Camping along the Blue Ridge Parkway

A building shaped like a guitar on the highway. . .

A scenic stop

The Dry Ridge Inn (our B&B)

Some of the gardens at the Biltmore Estate

a rosebush

a pond

the spot

ready to go out to dinner

It was amazing. The whole weekend was perfect. I planned (a little) ahead of time (yes, really), made reservations at a B&B in North Carolina, and kept it all a secret from Sarah. She had no idea where we were going or what we were doing when I told her to call in sick to work on Friday. I told her what she needed to pack, and we starting driving south. She finally dragged it out of me that we were going down to Asheville. We camped out Friday night in the mountains along the Blue Ridge Parkway (AMAZING ROAD!). That was great, and #$%@ beautiful around there. We continued south in the morning, and drove through a piece of Tennessee. Tenne-$@*&-see, man! We had lunch in the oldest city in the state, the "historic" town of Jonesborough - the po' boy sandwich was the best I've had. We then continued south and got to our B&B to check in in the late afternoon. Sarah was surprised to find the dozen roses waiting in the room, and couldn't even believe that I would get something like that together! She kept saying, "you're doing too much! why are you doing all this? so many things! too many things!" She didn't expect any more, and the whole weekend was a series of awesome surprises for her. We went out to dinner at a native american restaurant that night, and had alligator and rattlesnake! good stuff, too. The next morning (after a great night at the B&B), we went to visit the Biltmore Estate, the largest private residence in the United States. It was built by George Vanderbilt just before the turn of the century, and looks like a French chateau in the Loire Valley. It's really a huge castle on thousands of acres of woods, rivers, gardens and lakes. Amazing. We walked around the gardens for a while, down to a waterfall, then back up to the house itself and toured the rooms. Late afternoon we drove to a different part of the estate and went for a bike ride on some trails along a river. Since it was getting towards the end of the weekend and I was only going to do this if the timing and situation was right, I was getting nervous about not finding the right place or the right moment. I looked around while we were riding, and finally went off the bike trail and up a big steep, grassy hill that overlooked the castle across the valley with a beautiful view. We would be alone there. Sarah was a little ways behind me, so I got to the top and set out a blanket and wine glasses, wine, and strawberries that I'd brought in my backpack. She didn't even know that I had any of those things with me, and by the time she got to the top (she started walking her bike up because it was too steep), it was all set up and she was, again, surprised and amazed and happy. We sat there and cuddled, talked for a little while and then I asked her to marry me -- actually asked her! -- and she started bawling. She cried, and shut her eyes, and I was holding the ring in front of her and she couldn't - wouldn't - even open her eyes to see it she was so surprised and happy and just crying, crying! She finally did open her eyes and say yes and it was awesome. Just great. Perfect. When we finally left there, we went to the B&B to change and then I took her out to dinner. I had made reservations to a fondue restaurant in Asheville - just like our first date. Awwwwwww!

So that's the story.

the ring (from too far away)

We're not in Kansas anymore.

Historic Jonesborough

the same scenic stop

a rose is a rose. . .

the Biltmore House

Sarah, smelling the roses

us, somewhere on the estate

another view of the Biltmore House

this is where I did it. . .

on our way out to dinner (take 2)