have a more strict gun control law?
I went visit Biltmore mansion where the rich was unabashed to show off their wealth. The outside of Biltmore mansion, east of Asheville feels like world apart from the inside of estate boundary. There are so many workers working in the mansion. All seem very happy to work the descendants of Vanderbilt family. The tour talked about in the old days, how George (the one who built it) and his wife took care of their servants and their family. The tour portray them as a wonderful master to work for. There is very little mentioning of the racial division back in the days. It is assumed, I suppose. The blacks were working in the laundry, the most demanding job. The mansion is outrageous. There is an indoor swimming pool with the lighting along the bottom edge of the pool. That was all done in the very early 19th century. The gap between the rich and the poor now seems shrunk so much since then?
I thoroughly enjoyed the nature that Bitlmore mansion offered. There are a few green houses where one can see all varieties of plants from all continents. There is a Bass Pond reminding me a bit of Walden Pond. By Bass Pond, there is a bamboo forest. It is very thick. One feels very quiet treading along the bamboo forest.We took some crouching tiger and hidden dragon pictures there.
On the way to Greensboro from Asheville, we drove on the blue ridge parkway. It was really beautiful to be up there and the vista is awesome although many overlook spots have been blocked by the overgrown of the trees (the triumph of the nature!). We read about Grandfather mountain on the web and would like to get there, but a section of parkway is blocked. Luckily, we went to a craft center, sort of like a mini park headquarters, and got some good hiking information along the parkway. We went hiking on Linville Falls. The view of falls is spectacle. Very nice. Then, we went to hike a trail of Julian Price park. For a while we decided to add a purpose to our hiking, we started to pick up trashes along the trail. We felt pretty good about ourselves. It is actually a very easy thing to do. Most litters are dry, like plastic packaging, canned bottles and glasses. But then when we went to the parking spot of Price lake, we saw a diaper left on the ground... It is a moment of testing our faith... We didn't dare to pick it up and just left. :-)
By the dinner time we landed in Boone, it is quite a big town. Supposedly the town is named after Daniel Boone. I thought I've been there many years ago, but there is not a single trace of sight that could ring a bell in my mind. We were very hungry and stumbled upon the Gloden Corral. Most people were overweight or near obese, but our waitress isn't. It's too much food available for people to eat. We noticed that most customers didn't leave tips on the table. hmm... It was a smooth ride to Drury hotel in Greensboro.
The hotel is spotless, very very clean.. The next day we went to sightsee in Greensboro, where we found the international civil rights museum. But it didn't open until 10am. We then went to the city library nearby. We found a Greensboro massacre event in 1978 between pro-union and KKK party. I wonder why this history has not been publicized recently. Then we went to a history museum nearby. Greensboro was an important town back then when the railroad was an important mean of transportation in the US.
We then took I-29 all the way home....
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