Two Hales here: More Goals Woohoo!!!

Goal 89

Go somewhere I've never been

NORTH CAROLINA!!!

While in Ashville NC we visited the Biltmore Estates. Below is a map of the area which had all been landscaped because the land was bear when Mr Biltmore bought it; there were no trees nor foilage on the land at that time.

The drive into the actual house was about 15-20 minutes from the entrance.

We snapped a picture showing some of the beautiful foilage on the way to the house

It is huge!!!! Having been an appraiser I was very amazed at the detail of the structure both inside and out. Absolutely beautiful. One of the rooms inside (Banquet Hall) had a seven story ceiling, a 1916 pipe organ on about the third story recessed in, a triple fireplace on the other end of the room (first story), and tapestries from the fifteen hundreds. All in all it was massive inside and out.

When we finished our tour they took a picture of us just before we went outside.

A view of one of the gardens

A climbing Wisteria vine archway. It wasn't in full bloom yet, but still very pretty.

More garden area

The grounds were magnificent.

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One day Nick took us for a scenic drive winding around in the Blue Ridge mountains in the Smokey Mountain range.

You can see why they are called the smokey mountains. Makes you appreciate the clarity, and beauty of the mountains in this area.

At the end of the drive we were at the top on the highest mountain East of the Mississippi River. Notice it isn't much higher than Rexburg's elevation.

Standing at the top. Pretty, but again look how smokey the mountains are.

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Now for the real reason for the trip. Nick and Amy had a baby the end of January. We asked if we could come out and help and they decided it would be best to help after Amy went back to work. This is Jake. Sweet little baby.

Proud Grandpa!!

This is Maya-again proud grandpa!! Cute little girl.

Flowers outside of Nick's house. Everything was blossoming out while we were there.

Dogwood trees are very beautiful, some white, some pink, and I believe other colors too. While they are very pretty they are deadly on allergies. Oh My Gosh !!! My eyes were matted shut almost every morning. (My picture wouldn't go in right side up, but I wanted to show how pretty they were).

We had a fun time.

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Continuing on with goal # 16

Try two new recipes a month for six months.

Slow-Cooker Texas Chili

Lorin found this recipe on the internet and it sounded pretty good.

Ground up the meat (it calls for beef chuck but I talked Lorin into using ground beef) into very small chunks.

Put all the ingredients into the crock pot.

It didn't call for beans, but we added them anyway.

After 6-7 hours, some grated cheese, and topped with sour cream, yummmm. Finally found a keeper. We will make this one again.

#2 recipe for April

Turkey Lasagna

Mmmm looks so good. There were a few things we changed in the recipe like using sausage instead of turkey, we didn't have the correct cheeses, and a couple of different spices. Didn't really turn out very good. We ate it that night and Lorin ate some the next night, then we threw the rest away along with the recipe. Won't be making that one again.