The staff was friendly, the Inn was beautiful, and the few other guests were polite. Pretentious, but polite.
Beautiful picture of the lobby area. Behind me is the dining room leading into a beautiful yellow sun room where breakfast was served.
This is the door leading out to the front of the house shown in the first two pictures.
This is the cute little reading area found halfway up to the second floor. We were on the third floor.
We went to the Biltmore estate on Monday, which was amazing. 
I can't help but to think that there must have been some bitterness amongst the servants after viewing both their living area and the main house. We were not allowed to take pictures inside the house, but it was amazing. Especially the library! It's also interesting how utilitarian the bathrooms were. Purely a necessity. Elaborate in the day they were built, I am sure, but our bathroom is almost nicer than these.
The rest of our trip involved touring the downtown area, similar to Madison as far as the stores lining the main streets, though not quite as collegey and... eccentric... as Madison.
We also visited several antique shops.
And waterfalls.
These two were in the same mountainous area, and although the drive was a bit different than what the book suggested, we were glad we took the trip. 
Play me.
After finding the "parking lot", which was actually a dirt-packed area wider than the one lane two-way road we drove up, we hiked about 15 minutes to the next, 80 foot waterfall
Play me, too.
On Thursday, we decided to take one more "waterfall viewing" trip before stopping in Black Mountain to visit more antique shops. This last waterfall was on Mount Mitchell, and could only be viewed from the Blue Ridge Parkway. In case you haven't heard of the BRP, it is a long stretch of scenic roadway winding through and up the mountains. As we started toward the Parkway, we ran into a detour and followed the interstate about an hour North East before we were able to enter and had to head back South to get to our destination. Mile 361.1 on the Parkway. As we traveled South on the Parkway, stopping at all of the lookouts to view the amazing scenery, we both grew excited at the prospect of the waterfall we were headed to see. This wasn't just a waterfall. This was an estimated 800 foot waterfall winding down Mt. Mitchell. 800 feet! The waterfall above-only 80 feet. Yeah. The word spectacular was running through my mind.
Onward we traveled on this very thin, two lane road. Onward toward the Mt. Mitchell turnoff, at mile 153. Onward toward the sign that read "Road Closure, 1000 ft.; Mt. Mitchell turnoff, 500 ft." Wait. That means the road closes 500 ft after the turnoff to head to the top of Mt. Mitchell. But we're at mile 153! Only 8.1 miles left to go to view the spectacular waterfall!
As we both sat staring at the barricades willing them to not be there, we decided to take the turnoff and travel the rest of the way up the mountain. The tallest mountain in the U.S. East of the Mississippi. 
The view was amazing. The wind was cold. And now we had to drive an hour North to get off the Parkway, then an hour South to get back to where we needed to be, instead of the 20 minutes South on the closed Parkway to get back to the Interstate. Good thing we had a full tank of gas when we started. And good thing the drive was scenic and beautiful or we might have been more than just frustrated.
I leave you with two last pictures. This one is from the garden on the Biltmore estate: 
And this one is Dena's tree. Which was also on the Biltmore estate: 
Also, whose the genius that let me get a digital camera? These things should not be allowed in my hands. I get carried away.
