Nov 24th – Nov 25th St Augustine FL.

Nov 24^th – Nov 25^th St Augustine FL.

Leaving Ocala in Central Florida, we continued across the state to St Augustine on the east coast.

St Augustine is one of the oldest continuously occupied cities and the oldest port in the nation.  It was established in 1565 by the Spanish.   After securing a campsite with a beautiful marsh view right down the street from the light house, we headed off to check out the city’s historic district.   The area has been beautifully maintained.  It contains amongst other ”oldest”  things the oldest schoolhouse in the US, and  the oldest Catholic parish.

The influence of the Spanish on the architecture was visible everywhere.  Look at this picture of the courtyard in the Lightner Museum and City Hall.

And then there is Flagler College…. how much Spanish- Moorish can you get in an architectural design?

Close by is  Fort Matanzas National Monument which was built by the Spanish in 1740 to protect the St Augustine  prior to the US taking control of Florida in 1819   The Monument consists of Fort Matanzas, and about 100 acres of salt marshes and Barrier islands on the Matanzas River.

We returned home on Wed Nov 25^th, and returned to St Augustine twice more before the week was done.  But that is a blog for a different day.

Art, art, ‘n’ more art! 10 '08

Bruce recently acquired four small theme paintings from Southeastern artist, Grant Nelson.   He hung them on either side of the window in the music room.   Bruce liked their effect so much, that he started pestering me to create some larger scale graphic design paintings with a music theme for the other walls in the room. 

Grant Nelson paintings

I have no training in graphic design, nor any desire to paint in that style, but Bruce can be VERY persuasive when he gets his heart set on something.  So when South Carolina’s hurricane season limited me to indoor activities, I decided it would be a good time to see what I could produce to make Bruce happy.  I soon learned that creating good graphic art is harder than it looks.  After several failed attempts at coming up with a decent design, I fell back on the time honored tradition that most art schools use to teach a new skill…. Copy someone else’s work.    

My first attempt was to paint an enlarged (three foot by three foot) version of a four inch by four inch electric light switch-plate cover with a Kaminski like design on it.   It was hung above the piano adding a playful note to the room.

Encouraged, Bruce started bugging me to paint something even larger to hang over the sofa.   This time I attempted a triad.  The project was very educational.  I learned that it is very important to pay close attention to exactly what paint color one is mixing if you are working on a multi canvas set, and I also learned a lot about balancing colors, and tones across the canvas. .Each painting was painted separately then, after all three were completed, I went back to add detail and adjust color notes so that the paintings would view well as a set.  In addition,  I learned that it is very important to pay close attention to balance  color hues and color values  across the set of canvases   I  also learned I don’t want to be a graphic artist, and I how to have a happy husband.

Chimney Rock State Park, NC: October 19, ‘08

Chimney Rock State Park, NC:  October 19^, ‘08

Sunday October 19^, ‘08 saw us visiting Chimney Rock State Park for some out of door fun.  The Park is located 25 miles southeast of Asheville, North Carolina.  

 It offers the best of the mountains in one place, with spectacular 75-mile views, and a 404-foot waterfall (which was unfortunately short on water due to the drought in the area).

The waterfall was a bit short on water.

The hiking trails were particularly interesting.   

Many of them have wooden walkways with very long sets of steep stairs that are designed to protect both the environment and the visitor.   Of course if you aren’t into anything that strenuous. The park does offer an elevator service to its most popular lookout vista. 

Biltmore House – North Carolina: 10 '08

Biltmore House – North Carolina:  Saturday, October 18 2008

The Biltmore estate is located just outside of Ashville, NC.   George Washington Vanderbilt completed construction on the Biltmore House in 1895, during the “Gilded Age.” Built of massive limestone blocks and incorporating numerous architectural details, the home represented the railroad wealth of the Vanderbilt family and the opulence of the period.

BJ and CC in lobby of Biltmore Estate

It is the largest private residence in the United States.  So, just how big is America’s largest private residence? Consider these numbers: • Four acres under one roof • 175,000 square feet • 250 rooms, 65 fireplaces, one indoor pool and a bowling alley. We spent four hours on Saturday morning just touring the house. Then we spent the afternoon driving around the 8000 acre estate to visit its working farm, deer park, and its winery, as well as extensive gardens and green houses.

Biltmore Estate Farm

Everything about the place is impressive… so much so that the estate has become the most visited historic tourist destination in the nation. It receives more annual visitors than Colonial Williamsburg, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello, and yes, even more than Elvis’s Graceland. The most visited winery in the country is not in Napa valley – it is the Biltmore winery.

Perhaps the most impressive thing I learned was that GW Vanderbilt bought 125,000 acres of land for his original estate. He owned as far as his eye could see.  Unfortunately, much of that land had been already been clear cut.  He hired experts to help him reforest it and manage what remained..  You can see the success of their efforts from this photo

View of the reforested  land which was once all owned by GW Vanderbilt as part of the Biltmore estate

Today, about 86,700 acres that were once part of the estate have been incorporated into the adjoining Pisqah National Forest. You can learn more about the Biltmore Estate at the following website: http://www.willowwinds.com/biltmore-estate-guide.htm

Asheville NC: October 16-17, 2008

Asheville NC: October 16-17, 2008

The City of Asheville is the largest city in Western North Carolina. It is located in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains and is known for its natural beauty and good arts and crafts. 

  From our house it is an easy hop, skip, and a jump, making it an ideal location for a quick weekend getaway.   Fortunately we decided to make it a four day long weekend, because there is so much to do in the area that we didn’t begin to see it all.

Downtown Asheville, NC's street scene

Downtown Asheville lives in its own artistic microcosm.  There is art everywhere -- in galleries, churches, businesses, and in every restaurant - not to mention on the street corners.  It’s been ranked as one of the best art communities in the US.  It is impossible to see it all… but we tried. As Bruce put it after two days of gallery-hopping, “I’ve seen so much art my head feels like it is going to burst”  Fortunately Asheville also has plenty of fine restaurants to help fuel our bodies for our marathon Thursday/Friday art walk.

BJ in the Blue Spiral Gallery

 And in the evening we could relax with a glass of wine and just enjoy the beauty of the area  from the comfort of our RV campsite. 

View from our campsite