Friday, December 27, our first stop. 
The home of James and Dolley Madison near Charlottesville VA.  James' family had lived on this land for six generations.  Note the slave quarters on the right, close to the house.  In this peaceful place he wrote our constitution. 

The house was sited to take advantage of the spectacular landscape.  The beauty of the rolling hills of Virginia was an unexpected bonus of our trip.  Coming and going from Montpelier we traveled one-lane-each- direction roads with no other vehicles in sight.

Friday, Dec. 27 our second stop.
Thomas Jefferson found the property and even designed the gardens to persuade his friend, James Monroe, to live nearby.  The home's exterior and the estate show Monroe was not born to wealth.  But the home's surprisingly spacious interior reflects his rich life of service to our country starting at age 17 when he enlisted in the army to fight the Revolutionary War.   We arrived to the calls of the estate's cattle returning to the barn for their dinner.

We left after dark, driving along narrow, unlit rural roads until we found our Charlottesville lodging for the night.

Saturday, December 28, we arrived in Asheville, NC.  A buffet dinner of local foods prepared with a Southern slant at Biltmore's Deerpark Restaurant was followed by a Candlelight Tour of the Biltmore House.  The holiday lights were particularly festive on extensive grounds enveloped in true country darkness.

Again the scenery was a bonus. Ken, our step-on guide took our huge bus on the narrow ribbon of asphalt along high ridges called the Blue Ridge Parkway. Fortunately he knew of a road that met the highway, where we could turn around to return to Asheville!

Ken took us to a cooperative of local artists and artisans.  This magnificent quilt is a hint of the quality of beauty and craftsmanship we found there.