We have two weeks in Asheville to spend time with family and friends. Saturday morning September 5 Jim returns our rental car to the Asheville airport and takes a taxi home. We will be using the MacAlpines Toyota Camry which has 158,000 miles on it. We are so appreciative of their generosity in allowing us a two week stay in their guest suite and unlimited use of their home and auto. We spend Saturday and Sunday with son Geoffrey and brother Philip’s family in Madison County. It is so rewarding to watch all of the cousins interacting and playing together. Jim’s brother David drove 3.5 hours from Silver Point Tennessee and joined us on Sunday with his wife Lynn.
Running is very problematic for us in Asheville as the roads are so narrow and there are so many hills. We have found that we are forced to drive to specific locations where we can avoid the narrow roads but not the hills.
We spent most of our first week in Asheville hanging out with Bob and Gail at their home in Candler. A high school, college and medical school classmate of Jim and Bob’s, Bill Boyle, was also staying at MacAlpines with his wife Karen. Bill is retired and living in the mountains of Colorado. They were in Asheville visiting Karen’s parents. We met up with Geoff and family as much as possible and also got together with our close friends Jill and David Merrell who have a dental practice in Weaverville. Jill is Gail and Bob’s daughter. We became close to these two while they were in Dental School at Tufts University in Boston.
We drove to Greenville South Carolina to see our friends Mary Jane and Rick Jacques. Jim went to high school with Mary Jane’s brothers Paul and Johnny. We have become close to Mary Jane and Rick through the Boston Marathon. Rick has run Boston 25 times, the last one being virtual the weekend prior to our visit. 17 of his Boston Marathons have been consecutive. While Rick runs and rests, Mary Jane explores Boston when there. She has taken numerous pictures of our Marathon flower boxes before she ever knew that we lived there. We just happened to connect through a mutual friend who lives near us in Boston and Rick and Mary Jane have been attending our Marathon parties ever since.
We had a really lovely day with Mary Jane and Rick. Thank you so much for your Southern Hospitality.
Our last big outing with the MacAlpine’s was a drive through Brevard to Lake Toxaway, Cashiers, Highlands, Dry Falls, Sylva and back home.
We had a great time in Asheville hanging out with friends and family. We did not get to see enough of Geoffrey and his family as they came down with mild cold symptoms the last week and we felt that it would be safer to stay away from them. Many thanks to Bob and Gail for being such great hosts and putting up with house guests for two weeks.
Wonderful to hear about your recent adventure with the gorgeous pictures. So glad you are having another good time. Looking forward to your next fabulous trip!
There is no stopping the Steens!
The covid virus can’t find u or keep up wt u!!! ( & we hope it NEVER does!) We have missed ur adventures & blogs… but no more. Happy Trails to u wherever ur travels lead. 💖Linda & Lenny
Leave a Reply