Vacation 2012

I sit at the table in our VRBO in Henderson, NC on a beautiful summer evening. Our vacation is half over, and so far, it has been wonderful. I took off last Thursday, and we spent the time preparing for vacation and left at 6:30am on Friday morning. We had lunch at the Eat & Park in McCandless, PA. It was a diner, with fabulous burgers and fruit salad as a side. From there we traveled to Fairmont, WV, where we spent the night at a Comfort Inn. We ate at CJ Maggies (see photo above), and once again the food was great! Saturday morning we hit the road around 8AM, and arrived in Hendersonville (lunch at Ruby Tuesday), around 4PM.

The VRBO is called the Butler, supposedly because it was Buddy Ebsen's butler's residence. Up the hill from us is another residence called the Ebsen, maybe that was the family house. The house is quaint, and the decor isn't bad. It has some downfalls, though. I was not happy when I discovered, after paying the deposit, that they are no longer listed with the VRBO website. I hesitated to send the remainder of the money, without having the VRBO to back me if there were problems with the place. The bad parts are the road noise (you really can't sit out and enjoy the nice porch), the constant dripping of every faucet, the lack of basic pantry provisions (this is the first of several VRBOs we've stayed at that didn't provide salt, pepper, condiments, sugar, coffee, tea, etc.) There was a bottle of wine, and a basket of snacks when we arrived, which was nice, though. It's also not as clean as it could be, we keep finding popcorn kernels in the living room and the rugs all need vacuumed. And there is an ant problem. Tiny water ants in the sink area and the bathroom. And the mattress is as hard as a rock. John doesn't seem to mind it, but I am having a hard time sleeping on it, and am up many times during the night. And then the mystery of the missing washer/dryer.  Since the VRBO listing is no longer active, I have to go to View Page Source to see what the original listing said. It says there is a washer and dryer on the lower level. So, John and I went to the game room tonight (the only lower level I can find), but no washer or dryer or indication they ever existed. Still, the location is great, and we are having a wonderful time. So much to see and do in this area. More to come...