Finally, with pictures!  :)

Beware, very photo-intensive, and if you are not too fond of horses, you may want to skip.

We left home three hours later than I had hoped, since Mom was not finished packing and spent 45 minutes deciding on which jewelry to take *headdesk*  We stopped at a Cracker Barrel near home for dinner, and I purchased my yummy coconut treat.  It was raining almost constantly on the drive down, but did clear out about an hour north of the hotel.  We stayed at a Hilton Garden Inn in Georgetown, arriving at 12:30am - ugh.

Due to this late arrival, we overslept and didn't arrive at the Kentucky Horse Park until 12pm.  We strolled through the barns, watched the Parade of Breeds, and spent time in the museum.  They are doing construction all over the park, so we hope to return when that is completed.  I picked up a few things in the gift shop, and we ate dinner at the Calistoga Cafe, similar to a Panera.  I ordered chicken noodle soup in a bread bowl and a peach smoothie, and they were delicious.

After dinner, we headed southeast to Asheville, NC.  The drive was magnificent, with all of the woods and mountains, and the curving road.  I could just imagine how gorgeous it must be in the autumn.  After we got checked into the hotel, we ordered a pizza from Papa Johns.  Thus ended day one.

( Pictures!! )

I started researching my road trip this weekend, roughly plotting out my route and scoping out potential hotels and restaurants (I am planning on avoiding restaurant chains for dinner, instead focusing on local places).  These are the places I am looking at visiting on my week-and-a-half vacation.

 

Pennsylvania

-Visit my cousin

-Possibly get a behind-the-scenes tour and see a production at the theater where my cousin works, the Sight & Sound Theatre

-Possibly go to the National Civil War Museum in Harrisburg

-A definite is Gettysburg.  I have studied this battle for fifteen years, and was able to see the highlights of the town and battlefield eight years ago.  I hope to spend two days here again.  I am really excited about seeing the cleaned and repaired Cyclorama painting.

 

Maryland

-Hopefully visit padawansguide  and haruka798 
-Probably stop at Antietam

-Possibly stop at Fort McHenry

-Possibly stop at Pimlico Race Track

 

Virginia

-Definitely stop at Fredericksburg/Chancellorsville/Spotsylvania/Wilderness battlefields (probably cover all four in two days)

-Possibly stop at Manassas

-Probably stop at Peterburg, the battlefield, and maybe also the Pamplin Historical Park and National Museum of the Civil War Soldier

-Possibly stop at Historical Jamestown and/or Jamestown Settlement

-Possibly stop at Colonial Williamsburg

 

North Carolina

-Hopefully visit mishlai 

-Definitely going to Biltmore (my major splurge outside of hotel costs)

-Possibly going to North Carolina Arboretum

 

Tennessee

-Might stopover in Knoxville on the way home

 

Kentucky

-Probably stop at Kentucky Horse Park (a definite if I have time)

 

Whee!  I am ready to go now – lol.